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Renting (or hiring, as the British say) a car is a great way to get around, once you get used to it. To set up your rental car before you leave call Auto Europe at (800) 223-5555. This great company had all kinds of specials and they even rent motorhomes! Here's a link to the Auto Europe website. Otherwise, it's easy to find rental cars at any major airport or train station in the UK.

There are a couple of things to be aware of before driving in the UK. The driver's side is on the right and you drive on the left side of the road. To make matters even worse, most rental cars have standard (as opposed to automatic) transmissions. If you have trouble with stick shifts (and remember, you will be shifting with your left hand), leave the driving to someone else. You can request an automatic car, but it is significantly more expensive (about $140.00 worth for the car I rented, needless to say, I opted for shifting).

The left side driving wasn't too bad once I got used to it. Most of my driving was in the country, which is much easier than driving on the left side in crowded, narrow city streets. Driving in the big cities can be quite intimidating and public transportation is so good, it really isn't necessary.

While renting a car was comparable in price to doing so in the United States, gas was not. As much as we complain about gas prices here, we're not even in the contest. Luckily, the most European countries don't cover that much territory, so in theory you won't have to fill up that often, even if you cover a lot of ground.

Keep aware of what side you're supposed to be driving on and all should be well. People tend to park on either side of the street in whichever direction they are going (for you residents in the UK, we don't do this in the States). This can throw you, as you will see a car parked on the left hand side of the street, facing you. When in Rome...

Here are a few other pointers about driving in the UK:

• Seatbelts are the law, so buckle up.
• There is no general priority rule when approaching road junctions, each individual junction is marked with either a red triangle "give way" sign or a red "stop" sign. Some junctions will only have "give way" markings on the road itself ( a white triangle with double dotted white lines across the road).]
• Many (and I do mean many) intersections will have "roundabouts". Those of us from the northeast United States know these as rotaries (those of you from the southern US have probably never seen such a thing in your life). A roundabout is a traffic circle with various offshoots, used instead of a normal intersection. Drive around the roundabout clockwise and signal left when you reach the exit you wish to use. "Mini Roundabouts" are indicated by a round blue sign. In any roundabout situation, give way to traffic coming from the right, including oncoming vehicles which may cross your path while turning right.
• The emergency telephone number for police, fire or ambulance is 999.

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