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Countries where you've driven a rental car
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: -------------------------------------------------------------------- - 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: -------- 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! https://i.imgur.com/Efqi7KH.jpg Renault with a HUD in Algarve, Portugal (From Faro) https://i.imgur.com/OfwAHPn.jpg Driving along the coast of the Algarve https://i.imgur.com/0aMc8e8.jpg Iceland - rental SUV. Western region. https://i.imgur.com/fgtncYN.jpg Iceland - very next image, some colorful contrasts. Nice to see green in winter. |
Apart from my home in the USA, just Canada, Mexico, Ireland, Iceland, and South Africa for me.
When I entered Iceland, I hadn't driven a manual in a few years, and I wanted to spend some time in the parking lot getting used to it again. But the company brought me the car along with an exit ticket and said I had to leave within ten minutes. Oh, well! Seth |
Well, let me see — on the right side of the road:
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USA
Canada Mexico Antigua (L) Argentina Chile Fiji (L) New Zealand (L) Australia (L) Eire (L) UK (L) Finland Sweden Denmark Germany E. Germany Poland Russia Czech Republic Austria Switzerland Italy Turkey France Netherlands Belgium Luxembourg Monaco Gibraltar Spain Portugal Israel South Africa (L) Botswana (L) |
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 Coming soon Samoa American Samoa St. Kitts Croatia Seychelles |
US
Canada (NS, NB, ON, QC, NL) Mexico (QR, Yucatan) Argentina St. Maarten Germany France Great Britain Azores (Portugal) Portugal Sicily (Italy) Netherlands Tenerife (Spain) Jordan Oman Jeju (South Korea) On a side note, I've driven my own car in Germany, France, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Czech, Austria, and South Korea |
Mine is short: USA, Canada, and Belgium.
In Belgium I was going to one of the few places not convenient by train, and the buses didn't run late enough for the music festival I was attending. I was actually looking forward to driving a manual transmission again... then they brought around an automatic :( |
Koreans do the 'no headlamps on at night' thing too but they believe it saves battery and fuel.
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Not many and no countries where they drive on the 'other side' yet. Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and France.
By far the craziest place I have ever rented and driven a car was El Salvador. Hair pin turns along the Pacific Ocean were beautiful, but you saw some of the absolute craziest things. We literally screamed twice. Both involved trucks in our lane passing on curves with sheer cliffs. |
My big list..
Australia |
1. US
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USA (also my own car, and rental moving trucks)
Canada (also my own car) South Africa Oman United Aran Emirates Bahrain Tried to rent a car in Panama, but the counter guy wanted me to sign a charge ticket without an amount filled in. NOT HAPPENING! So I just used Uber. Norway (never rented a car, but lived there and drove a van my employer provided - my regular wheels - as well as cars owned by friends; also drove a panel truck with four-on-the-floor to take my road test for my commercial license) Funny thing - I’ve visited 17 other European countries but not ever driven, much less rented a car, in any of them. |
United States — owned car
Canada - owned car France Germany Greece Albania Italy Switzerland Liechtenstein Scotland England Australia - Owned car New Zealand Portugal Spain Costa Rica Tasmania - they say they are their own country, so I guess it counts....... |
Right hand drive:
United States Canada Aruba Greece Spain France Germany Belgium Netherlands Switzerland Denmark And the left hand drive ones: Malta Mauritius Australia New Zealand |
Switzerland
Germany Liechtenstein Austria France Italy England Norway Sweden Finnland Slovenia Argentina Brazil Thailand New Zealand Australia India VAE USA Panama Colombia Venezuela Belgium Netherland Luxembourg Namibia Mozambique Uganda Rwanda South Africa Swaziland Morrocco Egypt Iceland Comming soon: Canada |
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