Travel Bug

I was driving to work this morning when I was overcome with an intense, overwhelming longing to be somewhere else. Somewhere far away. About to have an adventure. Now this may be a reaction to all this house buying business and to the fact that I won't be taking my planned trip to Mexico this spring, opting instead to go to Montreal to attend one of my cousin's weddings. I don't know, but I just wanted to be anywhere but here. I love to travel. I am lucky to have a good friend who also likes to travel and together we go lots of fun places. We usually always rent a car to get around, because I love the freedom of being able to go anywhere we want to go without having to depend on public transportation in a foreign country. And we are both pretty good drivers, even the one with the lead foot, and have never had a problem getting around. Getting lost does not count as a problem, with the two of us, it is an inevitable part of the journey. We get lost all the time. Occasionally we have a fight about each other's poor navigational skills or inability to follow / give simple directions, but it doesn't take us too long to get back on track.

The first time we rented a car on our travels was in Ireland. Christine had looked after the ticket and renting the car and all those details, and so we had no problems at all, except when we got to the car and realized that we each expected the other to drive. We had a big fight about it in the parking lot.

"I am not driving, I have never driven on the left before"
"Well, I am not driving, I can't drive a standard"
"I am not driving"
"I am not driving"
"Well, I am not driving"
"Well, I am not driving either"

And so it continued, until I, in an inspired move to end the arguement once and for all in my favor, stomped around to the passenger seat, got in the car, and slammed the door, thinking "so there" because if she had to get in the drivers side, she would have to drive.

In the UK, the passenger seat is on the left. In Canada, the passenger seat is on the right. I got in the right side of the car, the driver's seat, thus losing by default.

Happily, I now have no fear of driving on either side and really enjoy the much higher speed limits in other countries. Although it does take me a while to re-adjust (slow down) when I get back home. I think that is what I was thinking about when I was driving to work - wouldn't it be great if I was driving somewhere totally new, about to have an adventure, not just to my boring job.