After four days in London, Andy and I headed off into the countryside. We battled over the mode of transportation. Andy was pro-car. I was pro-train. Andy won with a quote from Hertz of approximately 25 pounds per day for a car rental.
The cheapest rental cars in England are manual transmission. And yes, that’s what was on our reservation.
I learned to drive on a stick shift. Andy did not. Andy learned to drive a stick shift on his Mustang Cobra when he was twenty-six, because that’s the car he really wanted and it doesn’t come in automatic.
Andy went through two transmissions and three clutches by the time we were married.
Andy’s night vision is also terrible. He refuses to admit this, but I’ve got three cyclists, two raccoons, one possum, a deer, and a feral cat who owe their lives to me screaming “Look out!” after 10 PM. Sadly, I wasn’t there to save the pole.
[Author’s Note: Andy insists that it’s not his fault if all eight of those creatures had death wishes. He would like you to know that the cyclists were riding without lights and reflective clothing. That is true. However, Andy’s wife would like you to know that the pole he hit was a LIGHT pole.]
So, yeah, I drove the UK rental car. (Our auto insurance rates can’t afford another pole.)
Here’s what I learned.
TIP #10: Spring for an automatic transmission. Yes, it’s twice as expensive. Yes, you may love driving a manual. But overriding years of experience and ignoring every single brain cell that screams “GET ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD BEFORE YOU DIE!” is hard enough without working a clutch, too.
TIP #9: If you MUST drive a manual in England, be left-handed. See, Americans were smart enough to realize that most people are right-handed. The clutch is on our right, and we can shift with our dominant hand. In England, the clutch is on the left. Good luck distinguishing between 1st and 3rd gear if you’re not a lefty. (I am not a lefty.)
TIP #8: Make sure you have an alert passenger ready to scream, “CURB!” when you invariably drift to the left. A calm passenger who does not mistake hitting a pothole for hitting the curb and freak out is a bonus.
TIP #7: Hit Costa or Starbucks coffee as soon as you get your rental car and buy your Curb Warner/ Navigator an espresso. Or five. Because if he falls asleep while you attempt to navigate as you drive on the wrong side of the road and shift with the wrong hand, you will make wrong turns. Possibly onto one-way or dead-end streets. You will then have to make embarrassing, illegal, 5-point turns to regain the correct direction.
TIP #6: If you collect an audience during your now 7-point turn, be sure and yell, “Ah, I am so veery sorry, mon ami!” in your best French accent. Italian, Russian, or German accents/ phrases are also okay. In a pinch, toss an “Eh?” on the end of each sentence and pretend you’re Canadian. Anything to avoid cementing the Stupid American Tourist stereotype. It’s your patriotic duty.
TIP #5: Prepare for the miniaturization. Everything is smaller in the UK. The cars. The lanes. The roundabouts. God, the roundabouts. They aren’t leisurely traffic circles like you find in New England. No, in Old England they are tiny. You won’t have much any time to figure out which exit is yours. Have your navigator check the map and see which cities/ towns you will next be driving toward before you get to the three-foot circle the UK grandly dubbed a roundabout.
TIP #4: Road signs and a physical map made in the UK are more reliable than Google. Yes, Google knows where streets are and can plot what looks like an efficient course. Unfortunately, Google does not always know which streets ARE ONE WAY. I told Google to do the anatomically impossible more than once on our trip. Usually in Spanish, if the window was open (see Tip #6). Pretty sure the locals were happy to misidentify me as Argentinian (no, they have not forgotten the Falkland Islands).
TIP #3: When in doubt, be a lemming. There are a lot of tourists in the UK.
Chances are, many of them are heading to Windsor Castle. Or Thornbury Castle. Or Alnwick Castle. Or any other thousands of castles. If you’re having trouble battling your instincts to be on the other side of the road, or you don’t know which way to go, just follow the car in front of you. Chances are, they’re going to the same place. They know how to make a turn while staying in the correct lane. Unless they are also Americans, that is.
TIP #2: Remember your rearview mirror. We’re used to flicking our eyes to the right to check on traffic behind us. There’s still a side-view mirror on the right, and I found myself using that instead of the rearview mirror. It takes a conscious effort to remember to check a mirror up and on the left. But it could save your life on the M4, where tailgating is a national pastime. Don’t believe me? The British government painted chevrons ON THE ROAD in a fruitless valiant effort to remind drivers that a safe following distance is two seconds.
TIP #1: If you fill up your rental car before returning it, turn in your gas receipt to the rental agency. Because guess what? Rental companies don’t actually go by the fuel gauge, oh, no. There’s some fine print requiring the renter to provide their fuel receipt to the rental staff as proof that said renter filled up the tank. Of course if you do give away your fuel receipt, you won’t be able to take that receipt to the VAT office at the airport and get your VAT refund before you leave the UK. So you’re stuck either paying the VAT tax on the fuel or paying the maximum refueling price of approximately £3.077 per liter for the entire tank of gas (£169.23 or higher). It’s the pinnacle of British Bureaucracy. Unless you brought a portable copier, you’ll have to choose where you should surrender your receipt for fuel. Give it to the car rental company. VAT tax ON the fuel is way cheaper than ALL the fuel. Also, you will probably never find the VAT office anyway.
In the end, that £75 rental car cost us £273.92, what with the vehicle fee, the location fee, the fuel fee, the license fee, and the fee for the fees.
Which brings me to the Ultimate, Overriding Driving Tip For Americans Touring England.
Take the train.
Driving manual wouldnt be a problem for me as everyone in Europe learns to drive that way. Also to have all the things inside the car wouldnt be that bad as I drove few times some imported British cars BUT driving on the “wrong” side…no way, I wouldnt manage 😀
Oh, you’d be fine. Especially if your MIL was there to “help” you. I am sure she would have great advice.
Don’t even remind me…I don’t want to even imagine what insane stuff she would do and say there!
Oh, but I LIKE to imagine it. Think of how much fun she’d have screaming “curb” at you for no reason. 😉
Oh no no no no, no curb anywhere. MIL is banned entering any car I drive as she tends to destroy them…my last car was full of scratches and bumps on the rare door she used.
Amen sister. There is multi-tasking and then there is sensory overload. This crossed the line 3 roundabouts ago, for sure.
Thanks! Pretty sure I crossed the lines of at least 3 roundabouts also. 🙂
Well done. I’ve been meaning to write a similar post to this one about the pitfalls of renting a car in South Africa. You might have just motivated me to finally do it.
I am so lucky that I learned to drive a manual in South Africa and I’m left-handed. The clutch-gear-shift arrangement works perfectly for me here. In Reunion Island, I was suddenly faced with a rental car that had a right-handed gear-shift and I did not fare well.
Thanks!
So on Reunion Island did you give your passengers whiplash by jamming the car into first gear when you meant to go into third gear? Andy INSISTS his neck still hurts.
I never envied left-handed people so much as when driving in England.
Fortunately I wasn’t the main driver and only has to drive once or twice for very short distances. But yes, I’m sure I did that once or twice.
But you didn’t crash! Congrats! 🙂
I don’t understand WHY the Brits have to drive on the wrong side of the road. Just why?!
Yup, I’ll take the train. Or a bus.
Pfft, the stereotype with “mon ami”, noooo. Dx
“Le signe, monsieur, il m’a indiqué ça. Pas ma faute.” (Translation: blame the signs. Oh wait, that might cost you your licence. Nevermind.)
Oh, I like that. I shall blame the signs henceforth. 🙂
I drove a scooter in Bermuda on vacation. They also have the left side mentality. I had a helmet on for safety but I was terrified because I always drifted to the right after turning a corner. I just cannot drive on the wrong side!
It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be, for sure. I don’t think I would have had the guts for a scooter!
It was scary. The saving grace was it was slow and there wasn’t much traffic.
Kudos to you for navigating the streets of England while driving a standard and on the opposite side of road. I have never done either, so you are actually way ahead of me. But, at least I am a lefty, so maybe I could do a pretty good job at changing gears.
My husband is the one who drives whenever we travel. He has a great sense of direction and is always up for the challenge. However, he did leave the lights on in the rental car in Bali and let’s say, the battery was touch and go for awhile.
Oh, and hahaha for sticking the ‘eh’ in there!!
Oh, you will have far less trouble than I did in England, no doubt. 🙂
We’re working hard on shattering the “polite Canadian” stereotype.
I’m not much of a driver at all and only drive when I absolutely have to. I write with my right hand but do practically everything else with my left. When it comes to driving, my left hand is the dominant hand so it is natural for the clutch to me on my left.
Driving a manual is certainly a multi-tasking experience. The shouting from the passenger helping you navigate can sometimes be distracting…
Oh, absolutely the shouting is distracting. So is arguing over whether that loud THUNK was a pothole or a curb.
Or that loud thunk could be an animal. Driving in Malaysia, sometimes that loud thunk could be a snatch-thief motorcycle person kicking your car.
A snatch-thief? Are they trying to get you to pull over or something?
Both. Usually snatch thieves in Malaysia like to hit the back of your car, making you think you hit something. Naturally you might pull over and confront them, and then they will take their chances, smash your car window and grab your bag or snatch the jewelry you’re wearing. That is if you live in the dodgy parts of town like I used to.
I agree with the conclusion. The train would have been more relaxing. And you wouldn’t have less stories to tell, no, for sure you would’ve had some adventure on the train haha!
By the way, if you had lost points in the UK, does it reflect in your US license? I mean, do you get points deducted for things done abroad?
I have no idea. In the U.S., some states don’t even communicate with other states to let them know when you get a ticket.
I am sure we would have a a great story about winding up in Northumberland instead of Bristol if we took the train. 🙂
You’re the Queen of Adventures! But, at least, you had fun, so it’s all good. 😀
Ohhhhhhhh, so that’s why Andy wasn’t driving. XD Poor beings.
I think automatic cars are pretty rare in Romania. I wonder… how does it feel to drive one of those? Is it like in the computer racing games? o3o
I don’t like the automatics. I am so used to shifting, I have been known to hit the emergency brake and try and put the car in reverse on twisty old roads. Oops.
Automatics are very easy, but you just don’t “feel” the road.
I see. Thanks! 😀
Your post brought me back to driving with my DH … in Dublin and all around the Irish country side … great memories … eerily similar experiences. #sensoryoverload
I’ve never had to drive on the “other” side of the road. It sounds scary. And shifting with your left hand might be even worse, at least in the beginning. I’m hopeless with my left hand. Also with my left eye. And, oh, my! the rearview mirror is on the other side.
Last week I was in Maryland, taking my grandson to his Spanish lesson somewhere up the 270 in my son-in-law’s car in a heavy, heavy rain. I didn’t know where I was going, and I couldn’t find the defrost. I made it, but then somebody set off the fire alarm, and we all had to stand out in the rain for 35 minutes waiting for the firemen to check the building out. Anyway, that’s beside the point. I’m just saying that driving in a strange place in a strange car is hard. Congratulations on your success.
Thank you! I am very proud of not crashing. And no matter what Andy says, it was a POTHOLE!!
Nothing like stressing in a new location in the rain. Sounds scary.
I would always take the train. I’m surprised US drivers licenses are valid in the UK! The best excuse for the train would have been that I can’t use my license.
I know! I wish that excuse had been available. 🙂