My first experience with driving on the “wrong” side of the road was in the Cook Islands. They drive on the left side there. Fortunately, the road is a circle around the island (Rarotonga), so not much turning involved. I did fine. However, my home was Tokyo, and though I never really drove there, I got used to cars being on the left side. Finally, after 7 years, I went back to the states and borrowed my mother’s car. I was driving down the street and people were honking at me. I rolled down my window to ask why and was told I was driving on the wrong side. After 25 years in Japan, I’ve lost my driving nerve. I hate driving. I hate my car. I want to move back to Japan.

I did a week long bicycle ride in Scotland, and finally tied a piece of yellow tape to my handlebars to remind me which side should be closest to the middle of the road. I did pretty well until we were on a remote island and there was no traffic. I came around a blind corner and instinctively swerved into oncoming traffic when I saw a car! Luckily the driver was our sag driver who knew all the yanks would be confused and forget what side we should be on.

That episode got my heart beating rather quickly…