So, what recollections do you have?
I think I was about 19/20, and drove to Interlaken with a pal for a two week camping holiday. He had an old mini....this was around the mid 70s, with a roof rack loaded with spare parts! Just driving down to Dover from Bradford was an adventure. I was nervous as hell the first thirty minutes, but soon adapted to the road conditions. It was all very slow, and it took us two days to reach Interlaken.
Never looked back, although ten years ago in the USA when I drove my friends giant ( to me) truck for the first time it took 30 minutes to get used to its size, turning circle, undertaking on the right and right turns on red, where allowed. No stopping me now, although picking up a hire car and driving out of SF in rush hour needs plenty of concentration.
I never drive the day I arrive though...after almost 20 hours travelling and the 8 hour time difference I always think a good nights sleep is advisable.
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In 1967 I had a company 1600E and drove to Italy for a trade exhibition. I had read that all Italians were crazy drivers, but once over the Alps (over, for the fun of it) I found I was the hooligan on the mountain roads.
Car failed twice - the ignition coil and then a rad leak (solved with the Italian equivalent of Araldite)
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1977, I was 23, Chrysler Le Baron from Avis at New York Kennedy Airport via the Brooklyn Bridge to a hotel with an underground garage somewhere on the Upper West Side manhattan.
Then 3000 miles to The florida Keys via Niagra Falls, Pennsylvania, Washington, The Carolinas and Florida.
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Good man
That makes my adventure of driving to Interlaken in a mini seem rather weak by comparison. Mind you, I only had two weeks holiday and was a few years younger than you.
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25, Landed at JFK bus up to Connecticut, hire car keys waiting in reception for my use over the next few months while working there. I used the car at weekends to visit New York, Boston, Cape Cod...
Checking in to a hotel and hearing you will be with them for more than 100 nights is a sobering thought. I relocated a few times for my sanity.
I took my first RHD abroad a year after the above. I was working in Munich.
American car was some horrible V6 barge. Handled like a barstool on castors.
Last edited by: gmac on Fri 24 Jul 15 at 20:09
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Mazda 323 as a summer student on a placement in South Africa, was 20 in 1980. From Rietkuil near Middelburg via Kriel to Mbabane and Manzini in Swaziland and back via Havelock and Barberton to see the Asbestos mine.
IIRC about 30% on dirt roads, some of the straightest roads and some of the best scenery I have ever seen and as close to a wild rhino as I ever want to get.
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SA having the advantage of driving on the correct side of the road of course.
First drove on the continent on a booze cruise when the dear old Daily Mail had channel crossings for £10. 1100 Fiesta LX, with a noticeable tail down profile when fully loaded with cheap beer and wine.
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Mk1 Transit Van in about 1978. France, Spain & Portugal.
Slept in the van. Totally ill-equipped and ill-prepared. Compensated with beer.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Fri 24 Jul 15 at 23:06
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2-litre Vitesse to Germany in the mid '70s, with more than the fifty quid permitted hidden in various parts of the car (remember that?).
Quickly learnt the French drove underpowered stuff and always backed out of a challenge!
Drive shaft UJ ran dry just before the Dutch/German border and squealed like a pig. Nothing open due to bank holiday.
Crossed at some obscure place (Worms) I've since seen on wine bottles. Dutch guard waved us through, but the k**** wanted to see everything and even made us unwrap birthday presents we had until the Dutch guard walked across and berated him. Just as well as our hosts had requested coffee, which was a restricted item at the time.
Had to cross back to Holland to find a Triumph dealer to fix the UJ. They'd never seen a Vitesse and were fascinated by the 2-litre-six-in-a-Herald.
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23 and in the US for the first time. Landed in Austin on a hot April afternoon, had a wait at the Hertz office but eventually got the key to a white Escort wagon. Sat in it for what seemed like ages but was probably only five minutes, studying my map and working out turn by turn how I was going to get to my serviced apartment. Once I was going I was fine, and I had nine weeks there to get the hang of things. Loved the freedom of exploring the city, and managed to stay out of trouble as I got more confident.
Didn't drive in France till I was 28 and on my honeymoon. Took the red Saab over on the hovercraft, then the Autotrain to Avignon, so my first task was to drive up into the Provençal hills. Again, after the initial apprehension it was great, and still is. Next trip begins tomorrow night.
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Enjoy your trip.... Just drove ten miles up 50 to Pollock Pines to walk the dogs around Jenkinson Lake. Highway closed after that due to wildfire....main road to Tahoe.
Don't get that in t'Dales,
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I think i was about 19, i drove in parts of France and Belgium. Got used to driving on the other side of the road quite quickly. Far quicker than i thought. Although driving in France was easy, nice roads very little traffic. Belgium was another matter, it was quite dicey at times. It was an eye opener, they really don't give any quarter i found. I've been back a few times and they're still as bad.
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I was 25 and drove a Transit to Ypres in Belgium, & later the same year went to Florida and had a hire car there. That was 1988, seems like a lifetime ago now !
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Age 17/18 in the mid 60s, 4 of us took our co-owned bedford CA 12 seater (called a workabus?) to Italy. The one thing that sticks in my mind was when, (one of the others was driving), a merge into lane 1 from a slip road became a near death experience. The unyielding HGV cleanly removed our wing mirror which we then had welded back onto the A-pillar.
The 3 speed CA was never renowned for its lightning accelaration:)
Yellow headlights - you might as well drive on sidelights.
Lesson learnt - do not let very short sighted drivers wear prescription sunglasses. Unlit tunnels become a major hazard. We only came out of the other end because the front seat passenger grabbed the wheel from the bench seat.
and from above
>>>France was easy, nice roads very little traffic. Belgium was another matter<<<
The Belgs have not improved much to this day! The difference is that they they now venture to the South of France and Spain. Often wondered how many start out to get that many down here.
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oads very little traffic. Belgium was another matter<<<
>> The Belgs have not improved much to this day! The difference is that they they
>> now venture to the South of France and Spain. Often wondered how many start out
>> to get that many down here.
Its my sworn duty to make any Belgians drivers life hell when I see them over here. Cut them up, box them in, anything.
Call it payback.
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I've found with Belgians if you make eye contact they then start driving to some sort of standard otherwise it's a go on the dodgems.
More worrying, for me, is the Italian standards now being applied in Germany. In the space of 100m on an urban multi lane through road I saw one car drive over solid white lines taking a slip road from the outside lane and two red light jumpers, I'm not talking only just gone red.
Stop signs are only obeyed when there's a police presence too.
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Keep in mind that many Belgian-registered cars aren't driven by Belgians! When I lived in Brussels 20 years ago the place was full of expats from all over the world. The vast majority of us had Belgian rego plates. I exported and re-registered my 5-year old Fiesta from the UK. Quite a hoot zipping round the city in a RHD car for a couple of years!
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MINI - Driving abroad for the first time - Aretas
