car rental and GPS

There have been reports on here (and other travel forums) of people downloading UK maps onto their US satnav's without a problem, I hope that you're not contemplating jumping into a hire car after a transatlantic flight and driving on the other side of unfamiliar roads.

We downloaded England on our GPS before we went. It was easy and worked just fine.

Chris,

I have the same question as harley in the first reply. I'm assuming from your reply that you intend on renting the car at the airport when you arrive? Doing that has been compared to driving in an impaired state, and especially if you haven't driven on the "correct side of the road" before, it could be a harrowing trip! I should add that I've done that in the past, but not something that I would advocate now.

Regarding your GPS question, you didn't state what type of GPS you're using at home. I'd suggest contacting the manufacturer of the device to determine options for downloading a set of UK maps for it. I use an older (now discontinued) Garmin Nüvi GPS unit that has both North American and European maps, and it's always worked fine in the UK.

Driving overseas after a long flight is scary particularly in England. I know of a case where someone was involved in an accident (he was the driver) under those circumstances.His wife was killed as was the baby in the other car. He is now serving time in jail having been found guilty.

Check out Hertz taking the car from Heathrow LHR and returning to Conway Road, Colwyn Bay. Compact Automatic (Nissan Juke or similar) $34/day $233 total for 4 days with AutoEurope. It looks like about 8 miles or so away from Llandudno.

The other suggestion I have is to keep the car longer and return to a larger city such as Manchester. You could take advantage of lower rates that way.

I found a second hand gps on eBay with European maps. It was cheaper than downloading Europe maps on my US Garmin. Has worked just fine over there.

Chris,

Another option is to get a local SIM for you smart phone. Assuming you have a quad-band GPS capable phone, you can get a SIM (3, O2, etc) and use your smart phone as a GPS (google maps, iMaps, etc.). (I used O2 for GBP20 for 2GB of data on an iPhone.) Personally, I use a world-map capable Garmin when driving overseas. I purchased it at Sam's Club for $100 and bought the maps on-line for $69.

Good Luck,
Todd

Car Hire - try a search on www.travelsupermarket.com

I don't think the rear vision is particularly good with a Nissan Juke.

"Driving overseas after a long flight is scary particularly in England. I know of a case where someone was involved in an accident (he was the driver) under those circumstances.His wife was killed as was the baby in the other car. He is now serving time in jail having been found guilty."

There was also this one:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7767693.stm

Don't want to sound like a "party pooper" but driving in the UK after getting of a transatlantic flight/not being familiar with the roads and regulations, is a recipe for disaster. I get the impression that a lot of Americans think that driving on our roads is like driving on your own roads but just on the other side......It's not.

GB maps are easily downloadable and generally accurate, especially the main routes. You can also buy a GB road map for about £8 in the shops at heathrow.

Finally, you can also download from this thread the various lectures, whether you want them or not, from the driving standards committee!

I am not sure how it is in the UK, but renting a car from an airport location is way more expensive than renting it from a standalone location. There are additional fees and taxes involved. Have you thought about taking a train to another town and then renting from there? It will probably be cheaper. And I agree with the other folks on not renting a vehicle as soon as you get off an airplane. Or at least wait until you are further out in the country where there isn't as much traffic.

The article notes a fact that perplexes all Americans driving in Europe: why isn't the roadway paint stripe yellow when dividing traffic moving in opposite directions? Seems like such an obvious safety measure that costs almost nothing to implement. On city streets we were often left looking for subtle indications of whether we were driving a 2 way or one way road and it doesn't help that so many in the UK park on the wrong side of the road (is this even legal?).

" why isn't the roadway paint stripe yellow when dividing traffic moving in opposite directions?"
Yellow lines mean no/limited parking.

Yes it's legal to park facing the wrong way, I can remember a time when it wasn't but the law was changed a long time ago.

2 way traffic:
http://www.seton.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/3/image/85e4522595efc69f496374d01ef2bf13/1420519767/d/m/dmeu_r706b_1_std.lang.all.png

1 way traffic:
http://www.securitysafetyproducts.co.uk/images/products_image2-12176-d.jpg

I have a Garmin and have downloaded the maps for UK and they were great... a few times she wanted me to go down a cowpath, but I ignored her and kept going till she caught up:)

Some people do sleep on planes and are not in a total stupor when they land... if you are a responsible adult you will know if you are too tired to attempt the drive.

Try going on Priceline to compare costs for rental cars. I typically rent in and out of Heathrow and get a good rate... also a weekly rental is often times cheaper than 4 days. I also do rent an automatic there (even though I drive a manual everywhere else, as welll as in the US) It is one less thing to worry about... Yes, it can take a little getting used to, but it took me much less time than I expected.

Harleydonski , I absolutely loved your understated responses !

If it is legal to park on the wrong side of the road, then it is legal to drive on the wrong side of the road to get to that parking spot? How far is one allowed to drive on the wrong side of the road before it becomes an illegal maneuver? 5 yards? 20 yards?

A quick websearch shows it is illegal, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/waiting-and-parking-238-to-252
code 239.

Yellow paint on/at the curb/kerb also means no parking in the US, fortunately there is no confusing paint in the middle of the road with that at the edge.

There's not a lot at Llandudno Junction, but Llandudno is a substantial Victorian (and earlier) town with plenty to do and see, including the seaside..

" How far is one allowed to drive on the wrong side of the road before it becomes an illegal maneuver? 5 yards? 20 yards?"

As "far" as it takes, after all you drive on the wrong side of the road when you overtake on a 2 lane road.
Surprised that the "parking on the wrong side" law has been re-introduced, the Institute of Advanced Drivers reported it being removed many years ago.
Lane lines and centre of the road lines are different:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/road-markings

If it's any consolation, when I first drove in the US I found the lane/centre lines confusing (mainly because they were yellow).

It all comes down to different countries different rules..........Wouldn't it be boring if we were all the same.:-)

There is a lot of subtlety in British road markings. And a tremendous amount of information is given by the road markings that is likely to be missed or ignored by casual drivers from overseas.

For example, roads very often change the width of lanes and the road itself. This may be indicated by a sign but often not. If your road has a white line down the middle - to indicate that that there is opposing traffic - you may occasionally notice that the line has disappeared. Why? The road is too narrow to support two lanes passing each other easily so now the road is a lane with traffic in both directions but not space for that. Be on the lookout for passing places and be prepared to stop in one or opposite one so the other vehicle (car, van, coach, bus or truck) can pop in. Or if it is too small for them, be prepared to cross the lane and pop in yourself so they can squeeze by.

Or, have you noticed that if there is a single dashed white line between opposing lanes that the spacing between the dashes is longer if it is safer and shorter if it is less safe before the arrows painted to tell you to return to your lane (unlikely to have a sign).

Or that the cats eyes on motorways and A-roads are different colours (green, red, amber, white) and mean different things, rarely bad?

The line at a junction tells you if you have to stop or merely slow down as you turn?

The little white triangles on the road warn of sleeping policemen and maximum 20 mph.

and many more, including kerb markings.

Oh, and red lines on the road, white boxes, Urban Clearways, Clearways, single yellows, double yellows, etc.

It is worth becoming familiar with all the code.

Tom, one thing about the Highway Code, is some it is very serious suggestions, best practice rather than strict legal power. The rule about parking against the traffic says 'do not', not 'must not'. Subtle difference, but if it was illegal it would be 'must not' in capitals and in bold.

I am surprised a legal code would mix legal requirements with advice on best practices. But overnight parking on the wrong side is illegal, a must not (reading farther down)?

I recall when yellow began to be used in the US to delineate opposing traffic, sometime in the 70s. So a "newer" thing, a change to a safer design.

I would guess that there is about 3 times as much paint per mile of UK street than there is a US street.

Topic: we drove around Glasgow and Edinburgh after an overnight flight. I think as long as it's a motorway or busy streets it's not too hard to remember to stay left. We weren't tired at all though.

Aside: some parts of the US have gone wild for building new roundabouts. There's a hotel in Green Bay Wisconsin that I have used where to reach it I have to go through 6 roundabouts in about 3/4 of a mile. SIX!

If you park overnight facing the wrong way, out in the country or even now in urban areas where all the streetlights have been turned off for austerity, you would be a hazard if your parking light showed a white light into oncoming traffic.

Park under a streetlight (on) and no problem because no parking light.

The Highway Code in England, Scotland and Wales has always been more than just the laws, which are spread out across various acts of Parliament. It begins with pedestrians and 'how to walk,' and large points are in the best Captain Barbossa voice from Pirates of the Carribean 'guidelines'.

It is meant to be best behaviour, if it was entirely legally enforceable most UK drivers, me included, would be in trouble.

Just to clear up the confusion, we are not driving right after flying. We fly into London almost a week earlier and are starting our trip by train in Bath, then spending a few days in London, THEN renting a car to drive and spend a couple days in Cotswolds and on to Wales. Just wanted to clear that up! Thank you for all of your suggestions and concern.