Have you driven in another country? If yes, which countries have you driven in? How was the experience driving in another country?

General Discussion
22

While stationed in South Korea, I’m driving down a nice quiet highway and suddenly, I pass a Blockhouse/Pillbox or a Camouflaged Machine Gun Nest, with South Korean soldiers manning it with a loaded Machine Gun and to keep themselves occupied, they often tracked the vehicles with the machine gun as the vehicles passed their location. Then, just as suddenly, your two-lane road turns into an Emergency Wartime Airfield with all the lighting and signage of an airport…

I was in the Air Force and it was 1986-87 and I had to travel every month from Camp Red Cloud (DMZ) to the Busan Naval Base on the southern tip of South Korea and to many, many US Military installations in between and I passed through many of these check points. There were no smart phone back then and we were forbidden to photograph these “secret” military structures… I looked for some of these on Google Street View and “strangely enough” the Google Street Views stop short of these facilities…

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Then when I was on Temporary Duty (TGY) to Japan and also to the UK; it was the fun times of driving on the Left Side of the road in Japan, at least driving on the left side in the United Kingdom, I could read the road signs… Not so in japan… The reason the Japanese drive on the Left Side of the road is during the time of the samurai, city streets and footpaths were quite narrow. In addition, most samurai were right-handed and wore their katana on the left. That’s why they kept to the left side of the road to avoid crossing swords and bumping into each other.

Ii was much the same reason for the Brits driving on the Left Side as a holdover of the day that most knights, also right handed, charged on the left side so they could swing their swords; but when they jousted, well, that’s a different story… They charge on the Right Side, not the left side. You see, jousting is just for “fun” and they are not really trying to kill each other… If they charged, right handed on the left side, the lance is traveling straight and if they got a good hit, it more than likely ran straight through the opponent… But by charging on the right side, the lance is striking the opponent at an angle and much more likely to merely knock the opponent off their horse and if the lance broke, the pieces flew away from every one…

I know, TMI (To Much Information…)

I tried to joke with my Japanese counterparts when I was in Japan that in the US we drive on the “Right Side” and that is the “Right Way…” But my play on words fell on deaf ears as the Japanese words for “right side” is “migigawa” and the Japanese word for “right Way” is “tadashī hōhō” So, there is no play on words…

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I lived in Italy, on the coast, in the late 1970’s and the driving there could fill up it’s own topic… There were Fiat 500s (with a two cylinder 500cc engine) on the same roads as Maserati’s and Ferrari’s, and everyone sharing the roads with Vespa Scooters, all racing at high speed, the Fiats maxed out at 50-60 MPH, the Vespa Scooters with two, three, even four passengers, screaming at 30-60 MPH (depending on engine size 50-125cc) and the supercars passing everything else at 100mph plus…

And finally, in '91 during Desert Storm the roads in Kuwait got a little crowded in and it was never fun to drive there…

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But now, I’m am still not sure whether I am more bothered by some idiot on a machine gun; a road sign that tells me nothing; a Vespa Scooter with a father, a mother, and two kids, passing me; not knowing if there is a land mine on the road ahead; or this afternoon for instance, if that idiot blocking traffic after the light changed to Green so they can finish updating their Facebook acciount…

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23

Heh heh, two buses meeting on a hair pin curve on the coast of Italy. Inch forward, then backward, pull the mirrors in and inch forward again. Prolly a thousand foot drop on our sude.

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24

How was your driving experience in Canada? It took me a while to get used to the roads there and I did go 80 km/hr in a 100 km/hr highway (had to pick up speed!), I didn’t know what a green flashing arrow was (traffic lights back home were just still green arrow), and I did make the wrong turn and had to go through an extremely busy street corner in Victoria with a ton of narrow roads and pedestrians (which was an experience! :slight_smile:)

25

If you ever drive in Europe, I’ll warn you that the road rules and signs are different enough that you absolutely need to do a fair amount of studying and learning before you go.

I really BADLY want to drive in Europe. But my friends and family told me not too because of the narrow roads. In Europe, a lot of people prefer public transportation.

26

In New York City, people are so used to traffic jams, many can’t drive nearly as fast as the speed limit when traffic does open up.

I had a friend who lived in NYC. (And he was born there as a matter of fact) He told me a couple days ago that parking is a DISASTER. Finding parking in NYC is almost close to impossible.

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27

In the parts of Germany where I drove, the streets in town were somewhat tighter, but not enough to be a real problem. The two-lane roads between towns and the limited-access roads were pretty much like ours here.

Unless you’re an unusually nervous driver, I think you’d be fine there, although a smaller rental car would be preferred, especially because their in-town parking is also tighter. (By the way, that rental car would likely be a manual unless you specifically request an automatic.)

28

Parking in NYC really depends on the neighborhood and the time of day. Some of the toughest areas to park have times of day when shift changes at local hospitals make parking a snap. You can even find free street parking in midtown Manhattan. There are apps now that can help poor helpless out of towners that are completely confounded by parking.

I grew up in Manhattan, so I know all the secrets of where to park when I travel in NYC. As someone who grew up in Manhattan and learned to drive and park there, I can (and have) driven in many places around the world without any difficulty. This includes Ecuador, Italy, Spain, Canada, Mexico, and the UK (including London). I haven’t found a country yet that makes me feel totally uncomfortable behind the wheel.

29

Big cities discourage driving larger cars by making the parking spots small. During that 14 day trip I mentioned above we spent the last 3 days in Amsterdam. I could drive the 9 passenger van around town but couldn’t park it. We unloaded our bags at the hotel, checked in, and then I took the van back to the airport and checked it in. People are encouraged to park in satellite multilevel parking garages and walk or take public transportation in town. We walked.

30

No issues, really. Drove to Toronto on one trip and Montreal in another. Pretty much go with the flow and turn your headlights on if you don’t have DRLs.

I did have some confusion on a toll road…didn’t see any pay points, had no transponder, did not know if I was even allowed there. Eay, Canada sent me a bill from my license plate number.

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31

Yeah, don’t believe that junk. Europeans love their cars as much as anyone else. The trains are not crowded…and the traffic jams are proof. Commuting times the trains can be crowded because parking is scarce and expensive. But on weekends, they will put up with the traffic and the parking headaches rather than ride the train.

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My wife’s relatives in rural Northern Germany drive everywhere because they have to. In crowded cities or on long trips to places with public transportation they depend more on trains. By large I mean London or Amsterdam for example.

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33

As both you and I both did in large cities. The trains are more convienient.

I will say that “long trips” have a much different meaning for Europeans than Americans! :laughing:

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34

Driven many times in Canada. No problems there.

Driven a few times in South America. By far the WORSE drivers in the world. I HATED driving there.

Drove a jeep a few times in NAM…that was fun except for the time we were being fired at.

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35

Philadelphia is interesting. People in certain religious communities still drive horses and buggies on the street. In fact, it is obvious many very narrow Philadelphia streets were designed for horses, not modern cars.

In the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, the tall buildings often block your GPS. Not that it will be all that useful - at least if you have a Garmin, it doesn’t know about a lot of one way streets there. Plus some streets are directly beneath others in Georgetown, and it thinks you can traverse impossible routes between levels. :slight_smile:

Of course we could start an entire new thread about entertaining GPS issues.

Washington, D.C., has a lot of political protests. They often close major streets to make space for protests.

This is from long ago, and may be out of date: There are places in Santa Cruz, California you can’t go by car - bike or walk. Seemed very bike friendly.

Speaking of bikes, the rules for eBikes, electric scooters, personal mobility vehicles (intended for the elderly and disabled), and all roller skates (electric or not, inline or quad) in the U.S. vary a lot, in terms of whether they are allowed, and in what classes, and whether you can go on the side walk or street, or indoors. Not just state-to-state, but city-to-city. And some places you must register and insure some of the electric ones, others you can’t. Whether you are supposed to wear helmets. Complete chaos, and the rules keep changing. Remarkably, some of the ones that are locally illegal are sold in local big box stores, like Walmart.

This too is from long ago, and could be out of date: We went on a trip in Costa Rica, driven by a professional driver, on back country roads. The roads between big cities can be very rough. The only vehicles we saw there were Land Rovers. If I understand correctly, Land Rovers were (at that time) designed to be repaired on the road, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the driver could do that. (As with back country U.S., I doubt they had cell phone service in back country Costa Rica.) In San Jose, the roads were much better, and we saw many types and brands of vehicle on the roads. E.g., there were cute little vans that looked like miniature VW buses, and were obviously too thin to be stable at high speeds. And right of way didn’t seem well defined, or were ignored. Also, in many streets in cities of all sizes, people party late at night. Most of the hotels for natives (including essentially all hotels in small towns) don’t have windows, so you can hear them.

36

My brother’s worst experience in 'nam was when he was issued an old flathead Dodge pickup in which he was tasked with visiting a small base located at a high elevation. As the grade became steeper & steeper, and the elevation became higher, the power output got more and more anemic, to the point where he couldn’t get that old truck to go more than 20 mph. Then, small arms fire broke out from the cover of the roadside vegetation. He kept going and–somehow, thank God–avoided being hit by the small arms fire.

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In 1972, my journey from Mexico City to Acapulco was taken care of by a “professional” driver. With the number of bandits that were reputed to lurk on the roads near Acapulco, there is no way that I would have done this on my own. His ability in the Spanish language was (obviously) a LOT better than mine, and he was packing a revolver.

Edited to add.… I also could have rented cars and driven in The UK, France, Italy, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, The Netherlands, and Germany, but I chose to use taxis and limo services rather than drive in countries where I wasn’t familiar with the local MV laws. I found the highway rest stops in The Czech Republic to be… interesting. They were essentially beer gardens, and the locals got tanked on the excellent Czech beer before returning to the road. I was very glad that I wasn’t driving…

38

Not to bring up an old subject, but I see a lot of kids riding electric scooters, etc. on the roads and sidewalks. They seem to be allowed. I just wonder what the difference is with an electric motor versus an ice mo ped that made one legal for kids and the other illegal. They both seem to go the same speed but no lights, license or turn signals on the scooters. It must cause some gray hairs fir public safety trying to figure it out.

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39

I’d encounter a similar situation sometimes driving on 4WD switchback roads in Canyonlands Nat’l Park. I’d be going down a road only wide enough for my truck, steep cliff face on one side, 500+ foot cliff drop-off on the other, when I’d see another truck approaching me, going uphill. Oh oh… lol … . There’s an informal rule of the road that the truck going downhill must yield to the truck going uphill. So I had to backup both my truck and its attached utility trailer to the prior switchback where there was (barely) enough room for the uphill truck to get past.

40

I’ve driven quite a bit in western Canada, Calgary/Vancouver. The only driving difference I noticed compared to western USA was the Canadian roads were generally better maintained. Maybe b/c there is less traffic on Canadian roads.

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41

Not to bring up an old subject, but I see a lot of kids riding electric scooters, etc. on the roads and sidewalks.

Also popular with adults and the youth crowd.

My friend commutes in one to college (While I drive a car 20 miles to uni). He chooses this mode of transportation over his car. ('12 V8 Charger)