We rented a car to get out to the west of Dublin, see the countryside, stay at the most amazing cliff side hotel... and I had been fretting about it for weeks! I was so nervous about driving a manual (it had been a year), and most importantly that I would somehow murder us in a head-on collision while trying to navigate the other side of the road. Luckily, since everything is reversed - aside from the pedals and steering column gadgets - it was actually pretty easy to get in the swing of things. Not to mention of course that there were other people on the road so I really only had to follow along.
The thing I like about driving in Europe, everyone is so much more considerate and smart when driving a vehicle. They stay to the slow lane if they aren't needing pass anyone, they follow traffic laws, they don't honk at you impatiently, and one of my favorite things are roundabouts. I love them. They make traffic flow so much easier, and generally just seem smart to me. But, I'm also a big traffic nerd, so it's not a surprise that I like them. The one thing I don't appreciate about driving in Ireland is that they aren't exceptionally good on signage. A portion of the motorway was closed on the way out and in from Dublin and finding the detour path was tough. You would go many a kilometer without seeing a sign, and having signs through a roundabout are a bit more tricky. Luckily, there were others taking the same "diverted traffic" route and I was able to guess that if I followed the cars we would get there and the glory of a GPS to know that even if we took a wrong turn we wouldn't get lost.
A few things of note that I encountered renting a car in Ireland. The rates are pretty cheap for the car rental, where they really stick you is the insurance. I wasn't entirely convinced that my insurance would cover Ireland and I was pretty sure my credit card didn't carry enough, so we went for the full package. Especially since reading online before going over there I had heard horror stories about accidents with narrow and unsafe roads. When we purchased the extra insurance though, I was surprised to find out that flat tires and burning out the clutch were not included under the insurance we got. I have the impression that flat tires must be a pretty common problem there, since there are such narrow roads and for many country roads you essentially have to pull off the side if anyone is to pass in the opposite direction. Luckily, we had neither of those issues, but something of note all the same. Also, you have to return the car with the tank full. That makes sense, but they actually charge you upfront for the cost of petrol (approximately 85 euro for our little car) that they refund you when you get back if the tank is full. That was a bit of a shock. Which added to some stress getting the car back on Sunday (see below).
I made ONE mistake while over there, which is pretty good I think. The last hour of our car rental, I was flustered getting back since we were an hour late on our rental, we had a hard time finding gas (see above with exorbitant fees), and we were putting everything into the GPS to get back to the car rental and so I wasn't sure of my route. So when I pulled out of the gas - err petrol - station and did everything right, turned left from the left side of the driveway, made a near left turn, but then had a lapse since there weren't any other cars and I was looking to see the map when I look up and I have migrated into the oncoming traffic lane on the right side of the road. Luckily the person coming AT me was very patient and didn't even honk or flash his lights, just calmly waited until I righted the car and got back on the "right" side of the road. So much for going 10 for 10. Next time I'll have it in the bag.
Starting out on the motorway.
Ireland from the motorway.
Driving on the left.
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