My first car drive in the United States
There are a few things that I wanted to tick off my things to do list while in US. One of these was to drive a car. I have been postponing this for sometime for some reason or the other though I have been driving in India for close to 15 years. I did not have to undergo the road test while applying for my NJ driver's license as I had prior driving experience. Therefore, still did not get my hands on a car at that time.
Winter was coming to an end and we decided during the President's day weekend, we should probably try skiing or snowboarding. Most of the places where this was available were away from the city and could not be reached by public transport. We zeroed in on Camelback resort in Pennsylvania. It was around 85 miles away from where we lived. Though I was tentative, we went ahead and hired a car. I had opted for a small car (for some reason felt that it would be easier to drive). As luck would have it, the car rental company (Enterprise) which is just next door to where we live did not have a small car and were okay to rent out a mid size sedan at the same price. Any other time, I would have probably jumped at the opportunity to drive a mid size luxury car but in this case was a bit reluctant and at the same time could not express my inner fears. So off we (my wife,daughter and I) went from the rental company with a relatively new Ford Fusion (2016 model). This was the first time I was driving an automatic car and a left hand drive at that. After a bit of fiddling and some tomfoolery I managed to drive around our apartment complex. However,as luck would have it, I had an irate neighbour honking behind me ferociously as I was going too slow and holding him up. Next I know I'm onto the main road with no clue where I'm headed. In a few seconds I get my bearings and decide to drive to our friend's place at Osprey Court (I had initially decided against going there but the events that unfolded in our campus left me no choice). I somehow managed to reach their house with no untoward incident and also managed to drive back home safely in the night.
I could n't sleep very well and was up early. It was the d-day ( Feb 17). We had our breakfast and started at around 7.30 am. It was an 85 mile drive to Camelback Resort. I spent a few minutes trying to understand the functions of the car a bit better (honestly should have done it the previous day). Better late than never, I guess!! The drive was fairly uneventful except for a couple of places such as the toll booths or where I missed a turn and expected my wife to have cautioned me (she did caution me of the repercussions of such expectations!!). The resort was nice and the weather was lovely. We had planned on skiing but the slots available were only post 2 pm and only snowboarding was available at 12 noon (didn't want to do a later slot as I was not comfortable driving late and we also had to return the car in the evening). My wife and I opted out and it was only my daughter who took up the snowboarding 90 minutes beginners lesson. I presume she enjoyed the experience though I found it slightly difficult to gauge as she had a frown on her face after the class was done. we returned but not before promising ourselves that we will come back for skiing in the following winter.
Winter was coming to an end and we decided during the President's day weekend, we should probably try skiing or snowboarding. Most of the places where this was available were away from the city and could not be reached by public transport. We zeroed in on Camelback resort in Pennsylvania. It was around 85 miles away from where we lived. Though I was tentative, we went ahead and hired a car. I had opted for a small car (for some reason felt that it would be easier to drive). As luck would have it, the car rental company (Enterprise) which is just next door to where we live did not have a small car and were okay to rent out a mid size sedan at the same price. Any other time, I would have probably jumped at the opportunity to drive a mid size luxury car but in this case was a bit reluctant and at the same time could not express my inner fears. So off we (my wife,daughter and I) went from the rental company with a relatively new Ford Fusion (2016 model). This was the first time I was driving an automatic car and a left hand drive at that. After a bit of fiddling and some tomfoolery I managed to drive around our apartment complex. However,as luck would have it, I had an irate neighbour honking behind me ferociously as I was going too slow and holding him up. Next I know I'm onto the main road with no clue where I'm headed. In a few seconds I get my bearings and decide to drive to our friend's place at Osprey Court (I had initially decided against going there but the events that unfolded in our campus left me no choice). I somehow managed to reach their house with no untoward incident and also managed to drive back home safely in the night.
I could n't sleep very well and was up early. It was the d-day ( Feb 17). We had our breakfast and started at around 7.30 am. It was an 85 mile drive to Camelback Resort. I spent a few minutes trying to understand the functions of the car a bit better (honestly should have done it the previous day). Better late than never, I guess!! The drive was fairly uneventful except for a couple of places such as the toll booths or where I missed a turn and expected my wife to have cautioned me (she did caution me of the repercussions of such expectations!!). The resort was nice and the weather was lovely. We had planned on skiing but the slots available were only post 2 pm and only snowboarding was available at 12 noon (didn't want to do a later slot as I was not comfortable driving late and we also had to return the car in the evening). My wife and I opted out and it was only my daughter who took up the snowboarding 90 minutes beginners lesson. I presume she enjoyed the experience though I found it slightly difficult to gauge as she had a frown on her face after the class was done. we returned but not before promising ourselves that we will come back for skiing in the following winter.
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