In May, my husband and I went to Ireland on vacation. After being up all night, we landed in Dublin at 9a.m. Dublin time (4a.m. Texas time.) Although we were tired, our excitement propelled us to get the party started. First stop: pick up the rental car. Our travel agent told us that each car rental would come with a GPS and that with that device we should have no problem getting from place to place. We had to upgrade from our compact car since the first car assigned had no truck and we had 2 large suitcases. They were then generous at Hertz and did another upgrade to a mid-size. Sounds great right—seeing Ireland in style….well….just wait. And of course we declined any extra coverage because all the insurance, etc is just an upsell and we were not falling for that trickery! We find our car-a beautiful 4-door navy Volvo. I was planning to do the driving since my husband is blind on his right side and the driver would be on the right side of the car (which is the wrong side if you ask me!) Also, I am an excellent driver. I jump behind the wheel, smile for a photo—happiness and excitement. We plug in the GPS and I carefully pull out. Once outside the garage, the GPS begins to speak. “Dove stai andando?” Excuse me? The GPS was in Italian. No manual. We also learned later that Americans tend to drive too close to the curb (which is on the left side-again WRONG SIDE if you ask me.) I didn’t know that from the article but was quickly informed by my freaked out, one-eyed co-pilot. He goes from 0-100 quicker than any sports car and does it with a tone that is very unsettling. I asked him to please use a different tone but he let me know that at this moment this was the only tone that he could use….. Not sure of the exact conversation but I do know there was a lot of regrets about getting a larger car and not falling for their upsell of more insurance. We had 8 days ahead of us to tear this Volvo up. Finally we had to pull over and bite the bullet and get our GPS out on our phone. Directions came flowing in and although we now had a destination, navigating the small streets of Dublin was still lurking. When you want to make a left hand turn you have to go to the far right lane which goes against everything Coach Jackson taught me in drivers ed. But we finally made it to the parking garage of our hotel. Remember we are exhausted, I have shed a few tears, my husband has busted a few blood veins in his brain and we enter this TINY garage with sharp curves and turns. It may have taken 15 minutes to go up three floors but we parked. We walked around the city a bit until check-in time. Still exhausted I now had to tackle that Italian GPS. So while Billy took a nap I pulled out his iPad to the manual and my iPad to an Italian translator app. Presto, Chango….hello ENGLISH! And time for my nap. The travel agent was correct. The GPS made all the difference. Plus Cindy sent us an article about Americans driving in Ireland and things to remember—of course I already knew several of these points by experience. The streets in the small towns are narrow and you have to let oncoming traffic pass. Tight turns and sharp corners were part of the experience. Narrow winding roads with other drivers who did not mind driving above the speed limit so I was a tense ball of 10 to 2 on the steering wheel (even though there is supposedly new numbers?) People were very kind and courteous—driving friendly the Texas way. BY the end of the trip I was an excellent driver on the roads of Ireland. I actually enjoyed the winding roads, with their twists and turns. I did miss some of the scenery because I was so focused on not hitting the left side and watching the right side. But we explored the country and 8 days later pulled the unblemished Volvo back into the rental lot. We both sighed a huge sigh of relief as we boarded the shuttle bus to the airport. So long Ireland, So long Volvo, So long to the winding roads….. So if you are headed to Ireland….I have one recommendation: take me…I’m an excellent driver.
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AuthorJust Ronna: Random Thoughts, Random Topics. Just thinking out loud. Archives
August 2023
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