Headed to Ireland - Concerned About Driving

[ERD50]

This is how the U.S. Embassy in Dublin sees it:

Driving in Ireland | Embassy of the United States Dublin, Ireland

"Tourists driving on the wrong side of the road are the cause of several serious accidents each year."


To the OP: When you visit my country,of origin, you will be welcomed as a guest. Please remember to drive on the left side of the road, because that is required by law, i.e. legitimate.

I'm still not buying it. Sometimes there is opinion, point of view, perspective, and sometimes there is just right and wrong. Like one of my favorite all time movie scenes - Jack Black (Dewey Finn - music teacher) in "School of Rock":

Dewey Finn: Look, the first thing you do when you start a band is talk about your influences. That's how you figure out what kind of band you want to be. So who do you like?

(student) Leonard: Puff Daddy.

Dewey Finn: Wrong.

That just cracks me up "Who's your favorite?"... "Wrong"

OK, in case you haven't picked up on it, all my comments on this have been firmly tongue in cheek (and I have no idea where that expression came from).

In an attempt to be conciliatory, I tried driving down the middle of the road today - wow - the blatant expressions of aggression I encountered.

So much for "Blessed are the peacemakers"....I was called a lot of things, but 'a child of God' wasn't one of them.......Matthew certainly got that one wrong.

That had me LOL! See, you just can't please some people! Why even try?

-ERD50

 

[Alan]

Have you noticed that spiral staircases are all or mostly clockwise on the way up and anti-clockwise on the way down?

It dates back to the days of castles, which are built for defence. The attackers are going to be mostly right handed which puts them at a disadvantage trying to fight their way up, and easier for the mostly right handed defenders of the castle, particularly considering that the staircases were only big enough for one person at a time.

 

[Dog]

Returned from Ireland last night. We had a wonderful time. It is a very beautiful country!


I will say that I was much relieved when I returned the rental car. And, without any damage

I ended up with a compact, diesel, manual car and loaded up on insurance. We had a good paper map, rented a GPS with the car and DD translated the GPS instructions for me (the voice had a British accent). This really helped me with the round-abouts.


We ended up on every type of road possible. M, N & R roads including a few roads that actually had names and definitely some questionable roads that felt like farm roads/lanes. I drove about 1500 miles including Killarney National Park, Connemara National Park and the Dingle & Kerry Rings, so we definitely experienced the narrow, winding and hilly roads. Held my breath several times on the single lane roads and bridges with 2-way traffic. Also drove in Galway and Killarney with lots of traffic, pedestrians, cyclists, big tractors, horse & carriages and sheep. I think the hardest part in the towns and villages was watching for pedestrians. They cross roads without using crosswalks, against the lights and without consideration for traffic.

I'm also amazed at the bravery of the cyclists. Seems like a perfect place to cycle/tour by bike except for cars on the roads (no bike lanes or shoulders).

Renting a car was surprisingly expensive, but overall I feel it was worth it to have the freedom. It took me about 2 days to get comfortable and DD had to remind me several times to get in the left lane. However, driving did prevent me from really enjoying some of the sights and views as the road conditions really require 100% focus. I utilized many of the pullouts to be able to get out and enjoy the views.


Interestingly, this morning it felt weird to be driving on the right side of the road!



I appreciate the helpful comments and funny stories.

 

[Alan]

Welcome back! So pleased to hear that you had such a good time and managed the car and traffic so well.

 

[Meadbh]

Dog, delighted to hear you had a good time in Ireland. If it makes you feel any better, I too breathe a sigh of relief when I return the rental car, although I was born in Ireland, lived there till my mid 20s, and learnt to drive there!

By the way, you can select the accent on the GPS. I usually bring my own.

 

[Dog]

The obligatory sheep photo. Slea Head on the Dingle Peninsula


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[MRG]

Thanks Dog. Them are some good looking sheep! Nice view too.

 

[Nemo2]

Them are some good looking sheep!

There are some old Australian jokes with that observation as the main theme.