I've driven a car
I bit the bullet and drove a rental car for the day today. In part because I thought it would be more convenient, and in part because I wanted to see how it went, and also to decide whether I might want one for a few days towards the end of my trip. So today I went up to Hadrian's Wall, and I drove myself.
No one was harmed in my driving experiment, although a bunny rabbit was close to becoming roadkill.
Thank god for Google Maps, because the directions were not simple. There were 10 steps in each direction, and Google got every step correct and gave excellent details. And this has generally made me more thankful for the phone that Google gave as a gift last Christmas.
Driving on the left didn't cause me any of the problems I'd expected. I never drove on the wrong side, or screwed up a turn, or had problems on the traffic circles. My biggest problem was quite unexpected, until the employee of Enterprise told me it was the most common mistake Americans make. I drove way too far towards the left side of my lane, a consequence of sitting on the right side of the car.
It wasn't a problem on wide lanes, but more specifically I had terrible judgment as to the *width* of my car. When on a narrow road I would periodically have to pull to the left to get past someone coming the other way, and several times I brought my left wheels up onto the curb or gravel or whatever was there. The alternative was to make a bad judgment on my right side, which would mean a collision. That would be worse.
I also kept reaching to my left to pull on my seatbelt, and reaching with my right hand for the gear shift. Luckily neither of those can usually lead to an accident, at least not with an automatic.
My main conclusion, though, is that I will not rent a car again before I leave. I was a bit stressed with transit schedules in Wales, which was what led me to this, but the rental car was worse. The main problem is the lack of a navigator. It's not as if there are signs with my small tourist destination, at least not until I get almost there. I mentioned that there were 10 steps to follow in each direction, each onto some different numbered road, always signed for some local town I'd never heard of.
My concentration was so focused on driving and navigating, with the written directions resting on my leg, that I couldn't relax at all. I also got stuck listening to mediocre radio, which was not interesting, and I couldn't have focused on an audiobook what with concentrating on navigating and driving. So I was happy to return the car, and it was a learning experience.
"What about a GPS unit", do I hear you ask? They didn't have one. That might make the difference, but I'm not likely to motivate to try again, also given the 10x factor in price difference between a rental car and public transit.
BTW, there were Romans way up into England. And at one site they found a large collection of tablets with writing, containing everything from a birthday invitation to a student writing out quotes from Virgil (incorrectly, I might add) to the daily rations. Look up Vindolanda tablets if you're curious.
No one was harmed in my driving experiment, although a bunny rabbit was close to becoming roadkill.
Thank god for Google Maps, because the directions were not simple. There were 10 steps in each direction, and Google got every step correct and gave excellent details. And this has generally made me more thankful for the phone that Google gave as a gift last Christmas.
Driving on the left didn't cause me any of the problems I'd expected. I never drove on the wrong side, or screwed up a turn, or had problems on the traffic circles. My biggest problem was quite unexpected, until the employee of Enterprise told me it was the most common mistake Americans make. I drove way too far towards the left side of my lane, a consequence of sitting on the right side of the car.
It wasn't a problem on wide lanes, but more specifically I had terrible judgment as to the *width* of my car. When on a narrow road I would periodically have to pull to the left to get past someone coming the other way, and several times I brought my left wheels up onto the curb or gravel or whatever was there. The alternative was to make a bad judgment on my right side, which would mean a collision. That would be worse.
I also kept reaching to my left to pull on my seatbelt, and reaching with my right hand for the gear shift. Luckily neither of those can usually lead to an accident, at least not with an automatic.
My main conclusion, though, is that I will not rent a car again before I leave. I was a bit stressed with transit schedules in Wales, which was what led me to this, but the rental car was worse. The main problem is the lack of a navigator. It's not as if there are signs with my small tourist destination, at least not until I get almost there. I mentioned that there were 10 steps to follow in each direction, each onto some different numbered road, always signed for some local town I'd never heard of.
My concentration was so focused on driving and navigating, with the written directions resting on my leg, that I couldn't relax at all. I also got stuck listening to mediocre radio, which was not interesting, and I couldn't have focused on an audiobook what with concentrating on navigating and driving. So I was happy to return the car, and it was a learning experience.
"What about a GPS unit", do I hear you ask? They didn't have one. That might make the difference, but I'm not likely to motivate to try again, also given the 10x factor in price difference between a rental car and public transit.
BTW, there were Romans way up into England. And at one site they found a large collection of tablets with writing, containing everything from a birthday invitation to a student writing out quotes from Virgil (incorrectly, I might add) to the daily rations. Look up Vindolanda tablets if you're curious.