Affordable Globetrotting: 04/30/18

No matter how hard you try, you can’t control everything that happens before or during your travels. Even after you think you have planned and mapped out every possible detail to ensure everything is perfect and will go the way you planned, sometimes sh*t just happens and those plans are interrupted.

So what do you do when your “perfect” plans have unexpectedly gone south? Easy! You panic of course! Totally joking. That’s the number one thing you don’t want to do. As difficult as it can be, you want to stay calm. Remember that there’s always a solution to every dilemma. Even though your plans have shifted a bit, it doesn’t mean everything is ruined and that you can’t still have the trip of a lifetime.

How do I know that a great trip can still be the outcome of well-thought-out plans that go awry? Well, because I’ve gone through some sh*t myself before and during my travels…and even though my dilemmas were stressful at first, a resolution was always found and a memory was always made. My next few blog posts will be some of the dilemmas (and their solutions) I’ve faced before and during my travels abroad.

First up: Car dilemmas in Ireland.

Road Trip in Ireland.

Dilemma: Arriving with very little to no sleep at Dublin’s airport from Edinburgh, our first order of business was picking up our car rental. All went smooth with the process, and soon enough the keys were in our hand. We approach our car in the parking lot, hop in, and find out soon after that everything…and I mean everything was the complete opposite from what we know. First of all, it was a manual. Yeah, I can get by driving a manual back at home, but not nearly comfortable enough to be driving one in a foreign country. To make it worse, since the driver’s seat was on the right side of the car, the stick shift was on the left side of my body, making it so I had to use my left (weak) hand to shift. Not only was the seat and stick shift on opposite sides from what I learned, but so were the rearview mirror and pedals! Oh, and I can’t forget to mention the fact that they drive on the left side of the road. So….yeah. Pretty much everything that I was used to when it came to driving back in the States was thrown out the window when we came to Ireland. Wrap your mind around that for a second…For a moment, I thought a prank was being played on us, and that we would soon be on the Irish version of “Candid Camera”. Unfortunately, no one came out from behind the cars holding a camera and microphone. It was 100% impossible to learn how to drive like an Irishman that day, especially with the feeling of exhaustion and the still lingering jet lag in our veins. When I finally came to realize that the likeliness of being able to safely drive this car (even out of the parking lot) was just about the same chances as meeting an Irish leprechaun while visiting Ireland, I had a ten second panic. I quickly switched my panic to thinking clearly and positive. How else to make fun of the situation other than to take a picture of the moment? So I did just that….I took a picture of my still-in-panic-mode husband who was currently Googling “How to drive a stick shift in Europe”. A giggle while taking the picture snapped him out of it, and he too started to laugh. We paused, brainstormed, compromised, and came up with the most simple solution.

In the midst of our dilemma.

Solution: Putting our pride aside, we walked right into the car rental office and approached the same counter with the same lady as before. Come to find out, being honest and kind really does get you far. After explaining our hindrance to drive European cars to the lady behind the counter, she made a few clicks on her computer, and found the one and only automatic car rental that was left. We took it right away with out hesitation in fear that someone else may have snagged it. A sigh of relief as the process became complete. With new car keys in our hands, we held our heads high as we walked out of the office one last time and made our way to our new car. We hopped in the beautiful black BMW and started to drive. Though it took a minute to get use to the driver’s seat being on the opposite side of the car, along with the expected driving on the opposite side of the road, we knew we were gonna make it after all! (Did I just quote the theme song to that “Mary Tyler Moore Show”?) Anyway, at that point, our Ireland road trip began, and another never-to-be-forgotten travel memory was made. Lady “Luck” was on our side that day. However, I would also like to think that having fun in the moment and staying positive and calm allowed us to think clearly and find a solution to a sticky problem. I’ll never forget the feeling when we drove out of that parking lot to start our adventures. Ireland was truly unforgettable.