London, England
Driving on the other side of the road is a fear of many Americans when they come to the United Kingdom. When you have spent most of your adult life doing any task one way, and then you switch it up to do the opposite, it can be pretty awkward. During our first trip to England in 2003, we stayed primarily in London, so we got around easily with public transportation. The tube and bus lines are well labeled and easily connected to the main sites. Even for our trip to Stonehenge and Bath, we took a motor coach from Victoria Bus Station, so driving was not necessary.
On our second trip to the United Kingdom in 2015, we had three trips planned outside London, including to Essex, Reading, and Oxfordshire. For these trips, we knew that we could not rely on public transportation. I hired a small bus and a driver for the Essex Young Farmers Show, but for our farm tours, I broke down and rented a van. However, for the other two trips, I was baptized by the fire of driving on the other side of the road.
The Sixt Rental Agency was a short walk across the Tower Bridge from our hotel in Whitechapel. Sixt is a very popular European car rental agency that has since opened many locations in the United States. We rented a Volkswagen van, and Adrienne and four of my students were the guinea pig passengers as I learned how to drive on the other side of the road in London traffic.
Before I rented the vehicle, I went to AAA back home and filled out an International Driving Permit. It is generally a good idea to have this with you. Rental companies want you to have it on file, and if you were in a traffic accident, it would be vital for you to have it as well.
When I pulled out onto the city streets of London, it was almost like 20 years of driving experience melted away. Driving towards Reading, I found myself drifting towards the curbs and hitting a few. Adrienne, who was in the front seat, was not helping my nerves, and since she was fairly pregnant with Henry at the time, I know my driving skills were not reassuring her of safety. Once I made it to the the highway, it felt like a fever dream. I just tried to follow the signs and get to the right destination. It was odd that I was in the slow lane, which is on the left. Odder still was going clockwise through a roundabout. A new driver will get plenty of practice on roundabouts, as they are common across the United Kingdom. Finally, the most challenging part for me was overcoming the muscle memory when it comes to turning left and right. Forcing yourself to turn right when crossing traffic takes time to get used to.
The first day driving to Reading was rough. Still, because we had the vehicle, I was able to visit a couple of locations at the University of Reading and take an unplanned stop with the students in Windsor on the way back to London. It opened my eyes to how much of England is more accessible via automobile. The trip the following day to a farm in Oxfordshire, and my improved driving helped me overcome one of my fears of driving on the left.
Before our 2024/2025 trip to the United Kingdom, it had been nine and a half years since I last drove on the other side of the road. We had since been to a few places that involved left-side driving (Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and, surprisingly, the U.S. Virgin Islands), but I was always a passenger. I was a little nervous planning a trip that involved driving a car.
At first, I wanted to see if we could pull off the trip using public transportation, but with outages caused by the holidays and potential rail strikes, renting a vehicle seemed like our best option to get everywhere we wanted to be. For the eight of us, we divided into two groups, with Jim as the driver in one car, and me in the other. We then began our two-week drive across the country. Driving in England and Wales was convenient with a traveling party of our size. Because Jim and Diana wanted to go to a few destinations we did not, it worked out for us to have a van so Logan could travel with us on some days, or to send one of the kids with them on others.
Economically, it was much cheaper to travel by car than by train. I priced rail tickets to and from some of the major destinations we were going to, including Brighton, Coventry, Dover, and Liverpool. I realized we would be much better off in a car. In comparison, fuel is more expensive in the United Kingdom than here in the United States. However, many of the vehicles are diesel-powered and very economical to operate.
On days that we went into downtown London, we took a train into the city. However, for destinations farther out, such as Brisbane Road and Stamford Bridge, we drove and paid for parking. The other unspoken cost is the travel delay. When you are on vacation, you only have a set amount of time to go places and do things. When an automobile gives you a more direct route, it opens up many of the quick stops that I could have otherwise never worked into an itinerary. I also quickly found that you can find a car park that puts you within walking distance or a short bus ride of many of the attractions.
Driving in the countryside was pleasant, though on backroads, driving can get hairy when the road is not wide enough for two vehicles. British drivers are much more courteous than those in many countries I have visited, so as long as a driver is patient and courteous themselves, they should have no trouble getting from one place to another. Patience is key when driving in the United Kingdom. A key tip from me is to add 30 minutes to any trip where you are driving. Road closures and traffic slowdowns happen often, and detours are not always marked. Google Maps became a suggestion and not a hard rule on our last trip.
Driving is the best way to get around most of the United Kingdom, and I would not have thought so after my first two driving adventures in 2015. It was a challenge learning to drive on the left, but at the close of this journey, I was behind the wheel for about 1,450 miles across England and Wales. During both of my voyages to the United Kingdom, I rented an automatic. Manual transmission vehicles are prominent throughout Europe, but we have not owned a manual transmission car since before Wyatt was born, so I’m a little rusty with shifting gears. The clutch, brake, and gas pedals are the same, but I have never driven a car where I changed gears with my left hand. When trying to master left-side driving, it felt like an extra task, but maybe I’ll tackle that in the future.
Overall, driving on the left can seem daunting and uncomfortable. However, with patience and practice, driving on the left opens up many of the great destinations throughout the United Kingdom.
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