Taking the Scenic Route

Welcome to my random musings about the world, on a weekly-to-occasional basis.

Where we are: We arrived in Armenia last week, and promptly rented a car for a quick little tour around the country. It was great fun, but brief, and we are now happily settled in an apartment in Yerevan for the next few weeks. (Random aside: when I was a kid, we went on roadtrips all over the US, the UK, and Western Europe. The oft-repeated mantra, whenever we got lost, was ‘It’s the scenic route!’ Even if it was pitch black night and the scenery was blanketed with snow. But I remember those trips vividly, so nowadays I think there is much to be said for the ‘scenic route.’)

Taking the Scenic Route

Lee and I always love renting a car: there’s a moment of giddy freedom, when the agent walks away and we’re left alone with a ‘new’ set of wheels, free to turn left out of the parking lot, or right. The open road beckons.

I highly recommend the occasional road trip. A rental car gives you freedom and flexibility, and depending what country you’re in, abundant opportunities for tea or coffee breaks. Do you want to stop at every scenic overlook? Do you want to buy a jar of honey from the little old lady on the side of the road? Do you want to track down a ‘secret’ hot spring, or take goofy selfies with a giant crab sculpture? Help yourself—your time is your own.

Self-driving around the hinterlands of Italy or Japan or Morocco is also the quickest and simplest way to get off the well-trod tourist trail. There’s far more to any country and its people than whatever museums and galleries and activities have been spiffed up for visitors. When we rent a car, we get to see towns and villages that no tourist would ever bother visiting—and if you think about it, those are the towns and villages where most of the world’s people actually live.

What is traffic like, in any given country? Is it orderly, drivers waiting patiently for a light to change? Or is it a free-for-all, a game of chicken in which the only rule is keep moving? How do cars pass in Armenia, and how do they pass in Japan? That’s genuine cultural insight. (Hint: I am not a good enough writer to convey the wildly dramatic differences—you’ll just have to rent a car and see it for yourself.)

In the Faroe Islands, we drove through tunnels constructed deep below the North Atlantic, complete with traffic circles, art installations, and a soundtrack on the car radio. Somewhere outside of Tatev last week, we drove through an entire village’s collection of livestock—horses, cows, sheep, goats, all trundling down the ‘highway’ en masse.

I attempted to record all of the above—the tunnels and the animals—on video, because both were moments, reflections of place, that I will treasure.

A few tips, for your next epic international road trip:

—Google maps is your friend. Download the map of your destination before you leave home, so that you’ll always have it, even if you’re offline.

—Always rent the smallest car possible, even if it goes against every American ‘bigger is better’ instinct you have. You can thank me when you successfully park in a medieval village.

—Make sure your credit card has decent coverage, then don’t pay extra for what they try to sell you at the rental agency. The policy on your card is perfectly fine. If you damage the car, file a claim. We’ve done it plenty of times.

—Get an international driving license at a AAA office before you leave home. It takes ten minutes, and we’ve found more and more agencies are asking for it nowadays.

—Make friends with the rental agent. This will serve you well when you return the car.

—If you’re in a country that might have toll roads, ask whether they’re automatically charged, or if you need to pay as you go. Then when you get to the first toll plaza, take your time figuring out how it all works.

—If you can possibly get a car with a back-up camera, do. But it’s not always an option, and having a small, maneuverable vehicle is more important than fancy bells and whistles.

—You can (and should) bring a little adapter for plugging your phone into the covered outlet that used to be a cigarette lighter. Ours has been very handy in some countries where the cars aren’t quite the latest and greatest models.

—Be able to drive a stick shift. In most of the world, automatic transmission dramatically increases the price of a rental. I can’t drive a manual, and it both frustrates and worries me. I’m definitely going to learn, one day.

—Before you start driving, ask Google whether there’s a national speed limit. Sometimes it’s not obvious when you’re on the road, which is when you need to know.

—You might get a speeding ticket, damage the car, or have a flat tire. These things happen; expect them, and you won’t be rattled. Pay the ticket, file a claim, change the tire. It’s all part of the adventure. (You can take turns working on the tire while the other watches for lions—it’ll be fine.)

—Always reach your destination before dark. Just trust me on this one.

—Suss out how gas stations work before you need one—which side is your tank on? Are the stations full-service, or DIY? What kind of fuel do you need? Figuring out how things work is both satisfying and good for your brain.

—Parking will challenge you in every possible way—challenge is good. It’s how we grow. Use Google translate for signs and machines and meters. And if you get a parking ticket, which you might, pay it and chalk it up to ‘interesting cultural experience.’

We’ve experienced dust storms, camels in the road, torrential rain, wicked unmarked speed bumps, and one-way tunnels. We’ve inadvertently driven through markets, street soccer, and ancient walled cities. The road not traveled is not always smooth or predictable, but it is always, always rewarding.

Try it sometime—rent a car in a foreign country and tool around the countryside. If for no other reason, do it to see the different ways hay is baled around the world. You’ll be amazed.

Besides, it’s just fun.

Take care,

Lisa

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