So...many of my recent trips I've ended up renting cars because I wanted to get around on my own or go to certain remote places. Which has made me think about -- where have I driven a rental car before?
In some countries it's always interesting as I get acquainted with a new stick-shift / manual, as I drive an automatic at home. For awhile my policy was, only rent 5-speeds on islands with not much traffic. I've expanded that to include not just islands, but places where traffic is relatively light. I used to be scared of renting stick shifts, but that is no longer the case. Though I still have a little trepidation I must admit at this very moment.
Driving your own car really forces you to learn a place in a different way than if you just go on a tour bus and get chauffered around.
So..here's my list of countries where I've driven a rental car:
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- USA (home)
- Canada - multiple provinces - almost got stuck in a remote ice / water section in Churchill, until I figured out the 4WD had to be manually turned on! Yikes!
- Australia (Left-side)
- New Zealand (Left-side)
- Qatar
- Bahrain
- Greece (mainland and Crete)
- Brazil - Florianopolis only (Got stuck going up a hill one time and had to turn around to get speed! 5-speed)
- Canary Islands, Spain
- Germany (Rental Audi A2 could barely keep up on the Autobahn!) - 5-speed
- Sweden
- Portugal (mainland and Madeira) - 5-speed on 2 mainland locations
- Iceland
upcoming:
Argentina - 5-speed (Not in major cities!)
Chile
maybe Uruguay
so 15 or 16....of 75+ countries visited.
Moped:
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Penang, Malaysia
few places in Thailand
Colombian island
others?? don't remember. Have rented bicycles in quite a few places...but that's not the same as the area is limited.
you?
On another note: the craziest places I've been IN a car are Sri Lanka, Bali, and India to a lesser degree. More close calls in Sri Lanka and Bali than anywhere else. When people talk about crazy drivers in the USA, I just have to chuckle a little bit. Having done a multi-month cross country in the USA, I speak from experience. USA crazy is a lot less crazy...
India is only crazy in the rural areas, but in the cities there is too much traffic to get any sort of speed. Sri Lanka and Bali - maybe it has something to do with their religious beliefs?
A special shout out to Egyptians (just taxi drivers?) who I found sometimes drive without headlights. As if it will save the battery or something!
Renault with a HUD in Algarve, Portugal (From Faro)
Driving along the coast of the Algarve
Iceland - rental SUV. Western region.
Iceland - very next image, some colorful contrasts. Nice to see green in winter.