International Travel Advice needed - Page 4

dekeguy · #46 10-22-2013, 02:40 PM

Reserve your rental car before you fly. Most major rental companies are international and you can do this on line. The key reason is that UK rentals tend to be standard shift so you have to specify automatic. Even if you are used to driving stick you will be doing it from the other side which can get a bit interesting. Automatic is the way to go.

WhiteDaisy128 · #47 10-22-2013, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dekeguy

Reserve your rental car before you fly. Most major rental companies are international and you can do this on line. The key reason is that UK rentals tend to be standard shift so you have to specify automatic. Even if you are used to driving stick you will be doing it from the other side which can get a bit interesting. Automatic is the way to go.

Yes, the cars at the rental places WILL be manual - so make sure you reserve an automatic before hand. Driving on the "other" (not wrong) side of the road does take some getting used to, but it's not too bad...especially on the motorways.

People have VERY good lane discipline in the UK...so make sure to stay in the slow lane unless you are passing. Do not sit in the passing lane. Most people are much more courteous drivers than drivers in the US.

Rural driving very well could be scarier - there are often small farm lanes that are one lane (but two way). It gets fun.

Speed limits in the UK are posted in Miles per Hour (not Kilometers per Hour like someone else mentioned). On smaller roads, though, a limit might not be posted (or certainly not posted often) - roads are classified by size and the presence/absence of a median. A "single carriageway" (2 lane road w/ no median) will be 60 mph. A "dual carriageway" (2 or more lanes with a median) will be 70 mph. And a motorway will be 70 mph (they will always have medians). There are often electronic speed limit signs on motorways that will change the speed limit depending on conditions.

Watch for speed cameras. They are everywhere!

You might want to pick up a "Learner" magnet from a grocery store - new drivers always have them and it warns other people to give them a little space and a break if they do something stupid.

KKGCaroline · #48 10-22-2013, 03:41 PM

Just to add to Whitedaisy's post, I'd advise you to buy a Green "P" Magnet for your hire car as this would indicate that you have recently passed your driving test (and then other cars will give you space etc). A Red "L" Magnet indicates you are a learner driver who, if DH is right, are not allowed legally to drive on motorways.

WhiteDaisy128 · #49 10-22-2013, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KKGCaroline

Just to add to Whitedaisy's post, I'd advise you to buy a Green "P" Magnet for your hire car as this would indicate that you have recently passed your driving test (and then other cars will give you space etc). A Red "L" Magnet indicates you are a learner driver who, if DH is right, are not allowed legally to drive on motorways.

Interesting. We lived there for 3 years and I never saw (or noticed) "P" magnets...but "L" magnets were all over the place.

Looking it up though, it may be the way to go...even though I never saw a "P" -- looks like "L's" are, in fact, not allowed on motorways. Never knew that. Glad I didn't have an "L" on my car while we were there! Ha!

tcsparky · #50 10-22-2013, 08:00 PM

I had thought that i would take public transportation to the schools in my study.. However, my friend pointed out that public transport is "rubbish" in the rural area where he lives. Since he has to work, he won't be able to drive me to the schools each day. So I would have been driving around anyway. It's just that now, after working all day Thursday, flying all night, then landing at lunchtime, I'm now expected to be cognizant enought to drive 84 miles, on the wrong side of the road...from the wrong side of the car....from London......and arrive alive!! He'd better totally make this up to me when I get there!

aephi alum · #51 10-22-2013, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhiteDaisy128

Yes, the cars at the rental places WILL be manual - so make sure you reserve an automatic before hand.

This is true in the Netherlands as well (and probably all over Europe). If you don't specify that you need an automatic, you'll get a manual by default. (My husband found that out the hard way the first time he went to the Netherlands. He can't drive stick. Fortunately, the rental car company was able to scare up an automatic for him.)

Quote:

Rural driving very well could be scarier - there are often small farm lanes that are one lane (but two way). It gets fun.

And don't forget, the sheep have right of way!

Tulip86 · #52 10-23-2013, 07:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aephi alum

This is true in the Netherlands as well (and probably all over Europe). If you don't specify that you need an automatic, you'll get a manual by default. (My husband found that out the hard way the first time he went to the Netherlands. He can't drive stick. Fortunately, the rental car company was able to scare up an automatic for him.)

True, automatics are rare in most European countries. I'd also specify that it's your first time driving on the left, the rental companies are used to this, as most renters at an airport come from places that drive on the right, and can give you some great pointers.

tcsparky · #53 12-21-2013, 11:22 AM

My trip was fantastic!!! I did hire a car, and did make it alive from Heathrow to Mersea Island. But it took hours because:
1. The M25 was closed due to a wreck that had happened 4 HOURS EARLIER!!!!! It took 5 hours to make what should have been a 2.5 hour drive.

2. I got lost several times in Colchester due to lack of proper signage and roundabouts. Don't get me started on those. They were put there by Satan to confuse me. I ended up at a gas station that was being manned by a family of (I kid you not) rednecks. Or the Essex version, anyway. They were a hoot! Made me feel like I was back home in Arkansas. Here is the conversation...
Me: I'm lost. Can you help me with directions?
Them: Where are going?
Me: Mersea Island.
Them: Why are going out there?
Me: To visit a friend.
Them: How long has your friend lived there?
Me: 14 years.
Them: So he's not from there, then. Where is he from?
Me: He grew up in Wales.
Them: What's a bloody Welshman doing on Mersea?
Me: He moved there to be near his in-laws. His ex-wife grew up there.
Them: What does he do?
Me: He's a sports writer and plays rugby on the weekends.
Them: If the rugby team asks you to get in the hot tub with them after the game, don't do it.
Me: Um....OK.....sure. Can I get directions?
Them: Just give us the address you're going to and we'll print them out on the computer. He knows how to work it (referring to the young silent man sitting at the computer.).

3. It got dark at 4:00, and I have terrible night vision.

But I did eventually get there. And had an AMAZING time. Spent a day in London. Walked on the beach. Saw gorgeous sunrises and sunsets. I'm going back again for 5 days at the end of January for the second stage of my study on the schools. Rural Essex is beautiful and very charming. The food, pubs, landscape.....I was the most relaxed I've been in years. Not a single migraine or even mild headache the entire two weeks.

AZ-AlphaXi · #54 12-21-2013, 11:39 AM

^^^ this is when I wish there was a like button .. so glad you had a great time!!

DubaiSis · #55 12-21-2013, 12:01 PM

That tells you how much migraine problems are self-induced. Time to clean up your life and get happy! (says the girl who is STILL losing hair every day, so do as I say, not as I do

)
I'm glad you had a great time. I have some friends from Essex. I certainly wouldn't call them rednecks, but the trajectory of the conversation doesn't surprise me. You were good to play along. It adds to the fun!

tcsparky · #56 12-21-2013, 12:10 PM

Dubaisis, if you had been there, and had visited rural Arkansas at some point, you would have been thinking the same thing I was!!! I certainly felt right at home in the gas station. My friend later explained to me that up until the AIDS epidemic, rugby teams would get in the hot tub to wash away dirt, blood, relax muscles, etc......and would occasionally invite females in to join them. Apparently the older generation still remembers this practice! I was told that now everyone just showers off and goes to the pub.

Now, most of the folks I met in Essex were, I assume, typically British. At least, I didn't see anything to make me think otherwise. I really enjoyed the trip. Hopefully I'll get to go in the summer some time and enjoy the sailing.

tcsparky · #57 12-21-2013, 12:12 PM

About the migraines- my neurologist has a couple of theories. I wasn't at my job (which he says is killing me) and I was eating food that probably doesn't have all the chemicals and crap in it that we have over here.

I did do a LOT of drinking. Didn't know people could drink that much every night, as grown-ups (post college). And I was mixing with Coke, which has caffeine, which I'm supposed to avoid. Overall, the trip was great for my health.

DubaiSis · #58 12-21-2013, 12:39 PM

I didn't know prior to having so many Brit and Aussie friends that the drinking was anything more than a stereotype. No. They are SERIOUS drinkers. I don't know how their stomachs live through it. If I have 2 glasses of wine I don't feel right for at least a day. I really don't know if I could live in England, regardless of how much fun I'd have.

tcsparky · #59 12-21-2013, 01:46 PM

Yes! Exactly! I've had a few British friends over the years, but they were Americanized by the time I knew them. I just assumed that the stereotype was only that.......but apparently not. Of course, it's very convenient that the liquor is in the grocery store!!

tcsparky · #60 04-14-2014, 11:00 AM

I went back for another visit in January, and will go back again in a few weeks. I'm really LOVING the area. Mersea Island is just beautiful, and Essex is such a wonderful blend of urban and rural.

I've learned a lot about the schools, and about the culture. The language is still a little tricky, but I'm getting better. For instance, parties are "do"s.....a leaving do (going away party), a hen do (batchelorette party)....

So next month, my friend has asked me to go to his rugby club's end of season ball. He said I need a "posh" dress. The pictures he has posted on his Facebook page from last year's party have pictures of men in tuxes (no women in any of the pictures for me to check out what they are wearing). I am assuming that women would wear the same thing there to a formal party as we would wear here. Does anyone know for sure? My friend is no help. He apparently didn't notice what the women were wearing!! The only thing he said was that we would be walking across the island to it, and that it is in a marquee on a farm.