Why I Dislike Car Hire Abroad

Car hire is possibly one of the most stressful aspects of a holiday, even if, or as in my case, especially if, you are not the one driving.

There’s something about the roads abroad in the holiday destinations I frequented that is just impossible to understand, and natives’ driving is akin to the type I’ve seen from kids on the bumper cars on Clacton Pier.

But the worst part of it, for me, was the blame I faced when it was realised by whoever was driving that I didn’t know the way to the destination any more than they did.

Sorry, had I not mentioned I don’t have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the road systems in Portugal?

I’d sit quivering with an out-dated map that didn’t seem to correlate with any of the roads we had driven down, laden with blame and fear, while whoever was driving demanded to know whether we were on the right road.

A frantic few hours later we’d arrive at the resort stressed and in need of a holiday.

Being the passenger in this situation is definitely worse than driving. When driving, there is everyone to blame but yourself. After all, you’re driving, so there’s not a chance in hell you can look at a map, read directions or think for yourself. It’s all the passenger’s responsibility.

Foreign coaches can be better than car hire

So I never want to do car hire again on holiday. Even though the only other option for transport from the airport is one of those packed coaches which swings precariously around cliff-top lanes for three hours and reverses up tiny side streets whist taking off cars’ wing mirrors.