Drive on the Left, Please

After a long flight Tuesday, just under eight hours, and a trek to the car rental agency, I broke down into what can only be described as hysterical laughter...sitting in the car's "driver's seat" on the left side of the auto, key in hand. In a surreal moment my poor travel-fogged brain tried to grasp that there was something wrong with the picture. Oh, wait, steering wheel on the right side of the car. Of course. Maniacal laughter. Concerned mom. Dawning realization. More laughter.

We had a GPS with a soothing British accent, which was helpful ("Go left on the roundabout, then take the second exit left")' as I very quickly took us in the wrong direction, including an unnecessary tour of a car park (parking lot). The fee for our 30 second tour of the car park was 8.5 euros, which I tried valiantly to pay, but didn't because I couldn't manage to find a receptacle to take the money on the ticket/gate machine. Pressed the "help" button frantically and explained the mistake until the poor parking agent just opened the gate and let us out.

Needless to say, my nerves were frayed by the driving experience. Not helpful were mom's sharp intakes of breath as I put her side of the car too close to the road's shoulder or the parked cars we passed. I did, however, figure out that in Ireland slower drivers stay to the left on multi-lane highways and are passed on the right by faster drivers. To her credit, mom helped us navigate successfully to our first hotel, where we gladly parked the car and didn't move it again. Also a shout out is in order to a very nice mechanic in Mullingar who helped us reprogram the GPS. I didn't get his name, but he sent us off with "good luck to ye girls."