Heimdall

Lots of good responses here, but I think Mclaurie means: &quot;drive on the inside-the LEFT-lane and pass on the RIGHT&quot; (see how confusing it is?)<BR><BR>The nice thing about roundabouts is if you miss your turn, all you have to do is go around again. The bad thing is even most British drivers don't know (or care) about signaling correctly when using a roundabout, so you have to be careful.<BR><BR>As for whether or not to rent an automatic, I would say this: if you drive a standard transmission at home go ahead and rent one in England. If you are used to an automatic, you have enough to remember when first driving in England without having to reaquaint yourself with clutch and gearbox.<BR><BR>It is true that automatics generally come only on the larger cars here in the UK, but that is not as big a disadvantage as some people make out. Yes, some of the roads are narrower here, but those same roads are used by double-decker buses and lorries (trucks), so I don't see how a large car would be a problem. I drive on narrow roads in my Range Rover every day with no difficulty. Sometimes you have to pull over when a lorry is coming the other way, but you have to do that in a small car as well.

buffy888

Definitely rent an automatic if that is what he drives at home. We rented an automatic and it was a small car - I think a Fiat something-or-other. We got it at the Thrifty location at Heathrow, reserved in advance through Expedia. I was a bit nervous when I started out, but it was not as difficult as I thought it would be. As others have mentioned, the hardest part for me was tending to be too far over and having to have my husband remind me to get back closer to the line. Also, turning into parking lots and driving in a smaller town, I did bang the left front tire into the curb a couple of times. Other than that, your husband should be fine. Please do make sure that you are comfortable navigating and that you both have a firm idea of the basic directions towards your destination - my husband is not strong on his navigational skills (but scares me a bit when he drives even here in the US - doesn't have much depth perception), so that made it a bit more difficult for me to concentrate on driving on the left plus try to find my way. Good luck!

nkh

In my experiences adapting to driving on the left I found that even the standard transmission wasnt bad, since the foot pedals are the same it is just the gearshift that is on the opposite side (cant even imagine the problems if they had switched the feet!). Driving worked better as a team - driver and navigator, the latter giving very precise directions so that the driver only had to worry about driving.<BR><BR>I found that as a Canadian driver I was used to looking quite a long way ahead on the road - this didnt work in the UK, I kept &quot;anticipating&quot; curves and turning too early. Once I adjusted and started concentrating ahead at a shorter distance that I would in Canada this problem dissappeared.<BR><BR>One consideration you may find useful is to be careful of which type of car you rent - get detailed info on its function before you rent it! On our first trip where I drove we had a Peugot 306 which (among other problems) had the windshield wipers and indicators on the opposite sides of the steering column than I was used to. I spent 3 days trying to signal and ending up turning on the windshield wipers (fairly comic, but not helpful when struggling with roundabouts etc.!). On our last two trips we have rented a Ford Focus (5 door) and have not had this problem - everything has been roughly where I would instinctively/automatically look for it. This made a HUGE difference in my driving comfort level. Possibly the rental companies can give you detailed info on car setup when you are making your choice?

tammylouky

Just to reiterate what an earlier posted said, practice being the navigator. This helped me out tremendously since I drove and my mom navigated. I left it up to her to read the map and constantly remind me to stay left, especially when making turns into parking lots and in small towns. Highway driving was very easy, and just be careful on the smaller roads. The roads are very narrow and we saw a lot of cars parked along the road by their house which took up some of the space of the road. I definitely recommend getting full insurance coverage. Hopefully, you won't need it but it came in handy for me when we hit a huge pot hole and it tore up the tire and the wheel. Speaking of which, keep in mind that in the UK one of the lug nuts requires a special &quot;key&quot; to loosen it which is in the glove compartment. Have a great time! Renting a car and being free to go whereever we wanted allowed us a lot more freedom.

Ryn2691

I find that I adapt quickly to it, and I don't drive an automatic at home, so even the standard tranny is OK after about 20 minutes. I find that the place I tend to mess up the most is on the really tiny rural roads in Ireland where there is only room for one car; I tend to pull over the wrong way when getting over to let someone by. I don't do central London, parking being the hassle it is, that does not begin to be worth it. In and out of Heathrow or Gatwick is as close to London as I want to drive.<BR><BR>The roundabouts *do* take some getting used to, and it is best to let your navigator tell you exactly when to exit the thing, while you concentrate on driving. Some people swear by using a clock system for roundabouts, but I lose track of where I am on the <BR>clockface once I'm in the circle. We prefer to simply count the exits; as in, &quot;turn out on the third exit in this one.&quot; Be careful of getting directions from locals in the UK; they will often tell you to keep straight, but neglect to mention that you will pass through one or more roundabouts on the way. To my US driving sensibilities, a roundabout constitutes a turn, the idea of &quot;going straight&quot; when dealing with one seems an oxymoron.

busterla

Not to add too much to an already long chain of responses but:<BR><BR>1. You don't seem to be thinking about doing this, but just in case. DO NOT drive in London. I've driven in lots of difficult cities (including even Rome, I'm proud to say) and I wouldn't THINK about driving in the center of London, mostly because the &quot;wrong&quot; side problem is severely exascerbated by the traffic and the complexity of the layout of London streets.<BR><BR>2. Definitely get an automatic.<BR><BR>3. In case you don't know, the gas and brake pedals are NOT reversed, so that part is easy.<BR><BR>4. When you pick up the car, try to spend 15-20 minutes just &quot;practicing&quot; --drive around a local neighborhood or something.<BR><BR>5. Driving locally is harder than driving on freeways. On the freeways you just have to give yourself time to think about making your exit. <BR><BR>6. It's a little weird and you need to KEEP paying attention to the fact that you're supposed to be on the &quot;wrong&quot; side, but it's really not too awful. Just don't let your driving mind go on automatic too much and think ahead when you're going to be making a right-hand turn. (On the other hand, it's kind of fun to make left-hand turns --- it feels like you're getting away with something.)<BR><BR>The first time I &quot;drove left&quot; was in Tasmania (which I recommend as a place to start, since there are only like 5 cars on the island.) I was concerned because I have some perceptual orientation difficulties (I still confuse right and left, and I'm in my 40's) (I was also on painkillers because of a dental problem that had cropped up, but that's another story) so I was being very careful to keep thinking about the fact that I needed to do everything to the &quot;wrong&quot; side. At some point, I found that I had taken this so much to heart that when the wind would muss my hair, I would push it back in place to the wrong side as well. The mind is a funny thing.