The first time I ever drove in the US was on LA freeways. I was visiting the states with my oldest friend in the world on our 3 month trip around North and South America. Her aunt had died in a car accident the first time she visited America and went driving, so we'd promised her parents we wouldn't drive.
What this meant was that when we arrived in LA (where everybody drives) and went to stay with my ex, we hired a car and he drove it around. One of his fraternity brothers worked in a car rental place, so we actually got some really nice car which I would probably have felt weird driving anyway. In fact I think we exchanged it for a less flashy model because it was
too nice a car and my ex thought we might get pulled over for driving it.
On the last day there, we had to return the thing and then get back. So my ex borrowed a friend's scooter which he drove to the rental place, and I followed in the car. I remember I had no idea where I was going - I just had to follow the scooter ahead of me. Huge concrete roadways that crossed other roadways, heat rising from the ground, lots and lots of other cars.. What I remember most about that trip was returning, my arms wrapped around my ex's waist as we drove on the scooter through LA traffic ;^)
Driving everywhere is different, what's the big deal? I hear you ask. Well, we drive on the other side of the road. The steering wheel is on the other side of the car, the indicators you turn on with your right hand, and when you turn around the corner you turn on to the left hand side of the road. So getting used to everything being reversed can take time - time that at that stage I didn't have. It was get in the car and go.
Flash forward to me moving here last year. I've had many many years of driving experience in Australia - I have my gold license, I owned a car, I was a member of the NRMA (like the AAA here) - but I still hadn't done anymore driving on the American side of the road.
In the industry, everyone assumes you can drive - it's kind of part of the job. The first time I drove, it was to move a cargo van out of a lot and park it on the street - not difficult, right? I did it with style, even though it was down near South Ferry surrounded by trucks and police cars. After that there was the Jeep from Queens into Manhattan, then a 15 pass van - driving from Queens into Manhattan over the Queensboro bridge, and parking in the LES, and finally a BMW SUV which I had to re-park during the middle of a shoot in downtown Brooklyn in the middle of a work day.
So when I got a call to go pick up a car from set in Queens and drive it home, then use it to get to work everyday, I was still a little apprehensive. The other trips had all been short, and this was over really long distances where I would need to know exactly where I was going and alternate routes to cope with traffic, and I'd also need to find parking when I got back. The fact that all the other vehicles had all been really big made me hope it was a little car - much easier to park.
And now it's been a couple of months and I've been given a car for two different jobs here lately. I've been driving all over 4 of the 5 burroughs, and even up state a little bit. I'm a really good driver, and I'm getting to know my way around really well. I was on my way to knowing the city really well before, but driving it is a whole new experience.
I'm also becoming more of a new york driver, but don't expect to see any scenes from
Bullitt or
The French Connection anytime soon...
