When in Rome, Drive Like the Romans Do?

Aug 7, 2007 at 8:58 AM
6 comments

Yesterday afternoon, I was informed that I will be traveling to Manchester, UK next week for another inspection. I'm excited to be going to the UK, but am a little bummed to be leaving for a full week so soon after my last week-long trip. I'm sure my daughter is still young enough to write it off, but I know she misses me when I'm gone.

Anyway, I digress. It looks like I'll be renting a car while I'm over in the UK, since I have a 30+ minute drive from the airport to the hotel and inspection site. Does anyone have any tips for me on how to drive on the ~~wrong~~ other side of the road?

6 comments

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Awww, man. I'm jealous! (and its weird I was just talking to a coworker from the UK and mentioned if I ever went I'd want to visit Manchester)
Not jealous of the driving though! Good luck!

[this is good]

The driving isn't bad at all. But 3 words of advice. 1 is make sure you don't get a stick shift. I found the adjustment to shifting with the other hand easy, but not everyone does. 2. make sure you understand the roundabout rules before going over. Roundabouts can make people crazy if you don't understand how to to deal with them. And I promise you. you will run into them. 3. practice your parallel parking skills. Because you will have to do that a whole lot.
Enjoy yourself. I'm very envious.
You should (if you have some spare time) go north a bit and drive through the lake district. Its so beautiful this time of year.

When we spent time in Australia, neither of us had much of a problem driving on the other side of the road. We did have an automatic. The only thing I remember was taking left turns, you had to be vigilant to avoid ending up cutting it too far on the wrong side.

Have fun!

Ross replied to Ginger_sister’s comment:
Aug 7, 2007
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Ooh, good advice! As far as I can see, my booking at the car rental place is for an automatic, so hopefully I don't have to worry about that. The directions show a disturbing number of roundabouts, but since I have experienced a few here in the states, I think I should be okay as long as it's obvious which direction you should face as you enter them :-)

The biggest worry I have is not actually with driving, but with being a pedestrian. I'm afraid I'll instinctively look the wrong way and end up stepping out in front of traffic. Fortunately, my mother taught me well and I tend to look both ways, even on a one-way street.

[this is good]

its ok.. because in england most pedestrian crossings have "look left" or "look right" written by them :) for the unintellegencia. If you're in manchester proper, you probably won't have a problem. I only had problems when there was no traffic around. When there is traffic, it's pretty clear which way to look.
The bonus is, should you end up hit, you won't end up owing anything for the hospital. Socialized medicine has it's perks.

when driving, constantly think "left, left, left, left, left, left, left" in everything you do. that's what i had to do when i went driving in Australia. it worked for me. lol. and ginger sister's comments about the roundabouts is def. a good idea!! those things are enough to drive you crazy!

When in Rome, Drive Like the Romans Do?

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