Quote Originally Posted by User View Post
I refuse to drive anywhere where the sides of the road are flipped from what I've grown up with. It's too engrained in my mind. Trying to switch is dangerous. I'll stick to public transportation or taxis.
On my first trip to Scotland, about 20 years ago, my son, his birthfather and HIS spouse, and I spent a few days using transit in Edinburgh but rented a car to drive north. I had reserved a van because we had too much luggage, but when I arrived at the rental center it had been assigned to someone else. The only thing comparable the owner had available was his personal favorite, a Mercedes station wagon (I believe they're referred to as "saloons" in the UK.

He was obviously nervous about renting to a yankee unaccustomed to driving on the left, but consented to do so. His confidence in me as his customer was severely shaken when he asked me to get in to the driver's seat and I stepped around to the LEFT side of the car, plopped down on the seat and was visibly surprised momentarily not to find a steering wheel in front of me. I WAS conscious enough not to tell him what briefly flashed through my cranium:

" hmmm, perhaps there's a joystick."

But, the biggest challenge driving in Scotland from MY perspective is not just remembering to stay left, but piloting huge SUVs rented to tourist that are NOT meant to be driven on roads no wider than sheep's paths and navigable only because every quarter to half mile they're expanded for a few meters by "passing places." We lost almost an entire day while headed to Skye on my most recent visit 2 summers ago when the road was simply not wide enough to accommodate one of those behemoths and the edge was decorated by a large boulder that assassinated the left front tire.