There is a natural aversion to driving in new and different countries. Of course the place where we grew up, learned to drive, and spent our adult life is so familiar that driving is almost auto pilot. It took me a few years back in previous lives to grow comfortable with getting behind the wheel in stranger lands. Now I absolutely revel in the freedom and flexibility that a car affords me. While I still enjoy trains and buses, there are plenty of places where you cannot really experience all that there is to do via public transport. Think of how little of North America you can get to using public transport. And self driving over the Transfagarasan Pass in Romania is very different than taking a bus ride.
Plenty of traffic around the world appears pretty chaotic and intimidating, but I have found the opposite to be true. Unlike unpleasant outliers Cairo and Tel Aviv, where drivers are hyper aggressive and whose goal is to ’win’, nearly everywhere else is populated with people who are just trying to arrive alive. They understand that road rules are just rough guidelines, and that zen is much more healthy than frustration or anger. Truly, easing through a roundabout in Kampala is a really satisfying achievement. A recent favorite was Argentina where, outside the major cities, traffic lights, signs and indicators of one way traffic flow are joyfully absent. Drivers arrive at intersections and make it work.
The prime seismic shift in the joy of driving was the arrival of online map software (Maps.me). Prior to that the drive out of Marrakech to the coast was an anxious journey, given absence of meaningful signage. Now, a glance at the ’phone heads me in the roughly correct direction.
A few basics. Be sure that you know how to drive a stick shift transmission. There are plenty of automatics out in the world, but at some point you will have no choice available, and the steep roads of Becquia are not the place to learn.
After you pick up your car, try to evaluate its performance on a clear piece of road. I have, more than once, tried to overtake someone, and found out rather too late that that was beyond the performance envelope of my auto. Ditto for braking.
Always check the spare tyre. I never used to do this. But, after having a spare tyre became relevant and of immediate concern, I changed my behaviour. Do not just look at the spare. Rap it with your knuckles to hear that it sounds in tune with the installed tyres.
Know how to change a tyre. If you have not done this, then practice at home before launching. The endless empty roads on the plains of Hungary are exactly the wrong place to try to learn a new skill.
Do not be intimidated by having to ’drive on the wrong side of the road’. The lanes of Ireland are calling out to you. Our brain is a rather amazing machine, and adapts to the new regime very quickly. The most common indicator that there has been a lane shift for me is that when approaching my car I wander up to the wrong side of the car (and then pretend that I was just opening the passenger door to put something on the seat). Use extra caution when turning on to a divided highway. I have pulled into the wrong lanes. Also, when driving on St. John, where steering wheels are on the left side, but cars drive in the left lane, it is easy to noodle down an empty road in the wrong lane, until a lorry comes around the corner directly infront of you. Palau is the opposite: steering wheel on the right, drive on the right. I, sadly, could not hire a car in Somaliland, but they have a lively regime where they drive on the right, in a mix of left and right hand drive cars.
Try to learn local driving customs earlier than later. Perhaps ask the guy who is renting the car to you. In Croatia and Uruguay all moving cars are required to have their lights on. In many countries the lorry that you are considering passing may put on their centerline turn signal, indicating that it is unsafe to pass. In Rwanda there is zero tolerance for exceeding the very modest speed limits, and a vast network of cameras are very efficient at electronically ticketing drivers. In South Africa there is a charming custom of pulling into the breakdown lane to let people pass. The passer then flashes the emergency lights in thanks.
Non human users of the roadway are surprisingly common. From Switzerland to Sudan, there are plenty of herds on the road. In Botswana in one day I passed through more than fifty. In my limited experience cows and camels are the most brazen, and baby goats are the most unpredictable. If you are engulfed by a particularly large group, slow down to a crawl, but do not stop, else you will never be able to start moving again. Different rules apply for elephants.
I pick up hitchhikers all the time. In the countries where I grew up, hitchers were very rare and unfortunately, in my small sample set, often more work than the karmic reward. In contrast, in much of the world, vast numbers of people are walking along the road to get to work, family, or services. I have yet to have a bad experience, and have had some terrific conversations (or at least some enthusiastic miming).
Before heading out on my lap I take pictures of the car and the license plate. I have had a couple of episodes where I stood, perplexed, trying to remember what flavour of car I was looking for.
Watch your petrol level. I almost ran out of gas in Ecuador and Baja California because I just did not think that they would not have filling stations waiting for me every few miles. I just hired my first liquid natural gas powered car, and that involved a bit of learning about where to refuel.
Increase your cash supply. While many countries are very well populated with credit card readers, there are plenty that are not (Mauritius). These tend to be positively correlated with an absence of cash machines (probably because so much of the population is using mobile money and so has little use for either of these inventions). A fill of petrol can cost you the equivalent of $100, so be prepared.
When picking up a car, I now ask more questions than I used to. Where exactly do I leave the car? What if there is noone here? What is your cell number? My favorite dropoff, way back in the dinosaur era, being instructed to abandon the car, double parked, infront of the Rome airport terminal, with the keys in the ignition.
Parking can be rather informal. It took me a while in Bulgaria to figure out that the plainly dressed guys were not asking me for money; they were official roving parking attendants. There is, of course, a chance of a less official economy. When you park your car in St. Lucia or Capetown and the shabby guy asks for a little something to watch your car, consider your options. Hint: It is cheaper to pay the guy now than to pay him to fill your flat tires up when you return. In Seville, where streets are crowded, people double park cars, but leave the handbrake off and the transmission in neutral so that if someone needs to get out they just push some cars back or forth.
As mentioned elsewhere you will start encountering checkpoints and road blocks. For the most part their function is utterly opaque. I keep a few small notes in the glove compartment to pay for any bribes that are solicited. With this time honoured transaction, never be the first to suggest a payment, as this can get one in very hot water in honest places.
Crossing borders can be simple or very hard. Many car rental companies require additional documentation and perhaps fees. Really research this before deciding to take a car on a multi country trip. Unsurprisingly many of the difficult crossings are between neighbours who hate each other. You can drive from Serbia into Kosovo, but you cannot return after doing so, due to questions about sovereignty and documentation. Do not try to cross the Dominican Republic border from Haiti unless you are a masochist.