The Micra’s Maiden Voyage – “Watch how tight this thing turns!”
Jason and I were feeling a little bit iffy about taking on the driver and navigator roles while in Europe. Although I am writing from the safety of our intended destination, I must say I am thankful Ireland will be the only country we take the challenge up in.
We planned to depart from Dublin at 9:30 am, after a short 1.4 km walk from our hotel to the Budget car rental office. We did not anticipate the delay caused by strapping 30 and 20 pounds to our backs for an uphill walk. After we finally arrived at the car rental office, we were off (at 10:30 am)!
My job as navigator was simplified by the GPS graciously lent to us preloaded with European maps. Thanks Justin – your personally recorded voice instructions are a nice touch! Once Jason made it out of the parking lot in the surprisingly spacious Nissan Micra we rented, I hopped in and we headed out of the city with only one wrong turn. Newgrange here we come!
Yes, the previous bit of information (Newgrange here we come) would have been quite helpful during the first part of our trip. Little did I know, Jason had programmed the GPS with the destination being “some village that is supposed to be close to where we are going.” I discovered this fact after the wrinkles on Jason’s forehead grew increasingly pronounced. “Why aren’t you listening to the GPS lady,” I ask. “Well, the destination in the GPS is not exactly where we are going, and I think we were supposed to turn at one of those signs back there.” Me: “Why would you program the GPS with the wrong destination!?! — Pull over!” After we find a place to pull over on the tiny two lane highway and reprogram the GPS with the correct destination, we are once again ready to go. Newgrange here we come!
So, GPS lady now insists that we must turn back the way we came in order to get to Newgrange. Should be simple, right? The only concern is the tiny *tiny* highway, maybe also the cars whizzing by in both directions, okay maybe also that we are stopped around a ’somewhat’ concealed bend in the road. Not a problem. Jason seems to have caught on to this European driving thing no problem. “Watch how tight this thing turns!” I’m excited to be getting on our way once again, and so glad my hubby has experience driving a standard transmission car – I definitely wouldn’t be able to do it! We move forward and screech to a stop 10 feet ahead. “What’s that burning smell?” Angry muttering ensues on the driver’s side. “Just the clutch, no big deal.” Okay, just the clutch. That doesn’t sound important. So we try again. I watch on the left, Jason on the right for the perfect moment when there are no vehicles approaching on either side. We’re off! Okay, so we’ve lurched forward, and we’re sitting perpendicular to the road now. No problem…we’re only blocking both lanes of traffic. “Reverse, where’s reverse?!?!” Right, reverse. There we go! Now forwards. Oh, now reverse again…oh crap, there must be cars coming…oh good – we’re going forwards again. And we’re off! I feel a renewed sense of optimism as the funny burning smell dissipates behind us. **Jason’s version of events may differ slightly**
Overall, our drive through Ireland was exactly how I envisioned. Sheep decorate the Irish country-side like the cattle of Alberta’s prairies. Baaa!! After the morning’s driving adventure, we enjoyed an informative tour through Bru na Boinne World Heritage Site in Newgrange, a lovely stroll through Loughbrickland (where Jason’s Great-grandfather was from), and made good time to our small, but clean and comfortable hotel room in Antrim.
3 Comments
Hale Chronicle » Northern Ireland on January 17th, 2009
[...] as Jenn previously mentioned, we rented a car and headed to Northern Ireland. On the way we made a couple of stops, first and [...]
pjhale on January 17th, 2009
I agree with you Ja. You should be with your Dad to visit Ireland with him. Maggie’s doing great!!
Nice pictures and I love the way you two have it set up. Specially the comments about driving.
dittfudd on January 17th, 2009
(muffled laughter) hee. in general, burning smells are less than desirable. it generally means that, well, something is burning.
i can imagine the flaring nostrils induced by “you programmed WHAT into the GPS!?”
i wonder if jason’s ancenstral homecoming left the same weird feeling in him as ours did us-