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Getting to Dingle the Roundabout WayDon’t Be Afraid to Rent a Car in Ireland – I DidBy Pat ConnellyMaybe you’ve visited Europe before – maybe you even consider yourself a world traveler, but maybe like me, there’s one thing you’ve never done on the continent before: and that’s drive a car. And why should you? You can take tube wherever you need to in London, offhandedly hop on the Eurostar to Paris, and you are savvy enough to reserve a nonsmoking sleeper when traveling by second -class train from Rome to Venice. But now you finally want to visit Ireland, good old, nonaccessible-by-train Ireland, you’re going to have to rent a car, and you’re a little nervous. C’mon, let’s put it plainly – you are big weeny baby. Well, I’m here to tell you, you can do it and I know, because I did it, and as any of my friends will tell you – I am a big weeny baby. I can make it a little easier on you though by telling you some important stuff in advance. Before You Leave Plan Your Routes
Rent the Car Rent while still in the US. Go to the web site for the airport at which you’ll be arriving at and sort through all your car rental options. If possible, use a GoldCard to rent and you’ll be covered for no additional charge for all potential damages to your rental car, known as collision damage waiver or CDW. This is a fact that Hertz and Avis did not mention when providing price quotes. The folks at Thrifty Malone, however, were quick to point out this considerable cost savings to us and consequently got our business. Another important cost savings? Consider yourself lucky if you’re dad taught you to drive a stick shift. Renting a car with an automatic transmission will cost you approximately twice as much. When selecting the model and size to rent, forget all your American driving imperatives like stretching out and status. Your choices are small, smaller, and appropriate for Irish roads. Ninety percent of the cars we saw while driving in Ireland were compact and subcompacts –for very good reason. The majority of roads in Ireland were constructed with another way of life in mind – a way that didn’t involve two cars passing each other simultaneously- and certainly not a car an a huge bus. By the way, when overcompensating for other vehicles, such as that big delivery truck as we did at first, it may be helpful to know that hedges on the side of the road give way to your car– stone walls, not so much. We lost a quarter of a sideview mirror within 10 minutes of pulling out of the rental parking lot. Your only consideration in renting a small vehicle might be whether or not your large suitcase will fit in the boot. Yet another reason to give in and do what you know is smart: pack light. When You Get There Go Ahead, Drive the Car I won’t lie. A traveling companion come in handy to act as navigator. Ireland is a smallish country , but unfortunately, apparently 98% of the roads consist of roundabouts – kind of like American traffic circles but much more horrific. When approaching a traffic circle in the US, a driver instinctively knows who has the right of way. You quickly realize that this instinct disappears though when you are driving on the wrong side of the road from the wrong side of the car in the wrong side of the world. You don’t have much time to worry about such things though, because the signs that let you know you are approaching a roundabout are usually placed about seven feet away from these nightmares. The signs are set up so that each of the three to five points at which you can exit the roundabout are illustrated like spokes on a wheel with the town names and route numbers placed on the spokes. So seven feet before the traffic signal you are faced with five potential choices – in English and Gaelic from which to make an immediate choice while trying to figure out if you should go before the pig truck coming at you from the right. This is where a traveling companion who can navigate while you drive, comes in handy. “Not another stinking roundabout! Which way? Which way???” “Uhhhhhhh. . .” “WHICH WAY? WHICH WAY?” “23 Galway. No! No! 23 Ennis! No this lane! This lane! “Which lane?!!” “This lane! Look where I’m pointing. No don’t look! Watch out for the pig truck! AAHHHHH. OK, you’re OK. . . um. . .” “What?” “I think it was 23 Galway.” If you and your traveling companion aren’t married, you may want to consider taking this step before your trip. After several such moments of driving tension, marriage makes separation between the driver and the navigator slightly more legally complex than say, pushing that other person out of the subcompact and quickly driving away. Calculating Distance and Speed When trying to figure out how far away some place is, remember a kilometer is about half a mile plus 10%, so 50 kilometers is around 30 miles. When trying to figure out how fast you can go, you won’t have to work as hard: your car will show your speed in both measurements. Speaking of speed, you should know that Irish drivers drive way too fast for road conditions, but they are infinitely nicer and more patient than American drivers. They will hang behind poky US scarebabies or the ever-present tractors on a two-lane highway seemingly forever, without riding their bumper or making rude gestures. If you move over on the passing shoulders (a good idea) to let them pass, they will do so with a grateful wave. The official country web site warns visitors to abandon other cultural driving patterns. Britons or Americans who make a habit of stopping at yellow lights for instance may find themselves becoming closely acquainted with the native Irish driver behind them. Parking the Car In addition to parking lots, parking systems include the purchase of small parking discs from local shops or machines for dashboard display. Read the signs carefully. Ask questions. Double yellow lines on the pavement mean no parking any time. Conclusions Don’t be intimidated by my jokes. After a few scary minutes, you’ll get the hang of riding on the other side of the road, If you get lost, you won’t be lost for long, and you’re likely to enjoy the experience if you relax. The people are nice and all the routes are scenic routes. We saw some of our prettiest sights and had some of our biggest laughs trying to find Dingle. Of course it helps not to have reservations, but that’s another topic. WEB LINKSDriving in Ireland: an official government web site http://www.iol.ie/~discover/driving.htm Michelin’s international driving directions http://www.michelin.com/portail/index.jsp Renting a car at Dublin airport Renting a car at Shannon airport Pat Connelly |
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TM
Even
if you want to play it loose, make some plans. Go to Michelin’s
international map web site, click on driving directions, and plug in lots of
potential starting points and ending points. You don’t need street addresses
– plugging in the cities or towns are fine. For example, we knew we wanted
to head south after leaving Shannon Airport, but weren’t exactly sure how
jetlagged we would be, so we plotted a couple of different destinations with
different driving distances: Shannon Airport to Cashel, Shannon Airport to
Kinsale, Shannon Airport to Kilenny, and Shannon Airport to the Shannon
Airport Hilton. We got the routes, the distances, and the approximate time
to travel. Michelin also provide location names in Gaelic as well as
English, which was very useful. Gaelic is not a Romance language. No amount
of intuition in the world will tell you that Port Lairge is Waterford. We
also bought several big and small maps but never used them, sticking to the
Michelin routes for driving from place to place. For navigating within a
town we used the free town maps provided at each location’s tourist
information center. Not because they were free, but because they provided
the biggest clearest illustrations of how to get to everything useful to a
tourist. IMPORTANT: Route numbers don’t include compass directions just town
names. For example, don’t bother to look for 23 South on the road. You’ll
have to choose between 23 Galway and 23 Ennis. If you want to go south, you
better know in advance which one is more southerly.