Doing the Right Thing Ain't So Easy

After 15 years of driving on the left hand side of the road back home in Australia, the moment had come for me to switch. Truth be told, I was actually quietly nervous about it, 15 years is a lot of time to engrain some pretty deep planted habits.

Charlie and I rented a well used Nissan X-Trail and planned to head North of San Jose to the famous resort coast of the Guantecaste province. To my delight, Charlie was going to drive first so I planned to use that time to familiarize myself with the strange sensation of driving on the right hand side. It might just be me, but my brain was seriously over heating while I visualized various turning scenarios in my mind. It was so hard to overide my instincts but I knew doing so wasn't particularly optional if I had any chance of completing this trip.

We arrived at our hotel in Playa Flamingo and checked in to what turned out to be quite a nice two bedroom suite. We weren't exactly roughing it, not at all. Plenty of time for that I guess.

We lugged our baggage in and headed back to the car to find a restaurant for dinner. If ever there was a moment for me to start driving, it was now while we were in this sleepy resort town in the off-season. I turned the key, started the engine and selected reverse. Ok so which direction do I reverse to get into which lane and from which direction will the traffic be coming from in each lane as I do this? I was calmer than I expected but my brain was performing mental gymnastics as I un-wired every instinct and safety alarm screaming inside my mind. I gently hit the accelerator and guided the vehicle back. I put her into drive and headed towards town. Within about a dozen left and right hand turns, I could already sense that new habits were being born while my brain began quickly adapting. It really was a big load of weight lifted off my shoulders and I huge confidence builder for the trip. I still had chaotic city driving to face but at least now I had the basics under my belt. Truth is I should never over thought it all so much in the first place.

Man I wish I had my bike.....