Americans First Time Driving in Europe - American Driving in Austria
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- Опубліковано 26 вер 2022
- I’ve driven in the US for 40 years. I have tried driving in Britain, but have given that up due to excessive complaints from my passengers. So NOW I’m confronted with having to try driving in Europe! We were visiting places that were not conducive to train travel, so we hired a car. And Ian elected ME the driver. Reasons:
1. I get terribly motion sick on curvy roads, and this would be a lot of driving over mountain passes
2. Ian has spent the past 4 months driving in the UK and was used to the left side of the road
3. Ian wanted to look at the mountain scenery whilst I did the driving
This video shares my experience driving through the alps in the Tirol area of Austria, Germany and into Italy.
Please subscribe to follow along with our travel adventures in Britain and Europe, British culture videos, and taste tests of all sorts! Cheers! XX Dara
Important links to check out -
Our video about getting the WRONG TRAIN to the WRONG COUNTRY: • We Ended up on the Wro...
Watch us try French snacks here: • Americans Try French S...
This video shows adorable GIANT BUNNIES in Austria that we hand fed: • Feeding Giant Bunnies ...
#drivingineurope #drivinginaustria #austria #americanineurope
I'm still down for now, battling Covid, but thankfully this video was edited and uploaded a couple weeks ago. THANKS FOR WATCHING! XX Dara
Hope you are feeling better! 💖🌺
Now on to the video……
Take care, take your time and we will patiently wait for your return to good health. 💖 🙏 🇳🇱 🙋♀ 🇳🇿
On the plus side you won't need a booster jab for a while
Well done, Dara! What a beautiful drive. I would really love to re-visit Austria one day. It was fun watching the ski jumping too. We hope you start to feel better soon. Take care of yourself ~ Julie & Lucy xx
Nice one guys, enjoy. The speed limits can be tricky huh!
How exciting! Glad you were up for the adventure. This is gonna be fun!
I am so motion sickness prone, that being in these gorgeous mountainous areas is a challenge. I don’t enjoy doing the driving, but if anyone else is driving I get carsick!🤢
I would guess that they do not regard the speed limit as a target. You are expected to use your judgement like on the narrow country lanes in the UK.
I hope you are feeling a bit better.
I’m feeling lots better thanks! Yes, I’m a cautious and motion sickness prone driver… we go well below the speed limit on very curvy roads! 🤢
It was a gorgeous drive, Dara and Ian. The Alps are beautiful! We hope you enjoyed the e bike ride and Mittenwald looks lovely. After you got back to the hotel, it's so nice they let you park near the other cars! Thanks for bringing us along.
It was a gorgeous drive! I love the mountains! The eBike was an experience… I’m such a bd cyclist! 😆
Great job driving. Hopefully you're feeling much better!
Yes, thank you! Finally feeling human today!
You continue to amaze me with all the "adventures" that you and Ian attempt -- and so successfully!! You are brave souls, both of you, and I admire you so much. Thank you (again!) for sharing so much with your MOT family. Hope you are feeling better each day!!
I’m feeling better… but the weirdest thing about Covid is that it’s not linear. It’s normal to feel all better one day and then kinda crappy the next. That has been my experience.
Fabulous job!!! I’m thinking being behind the slow trucks gave you the opportunity to see the beautiful countryside! That town!!!!! Wow, can’t wait for the tour and your bike excursion! ~Cara 💖
Thanks so much, Cara! Like you, I’m still in catch up mode. Hope you are doing well now that you have power 💡
We’ll done you. The views off those roads are amazing (once you’d gotten out from behind the lorry!) wow Mittenwald is incredible!!! Can’t wait to see that content. - well done you!!! Hope you’re feeling better ❤
I have so much footage to edit... makes me feel fatigued just thinking about it! haha
But I have to get through all my easy-to-edit crisis content and start working on the juicy travel vlogs of the lovely bits of our trip! haha
Hope your feeling better, Dara! We're just watching now, but see they gave you a car with no other cars around. They must have heard you were coming! 🤣
No worries... I am only just now responding to comments from 9 days ago! So I am finally feeling a bit better ;-) Thanks for watching!
Well done dara, it’s hard swapping between different countries when driving !!
Looking forward to the E bike video and that stunning little village … I couldn’t stop looking at them mountains in the background though …could you not hide me in Iain’s bag next time so I could come 😂
You would LOVE those mountains, Alan!
The scenery is so beautiful! I'd love to visit Austria in the next year or so! Mr. Editor wants to drive to Austria, mainly to explore the Grossglockner and eat strudel! 😹 I bet the ebikes were great fun and I'm looking forward to seeing your video on them! Not so sure about the ski jump though! Haha! Mittenwald looks stunning! 😻😻
Oh man, I ate so much strudel! Strudel adventures will be in upcoming videos as well! Lol
And I’m with you, you couldn’t get me to do one of those ski jumps for $1 million!!😳
Look forward to your mountain e-biking! Gosh some of these cars are way more complicated than they need to be! Well done on navigating out of the car rental parking! Darn you lorries! The mountains look magical dont they? Well done on your first drive and getting used to all the various speeds! That wet ski jump was hilarious! 😂
My mountain eBiking was a travesty. I'll be embarrassed to publish that video, LOL!
The ski jumps were so interesting! I spent ages watching the kids do their jumps on them :-)
Dara. I hope your getting better. I felt the same as you did on this drive. In 1994 I went to work in New York and after getting off the plane in Newark (NJ) and picked a hire car and had to follow the boss driving. It was January with snow on the ground and dark but a road accident closed the bridge on to Staten Island so we had to drive up the Inter State to find an open bridge. Following someone and not knowing where we are going, oh yes! Also, I’m driving an automatic for the first time. Had no problem with the road signs as ours are fairly similar. My UK driver's licence is only valid for 6 months so I had to apply for a learners permit and take a test. Passed my test in June. My NY drivers licence came in handy.
I 1998 I moved to Italy, driving around Rome, Florence and Milan was a great experience. Driving in the Netherlands in my next posting later in 1998 was far easier.
Wow you have lots of international driving experience! We have contemplated Ian getting a UK driving license.. definitely pros and cons 😉
Good on you, girl! Well driven! Hope you're feeling better.
Thanks! Slowly getting a bit better 🙏
Driving in a strange land can be scary but you adjusted quickly. Well done. Hope you are feeling a bit better.
I’m feeling lots better, thanks! But looking forward to hopefully getting 100% back to my version of “normal” 🤪
Lol, “crash course.” Yeah maybe not the greatest phrase at the outset 😜
😂
Crash is certainly not a good word! We have never seen a practive ski slope either!
There were three different slopes, of different difficulty levels. It was fascinating watching all the skiers jumping! I took loads of footage, I’ll see if I ever get around to publishing any of it 🙄😂
Well done Dara 👏👏👏. I always find Europe easier to drive than Britain. British roads are always so much busier😨😨.
Glad you did well - but they all drive on the wrong side like you in the US so I knew you would be fine 😃😃😃
Really hope you’re getting better now 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞
I will just say the “right” side of the road, and not comment on whether it is correct or wrong 😉
@@MagentaOtterTravels 😃
Hi Dara and Ian, I loved visiting Innsbruck only been there once but it had stunning views of the snowy mountains. The drive is beautiful with all the mountain views 😁
Yes, I absolutely fell in love with Austria! What a beautiful place! And the cities are full of beautiful architecture and delicious food. I can’t wait to share all of that in upcoming videos 😉.
Well done Dara ! Driving in a strange country is scary. Xx
The scariest part was not knowing the language... and the windy mountain roads! But I am so motion sickness prone, that if anyone else was driving I would have been so ill!
Lori always was a slow driver, Ian. But, it's a good thing Dara studied the international road signs. That way you were able to recognize the Stop Sign at the RR tracks!
Haha, I think that's lorry ;-)
Yes, the fact that in Austria they use American stop signs (when that is not how you saw stop in German!) is VERY FUNNY!
Napoleon changed the driving to the right side of the road. Originally every country drove on the left side.
That's really interesting!
Nice sharing my friend thanks
Hey you did well!!
I've driven in Germany, Austria, Greece and Spain and it never seemed hard to me to drive on the continent.
It seems like there are so many signs in English that navigating wasn't really a problem.
It really is so much easier than driving in the UK for me at least.
Or if not easier maybe less stressful since at least you're driving on the right side of the road and in the driver's side that you're used to.
I love the scenery in that part of Austria and over into Switzerland.
It makes me want to sing The Hills Are Alive.....
Finally catching up on some very old comments! Yes, I also wanted to sing the hills are alive, but thankfully I only did it in my head and did not record it on film 😂. I was surprised that the stop signs looked exactly like American ones, especially since that is not how you say stop in German! 😂
hello magenta,, thx for sharing video.
Hope your feeling better😊
Yes, today is the first day I’m feeling like a somewhat functioning human! Thanks for your concern 🙏
I don't think I'd find that driving too bad, it is driving on the left side of the road that freaks me out! I'd say you did great...keep up the adventuring! Bruce and Otis
Driving on the left is hard, but driving in a country where you don't speak the language is also tricky. Thanks for watching! Cheers! Dara
You made it! 👏
You did well Dara .It helps with the steering wheel on the (wrong side)
Yes, steering wheel being on the other side of the car is confusing. But the worst is having to drive manual transmission with the stick shift on the opposite side of what you are used to! 😳 Thankfully I haven’t had to do that for a few decades! Lol
A little tip when driving on the roads in the UK or in Europe, stick a label on the steering wheel with a letter (R) or (L) to help you remember what side of the road you should be driving on.
I'm pleased you had enough energy to post a new video even if it was completed weeks ago.
I love a good European road trip (any road trip for that matter). The last time we were there we did two big road trips which added up to about 7000 km in various parts of the continent. I find the switch from right to left easy enough but I do tend to find myself heading to the wrong side to get into the car for a few days (and again when we get back to Oz). 🤣 Mittenwald looks amazing in the Summer. If memory serves it isn't far from Neuschwanstein castle on the German side and a little ski village call Krimml on the Austrian side. Some of these places look totally different under a couple of metres of snow so it would be cool to see them in Summer. 😂 We went in the middle of winter because that is when it's the best skiing. 😂 But holy moly driving on the wrong side of the road in the middle of winter introduces a whole bunch of new challenges. After we'd finished skiing in Krimml we drove down across the Alps to Venice, which is quite a pretty road trip too. We had a few deer jump out in front of us on that road. A nice change from kangaroos and wombats at home. 🙄😆
Loved the video. As you can see from above it evoked lots of memories. 😍
Thanks for your wonderful comment! I'm catching up on weeks of old comments and trying to watch videos. I'm so far behind! Deer, roos and wombats all sound like very dangerous things to be jumping in front of your car! Yikes!
I hate road trips, but it was a necessary evil to see the lovely places we went in the alps. My videos of the travel vlogs to each of the towns will take AGES for me to edit, but hopefully I'll get to at least some of them before next summer ;-) Cheers! XX Dara
@@MagentaOtterTravels Ooh, really looking forward to the travel vlogs! 😀😀😀Deers and Roos can be a nasty surprise. Sometimes you can see them coming, sometimes not 😟 But wombats are like big rocks. They just sit there so you don't even get that flash of movement to give you warning. Hitting them is like hitting a rock. We totalled our last car on a poor wombat.
@@ShaneNixonFamily no way!
Hi. Thank you for sharing.
Yes, it's always confusing at first to get used to all the systems....2:52...Kayak7seas and I couldn't figure out the audio commend at the last trip to WA. Somehow the system tends to go back to the default program...🤔
Wowowow...gorgeous view...4:29
Oh..speed limits....well even if in the US, unfamiliar roads are tricky...For instance, PPL in FL drives 100 miles/hr at 70 on the highways as long as police aren't around. 😁
Congratulations! you survive driving in Europe for the first time.
Well done. 🍁🍁
Thanks so much for your kind comment! I am catching up on weeks of comments, and video watching, and video editing!!!
I enjoyed watching your mountain climbing video yesterday. Even though you said you were gasping and crawling to finish, I think you did a great job!! XX Dara
We don't even drive. You are so brave!
It was very difficult to get around to the different places we were going by train and bus. It seemed necessary to hire a car, but in retrospect I don’t think I would do it again. It is both expensive and nerve-racking!
All natural pine fragrance, that must help keep everyone calm while being backed up in traffic. 😁✨🌲🌞
The Alps will be wonderful too of course, great for you Ian and Dara. ⛰️🌞
Good point! I think the gorgeous scenery and pine fragrance definitely helped! 😂
You are allowed to be proud. Well done you! Now rest up! 💖🙏🇳🇱🙋♀🇳🇿
Good job you!!
Yes, speed limit actually just means ‘limit’ here in Europe! (seriously)
If you take it as ‘minimum required speed’ you’ll have an accident, on country roads for sure.
Look out for Steve McQueen riding over the fields on his motorbike..
😂😂
Driving in unfamiliar circumstances is always a bit stressful, well done on driving in Europe. I've never been brave enough to do it! I don't have an issue with driving on a different side of the road to what I'm used to (I've driven in Canada) or even more populated areas (I happily drive in the UK) but rather the more aggressive drivers to what I'm used to. I want a sign I can put on the car "Nervous tourist driver" .
Yes, I totally agree! Boston is notorious for having terrible, bloodthirsty drivers. When I visited there, I saw a bumper sticker that said “Timid driver. Please be nice”… I definitely want one of those! Lol
@@MagentaOtterTravels That's exactly the type of sign I want!!
Watch out for speeding cameras. Mostly in small towns.
I was grateful that the fancy rental car had a display on the speedometer which told me the speed limit wherever I was. Very handy!
6:10 - I don't know about German traffic rules, but I assume they are similar to Swedish.
All traffic regulations exist on a hierarchical ladder. Two rules may purposely contradict each other, so you as a driver need to know which ones have the highest priority.
The hierarchy is as this, where the higher trump the lower:
1. Police's/traffic controller's gesture.
2. Traffic lights.
3. Street signs.
4. Rules and laws.
In this particular case; the traffic controller's gesture has priority above the traffic light. Thus, you should follow their order and drive against the red light.
Thanks very much for that! We are returning to Europe this summer to spend a month in Germany. I hope to avoid driving and just take the train ;-) haha
austria is not germany 😢😢😢
@@austriankangaroo Don't ask me how I got Austria to become Germany. I must (hopefully) been tired.😖
@@austriankangaroo we did drive 10 minutes away into Germany that day, though! To the gorgeous town of Mittenwald, which we enjoyed tremendously. Hopefully you will check out our Vlog.
I also did a video about mountain biking in Austria. And I've been wanting to do a video about culture shock in Austria ... hopefully I will do that in the next month or so. Vielen dank! Dara
Hope you're feeling better, don't overdo it.
The hardest thing for me would be speed limits in kph rather than mph.
50 mph is 80 kph!
Yes, I really didn’t understand the speeds in mph, I just tried to watch my speedometer and make sure I was going within the speed limit, or at least within my comfort level! I was glad that the car always told me the speed limit wherever I was.
Thanks for your concern. I am feeling a bit better, but not out of the woods yet.
Ps. we didn't see the end screen for the wrong train video.
Thank you so much for telling me! I finally fixed that last night! 🙄🙄
I have been laid flat with Covid and I am so far behind on reading and replying and doing computer stuff!
@@MagentaOtterTravels heal up!
Speed limit, not a target 🙄
Ooooh, we love Germany! Could practically smell the pine from here. Too bad this video isnmt smellavision 😊
… or was the pine in Austria?
I think the pine was in Austria. But we did venture into Germany the same day. Our lovely destination was only 10 minutes away!
common mistake that people make is that the round sighn is for maximum speed .... so you need to adapt your driving to the road conditions
Good point!
There’s another sign for the minimum speed and yet another for the suggested speed, btw.
@@koijjots good to know!
@@koijjots most common one is the white circle with red outer line(max speed)... and recomended speeds are almost exclusevly on straight roads
I've done the wrong side of the road driving swap a few times and it takes a bit of getting used to. Why's that car on the wrong side the of the road the...hang on sh!t it's me😂On the drive all l I kept doing was looking at the mountains and thinking I wouldn't mind hiking up there I bet it's got great views. Oh and isn't an e-bike kind of cheating a bit 😊
I’m the same - “that looks like a nice place to hike”. I’m easily distracted by the scenery. That’s why it’s better for Dara to do the driving. Riding an e-bike is only cheating if you’re 55 or under.
An eBike is cheating BUT necessary for someone like me with bad knees and terrible cycling skills! 🙄
And yes, the mountains were GORGEOUS scenery for our drive!💖🏔
Didn't you try the ski jump
When you see how badly I did with the mountain biking, you'll know why the ski jump is totally out of the question. But I DID do alpine slides. Video forthcoming...
Well done on the driving,my advice is don’t drive in Rome!! Hope you’re feeling better.
All roads lead to Rome which is why the traffic is so bad!
No way! I’m not driving in Rome, and after our recent visit to Paris, I was reminded that I would never drive there either! 😂
Love how Americans locking the door immediately they getting in a car. Paranoid people.
Oh I'm definitely paranoid! But most modern cars automatically lock themselves anyway these days
Now next time conker the British Road 😬🙈
Don't hold your breath... not sure that's gonna happen.
Peugeot is pronounced perge-o.
driving in Austria and Germany is easy .... you just stick to the far right. lol
We shall have to agree to disagree on the pronunciation of Peugot ;-) haha... Brits always insert the letter R in the strangest places in words!
At least not car crash tv😉
Puzo lol
If they didn't show the car in the video I would have 0 idea what she meant lmao. Americans always get creative with pronouncing foreign brands.