Driving on the other side

If you’re worried about driving in England, driving on the other side of the road, it is not as difficult to adapt as you might fear.You will be seated on the other side of the car, which serves as a reminder that things are different, and since you will be on alert and wary due to the differences, you probably won’t be driving “unconsciously” as you might back home.

As a result, driving is more work in England, but you should remain safe.

Perhaps the one issue I have had with left-side driving was on a previous trip to Australia, where the turning signal and wiper controls were switched; this resulted in a few times when I wanted to signal a turn where I instead turned on the wipers! Our car in England does not have the controls flipped, so this has not been a problem in England.

A few tips, which should be obvious:

• Don’t be afraid to drive a little slower than everyone else, even on a 2-lane road with a convoy behind you.
• The countryside is beautiful, but don’t get distracted.

A final note about driving manual transmission: Rental of vehicles with automatic transmission costs more than that of those with manual transmission. Therefore, you might choose to save money by renting a car with manual transmission. If you are comfortable driving a stick (and only if you are comfortable, of course), don’t be too afraid to rent a manual transmission to save yourself some money. You may be concerned that it will be difficult to operate with your left hand, but I have not found that to be a problem at all. I myself had not driven a manual car in over 11 years, and settled into driving the manual transmission without a problem.