WE’RE TRAVELING… THROUGH TIME, MAN!
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I only really appreciated time zones when I traveled in China. Officially, everything is on Beijing time, so sunrise/sunsets get really weird, especially when you travel directly from the East coast to the extreme Western provinces
It’s the same as any other sport. You get attached to teams and drivers. I’ve gotten really into it this year. Not enough to pay those prices though.
The prices are pretty nuts. The Mexico City prices are only a bit cheaper, which is pretty shocking for Mexico. For those prices I’d want to see a car wall riding the final turn and passing 6 cars.
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I can’t wait to see what the balcony rooms will cost at the Cosmo.
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People have asked on here why I don’t want to just buy a car in South America, then sell it at the end. Repeats for Australia, etc. This article is a great illustration.
From the beginning, my anxieties stemmed from the van itself. On a steamy day in July, we left triumphantly from Philly, striking out from the same old ugly, crowded highways, quickly moving north on I-87, up into the green mountainsides of the Catskills of New York. But I couldn’t enjoy the views. My eyes were glued on the temperature gauge, which read “Cold N-O-R-M-A-L Hot” in an arc. In the fall and winter, when I’d been driving Little Honey, the needle got stuck, as if lodged between the leg of the R and the M . Now, in the 92-degree heat, it meandered up through the M and, to my horror, occasionally cut into the A . Every millimeter it rose made new parts of my body clench. What if the temperature spiked and the van died the first week of the trip, or the first day?
We rode on, but my nerves were shot. I couldn’t seem to shake the little voice in my head that kicked in every day when I unchocked the wheels and turned the keys in the starter: If this van breaks down, you’re fucked. I’d always wanted to be handy like my dad and uncles and cousins—the kind of men with the skill to take something apart and put it back together again, repaired. I thought that owning the van would make me handy and mechanical by necessity, and in some ways, it had: I could change a tire, no sweat, keep the simple things lubricated and topped off, even tighten the oil pan with a socket wrench to try to stop an incessant leak. But beyond that, I had failed. I still didn’t know how to diagnose a cracked head gasket or how to fix anything serious. When something bad happened (and I couldn’t shake the feeling that it would), we’d be at the mercy of some wicked small-town mechanic.
Also anything someone else has been living in for a while would smell weird. You can’t clean that out. For me it’s all about enjoying the ride. And I know that would be greatly diminished in some car I didn’t know inside and out, and at least smells like me :D
I visited Montreal 5 years ago. Unfortunately I picked the wrong time between summer and real winter. My main goal was watching Habs games so I took a longer homestand in November. Was also the first time I tried AirBnB. My host was a cook and had a list of eating locations prepared for me. Most of the time he was at work. First game I watched in a bar, for the 2nd game I went to the Bell Centre and instead of watching the game in a bar one of the ticket sellers got hold of me so I bought a ticket. I think I watched 3-4 games live even bought the expensive ticket for the Leafs game on my 2nd to last day. Unfortunately the Habs got trashed that game. The whole trip was a disappointment if I only count the games.
I used the time to explore since a lot of the summer stuff was already closed and it even was pretty fkn cold for my taste on few days. Nevertheless I never had the feeling that its unsafe to wander around. I found it funny that all these people kept their bikes outside. Where I live these bikes wouldnt last a week before they get stolen. I wished I would have been a bit more safe with my few french phrases because most people opened in french. If I get back there on a non hockey trip I should go in summer or during playoffs (haha).
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I personally would very much not want to drive a right-hand drive car in the US (by analogy with driving a left-hand drive car here) because sitting in a left-hand drive car is what reminds me that I am driving on the right. I feel like I would be way likelier to revert to habit and screw up in a right-hand drive car. But YMMV.
From my experience with scooters and motorcycles, small town mechanics are awesome, I’ve literally had nothing but good experiences. As long as you have a car with parts they’d have, which I think is mostly Toyotas, I don’t think you’d have much trouble at all, except for maybe language issues.
Can confirm this is not optimal. I was in USVI not too long ago where they drive on the left and most of the cars are left-hand drive, including the rental I had. I resorted to mumbling to myself to “stay left” to try and overcome the stimulus control of doing it the other way around for my entire adult life. Found that pulling out of driveways was more precarious than normal driving too and had to really focus on looking right* initially.
Edit: typed “left” here. lul
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Have you driven on the left previously in right-hand drive cars? I can drive both sides fine now after a small adjustment period. I rented a guy’s car in Portland and started driving having not driven on the right since 2018 and it kind of felt like I was on stage with a spotlight on, I was like errr am I doing this right? All the signs and lane markings and stuff are different to home as well so it can be nerve racking at first. But yeah I just feel like a right hand drive car would be way too familiar and I would slip into autopilot at some point.
When I rented a car in England on my visit, it took me like 10 minutes to get used to driving on the other side.
Didn’t really think about it again except when turning sometimes. I assume it’s helped a lot by the seat switch.
I can’t find who it was but I know some D-grade US celebrity died driving the Tanami Track. The Tanami Track looks like this:
And goes for something like 650 miles like that, through incredibly remote country. Whoever this guy was he died in a head on collision because he hadn’t seen another car for like a day and when he tried to pass one he pulled to the right, the other guy pulled to the left, smash.
I find multi-lane roundabouts I still really need to engage my brain.
We don’t have four-way stops in Australia, so I was apprehensive of them before I first drove in the US, but they’re easy.
Shockingly most Americans can’t seem to understand the concept!
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I have but it was 25(?) years ago and just for a short drive to say I have done it, so I don’t think it had any impact one way or another. Jfc thinking about it now though, it’s a miracle I didn’t kill anyone. You mention the different road signs, I blew right through a stop sign at one point bc of course, they’re on the left side of the road too and I just ignored it.
Doesn’t seem like ENOUGH taquerias to me.
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