![\"Drive](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.design42.com\/ireland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/IMG_1783.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a>Drive on the Left<\/p><\/div>\n
When I went to pick up my rental car, they\u2019d given it away. I was even about a half hour early from when I told them I was getting in. With some insistence, they called around and found another car for me elsewhere. They took me to a little building somewhere in Dublin and I rented what they had left, a tiny little stick-shift car that had been waiting to have the tires changed. They marked all the dents. But it was sure better than no car at all.<\/p>\n
<\/a>The rental car was a bit dinged and needed new tires.<\/p><\/div>\n
They explained I could have it for the weekend, then come back to trade it for the car I had reserved.<\/p>\n
<\/a>My Hyundai Atos<\/p><\/div>\n
Look closely. You can see that the seat is pushed forward. The car was so small; my suitcase would only fit on the back seat if I pushed the front seat forward. It was a big suitcase.<\/p>\n
So, sitting on the right, changing gears with my left hand, they turned me, jet-lagged me, loose in Dublin. I kept pressing the gas for the clutch, since everything else was backwards. Fortunately it restarted easily every time I stalled out.<\/p>\n
I had mapped out my route from picking up the car at the airport. Now I had no idea where I even was.\u00a0 I circled, learning the car, staying off main roads, until I saw a sign saying I was in Swords. I found it on my map, and drove straight to the Crannmor Country Guest House in Trim. Roads are not marked very clearly. There are a lot more roads than are shown on any of my maps. The road is named by where it goes to. So, you will be driving along on Rathcoole Road and then it isn\u2019t Rathcoole Road anymore, because you passed Rathcoole. Or you are coming from another town toward Rathcoole, so you are on a different Rathcoole Road. Get a GPS. Really, really get a GPS.<\/p>\n
Drive on the Left<\/h3>\n
The next day, looking for Liexlip Castle, I came around a bend and a car was coming right at me. I was correctly driving on the left, but my first reaction was \u201cWhat am I doing? I\u2019m on the wrong side of the road!\u201d So, I swerved and braked. The American, driving on the right, the wrong side of the road, also swerved and braked and we hit each other head on. Not very fast, but the airbag went off and I broke my wrists. My tiny little car was demolished. His giant Mercedes barely noticed. Coincidentally he was from Asheville, only about 30 miles from my home in Hendersonville, North Carolina.<\/p>\n
So, I got to meet the Garda, the Irish police, had an exciting hospital visit and was without a car the rest of the weekend. On Monday I was delivered the car I had originally reserved and I rented a GPS.<\/p>\n
The second rental car had reminder signs all over it.<\/p><\/div>\n
The next week, near the Cliff\u2019s of Moher, another American came at me in the wrong lane. This time I just blew the horn and stopped the car. We were traveling more slowly than before and no persons or cars were harmed. He was from Cashiers, about an hour from my home. How often are Irish hit by Americans?<\/p>\n
Narrow Roads<\/h3>\n![\"Many](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.design42.com\/ireland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/IMG_2203.jpg?resize=676%2C507&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Many roads in Ireland are very narrow.
There is nowhere to pull over.
If you meet a car, someone has to reverse.<\/p><\/div>\n
I would recommend renting a small car. Many of the roads are very narrow. There are often walls on both sides of the road, so there is no way to pull off the road. If you come upon another car going the other way, you have to back up till you get to a wider space to pass. I am good at going in reverse, but the broken wrists made it more of a challenge.<\/p>\n
Bridges<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Many roads in Ireland are very narrow.
There is nowhere to pull over.
If you meet a car, someone has to reverse.<\/p><\/div>\n
I would recommend renting a small car. Many of the roads are very narrow. There are often walls on both sides of the road, so there is no way to pull off the road. If you come upon another car going the other way, you have to back up till you get to a wider space to pass. I am good at going in reverse, but the broken wrists made it more of a challenge.<\/p>\n