This bit is true, my wife and I traveled to the United Kingdom in September 2010,  being an RTO’s son and to keep budgets low, decided that I would get myself an International Driving License or IDL as it is called.

The experience at the RTO office was memorable, was firm that I would go through the right channel and not pay a bribe I stood for long hour in a que, thanks to the technology breakthrough…” the server was down”. Had been asked to come back after 3 days and collect the IDL as the inspector was out! Finally managed to get the IDL after paying a “Legal Bribe” I had to buy a few stickers that read “I contribute to my country”

Land in the UK, and was forced to take a 2 hour session with a driving instructor @ 20 Pounds an hour, the instructor was more keen on correcting how I sat, how I held the steering etc. Gave me all the unnecessary tips. 2 hours after the session, tells my sister-in-law “I wouldn’t risk it letting him drive in the UK”

Now this becoming a challenge, we decided we are going to ignore what he said…mind you I had 10 solid years of driving experience in India, Safe driving!

The real challenge was in getting an Insurance, the  rule is that an owner cannot just lend you his/her car, they need to put you on an insurance, now with only 2 hours of UK road experience, the Insurance companies refused to give me one. So we could not borrow a friends car…she must have said … my prayers are heard!

We didn’t give up, we walk up to a car renting agency and hired a Peugeot 207, a cute little car, got a good deal that included complete insurance for which we paid extra, but it meant that even if we smashed the car to a total write-off all we had to pay was 100 Pounds…

Now the final bit for the real experience,  Everyone was a bit scared initially….I confess I was too when we started off our journey, we eventually covered a little over 4,000 Kilometers in 20 days, and believe me didn’t find one pot hole….

For all my friends who would adventure driving abroad, don’t go by anyone’s advice, listen to yourself, we all can drive comfortably anywhere in the world, all we need to do unlearn what we do here….