evergrn

Only 2 countries:
S.Africa & Japan

Driving on surface roads in Jpn is a bit hairy, but driving on expressways is a lot of fun because Jpn's got really cool parking/service areas. Some of those are huge with food court, gift shops and sometimes even ferriswheel.

Driving in S.Africa is not too bad. But it can be a bit stressful. They don't give you enough heads-up on exits and intersections when driving down expressways. In US or Jpn, you can be zoned out and miss a sign, but there's always bound to be 3-4 signs for every exit/intersection with plenty of advance notice. Not the case in ZA. The use of emergency light and headlight to acknowledge each other when passing another vehicle is amusing, but it's also something that takes a bit of getting used to. There're crazy aggressive minibuses everywhere. Service area fast food is just awful. There're beggars at every major intersection / robot. When your car comes to a stop, you've gotta do your best to avoid them.

rufflesinc

rented a car in Japan to drive up Mt Fuji and on the famous toll road nearby. was epic.

thebakaronis

Not many for me either:

Bulgaria
Canada
Colombia
Costa Rica
Italy
UK
USA

CPRich

Not many. Public transportation and pre-arranged rides tend to work well for us.

US, Canada, Costa Rica, Iceland, Australia, St. Kitts, Ireland, England, Scotland, Belgium, Germany (DB7 on the Nordschleife!)

(ok, more than I originally thought)

(I think I've driven in all 47 states and 8 provinces I visited - no airport toe tapping)

pinniped

US (47 states)
Canada (5 provinces)
Mexico
Ireland
England
Wales
Scotland
France
Germany
Italy
Slovenia
Croatia
Austria

The proliferation of ridesharing, or even just reliable app-based taxi hailing and payment, around the world will likely prevent my list from growing too much. But at some point, I'll probably add Aus, NZ, Iceland, South Africa, and perhaps a few more northern/eastern European countries. Public transit is great in Europe, but we do enjoy getting out into small towns and countryside in Europe. Usually with 4-5 of us traveling, renting a van is the most practical way to do it.

Starting to sketch out a possible Thailand trip next year. Had not considered a rental car, but seeing it on lists here (suggesting foreigners *can* rent there) makes me wonder if I should consider it for non-Bangkok portions of the trip.

Places I'd *least* want to rent a car, based on my experiences in taxis:
- Hyderabad
- Lima
- Cairo
- Jaipur
- Shanghai

Most of these either won't rent to foreigners at all or don't advertise it much, but United was pushing me hard with the Hertz ads for my trip to Lima. I was like...do they just not want their car back in one piece?!?

rankourabu

Time for an update (36 countries)

Owned a car when living there
Canada
Bahamas
New Zealand
Rented a car
USA
Poland
Canada
UAE
Japan
Bahamas
New Zealand
Australia
Panama
Portugal
South Africa
Oman
Bahrain
Puerto Rico
St. Marteen/St.Martin
Cyprus
Uruguay
Costa Rica
Iceland
New Caledonia
Aruba
Curacao
Grenada
St.Lucia
Tonga
Samoa
American Samoa
St. Kitts
Croatia
Seychelles
Trinidad&Tobago
Antigua
Turks&Caicos

cubbie

I've always owned cars with manual transmissions, so that wouldn't be an obstacle for me, but I admit I have some trepidation about renting a car in any country that drives on the left side of the road. I just don't feel confident enough about trying to do it, even though people say you get used to it quickly. I have been in cars with people who were driving on the left side of the road but had NO desire to try it myself. I prefer to research public transport options for getting around those countries.

rickg523

It only takes a few drives to get used to it. And as long as there's traffic, you won't go wrong. It's only pulling out of the pub onto an empty road that I found myself driving on the right. My passengers' screams got me sorted immediately.
OTOH, don't route yourself through the Hangar Lane Gyratory for at least your first week @:-)

ajGoes

I think you mean it only took a few drives for you to get used to it. Some people are completely unable to make the change, and some people can do it instantly. I was confident I'd adapt pretty seamlessly and was disappointed that it took me a day to make the basic accommodation (to driving in England and Wales) and I never completely relaxed. It felt like I kept expending a certain amount of subconscious brainpower, and that was enough to make the driving considerably more stressful.

rickg523

Well, I had to. I was on a one year work assignment. Also, I grew up and learned to drive in LA. And at one point took a job in suburban NJ that required regularly driving in Manhattan. So, yes, I did have the background to easily adapt to difficult driving conditions. Still... That Gyratory (read "roundabout on steroids") - which I negotiated twice a day - was nuts!

ajGoes

I also learned to drive in LA. Before that UK trip, I'd driven in Boston (and many other challenging places in the US and Canada), Mexico, France, and Italy. That's why I was so confident I'd adapt quickly in Britain. I'd never driven on the left before, though, and that plus the crowded, narrow roads made my week's worth of UK driving more stressful than I'd have liked. I never made a serious error, but I never completely relaxed, either.

I have no trouble driving in other crowded places -- navigating Haifa, Israel in rush hour was no trouble -- but I'd prefer not to do it on the left.

rickg523

Fair enough. Courses for horses.
And I must admit, when I first got to London, while crossing a major road, I looked the wrong way and a passerby (bless his anonymous heart) pulled me back onto the pavement (sidewalk) out of the path of a fast moving bus...

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Badenoch

My first experience driving on the other side was a month-long business trip in Africa and it was less stressful than subsequent driving in the UK. Since then I've adjusted and can adapt quite quickly but it took a while to adjust to roundabouts, narrow country lanes and postage stamp parking spots. In Africa all I had to worry about was the occasional kudu or warthog on the roadway.

Adjusting back to North American isn't instant either. When I encountered my first Canadian roundabout after a two-week driving trip on the left side my immediate instinct was enter it in clockwise. Oooops.

trooper

Interesting question!

Lets see..

Australia (Obviously...lol)
New Zealand
USA
France
Norway
Sweden
Estonia
South Africa

..that's it... not many really.

CMK10

Since my last post in January, 2018 I can only add Iceland.