Tipping Over to the Dutch Side (1) - Being Chauffeured

As I already mentioned, I was recently back in England for a few days and I was quite alarmed to see how used to Dutch life I had become. I have realised for some time now that I exist in a world between being British and being quite a lot "Dutchified". But it would appear that with some things I have started tipping over to the Dutch side.

Left side? Right side?
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

Take for example getting in to a car. A very simple thing. However, when I was getting in to the front of my dad's car in England I had to do some swift, hard thinking about where I should be sitting. I was a passenger so I logically had to get in to the left of the English car. But this went against every grain of instinct because of so many years of getting in to the passenger side of a Dutch car so each time I had to do a double take before I headed for the correct side.

I started to understand why Europeans mutter about the Brits making life difficult with everything being on the "wrong" side.

Note to self: probably a lot easier in future to just wait for the driver to get in and then get whichever side they didn't.

There were a more things that seemed a bit foreign in England so look out for Tipping Over to the Dutch Side (2)......

Fear of Driving in the Netherlands

Before I moved to the Netherlands I drove a car on the roads of Britain. Quite frequently if the truth be known. Prior to my move I hadn't really thought about driving whilst living in the Netherlands, or more accurately I hadn't given it any thought at all. And then I came here and thought,

"Ok, they drive on the wrong side of the road, whilst sitting on the wrong side of the car."

Now of course, before I moved, I did realise that. It wasn't a surprise. For some reason the whole of Europe drives on the wrong side of the road. But having been confronted visually with the reality, my next thought wasn't,

"Right, screw that. I'm not driving here at all if they can't drive on the correct side of the road."

My Kind of Driving
Photo (c) The Writing Well

But it is what happened. Nearly twelve years after moving to the Netherlands I am now taking driving lessons, with an instructor who specialises in helping those with a fear of driving. So, now I have said it aloud and told the world I have to persevere. Yesterday, in the hours leading up to my second lesson, I tried to think of every and any reason why I couldn't possibly go ahead with the lesson. I couldn't have felt more nervous and stressed about it, and that despite the fact that the lesson the week before had gone okay. I got back home in one piece, as did the instructor and the car. Success in my book!

It's been a strange journey to this point. Driving has never been a love in my life, more a handy skill to have and a helpful way of getting from A to B. My driving career didn't get off to a great start (the words "Tesco car park" and "bollard" are all you are getting) and I passed my test at the second attempt. After that it all went well for a few years.

Then I moved to the Netherlands. For some reason I made a mountain out of the fact that everything was on the other side. I did a few minutes round a car park on one occasion in my first week. Every now and then I would get behind the wheel, drive around for a little but and then declare it all a lost cause.

So for years I drove maybe once a year - in the US so I could say I had driven on Route 66 and once in Denmark. A few years ago I drove my eldest to the local farm. I didn't enjoy it but it went okay. It should have been the trigger to drive more. But for a reason I can't explain it wasn't.

Now with three children getting out and about without my husband chauffeur is tricky to say the least. I want to be able to take them places in the school vacations, and know that if I need to get to the doctor quickly I can thrown them all in the car and get there without the hassle there is now.

However, to feel confident enough to drive with my three kids in the back of the car I need to feel confident about driving in general. And of course with little practical application in the last twelve years that isn't the case. So I want another experienced driver in the car with me, but not my kids who are not only a distraction to say the least but also extremely precious cargo.

So there was the option of getting a babysitter so my husband could sit in the passenger seat whilst I cruise the local streets in our car. When we had finished laughing at that idea (we get out on our own once a year so such so we won't be wasting that on driving - we'd rather have a dinner or a movie together!!) we tried to think how else we could overcome this issue.

After a bit of internet searching I found someone local who specialises in driving lessons for those with a fear of driving. That was a year, a year and a half ago. And nothing was ever followed up. Until this year in March. For my birthday my husband presented me with a certificate for driving lessons to get me back on the road, full of confidence...... You can imagine my face unwrapping that!! However, it's a good thing because, albeit it two months later, I have finally taken the important step of trying to face my fear of being behind a wheel on the Dutch roads.

Traffic Jams are as common as cheese
in the Netherlands
Photo (c) The Writing Well

Having had two lessons I am now able to articulate exactly what it is that scares the crap out of me on the roads here:

• Lots of roads are small. Narrow. Barely enough room to allow two horses to pass, let alone two modern day cars. My instructor has disputed this, explaining that two cars can pass fine on most Dutch roads. 
• Many of the roads which look like they are too small for two horses to pass run next to a body of water. You see where I am going with this I'm sure.....
• Dutch people drive very close to the car in front of them. I had it yesterday - a car lodged on the back seat of the car I was driving. My instructor told me to ignore him, and explained that he knew no better. How the hell did he get a driving licence then? She assured me that he hadn't taken driving lessons with her.
• The roads are congested. At least here in the Randstad - there are cars everywhere, all fighting for space on the road. That means traffic jams and accidents.
• Drivers coming from the right on roads with no markings have priority. That means they can pull out right in front of you and are actually in the right. So you can crawl along at a snail's pace hoping no one hits you, or you can peg it down the road as fast as possible and hope you are out of the way by the time they pull out. The latter apparently is not the method approved by any qualified driving instructor. 
• Many Dutch road users do not see a red traffic light as a sign to stop the car and wait. 
• Not only do you have to watch out for other cars, you also have to check in seventeen directions at every crossing and roundabout to make sure there are no cyclists, pedestrians, electric wheelchairs or rambling groups that wish to cross the road. They all seem to have priority. However, when I am on a bike, in a rambling group (does walking around with my three boys qualify under this?) or just plain walking about I seem to have no priority at all.

As you can tell, the journey will be a long one before I am sitting comfortably behind the wheel of a car here...... but at least the journey has now started!

Crossing into Belgium

Photo: Jenny Rollo

It feels like I have been picking on Belgium a bit recently though looking back over recent blog posts I think it is more a feeling of guilt than reality. But, there is a fair bit to pick on...... A recent road trip to England was a vivid reminder for me why I really dread the minute we cross the border in the car from the Netherlands into Belgium. Here's why:

1. The road deteriorates rapidly. It suddenly feels like you are off-roading, yet remarkably stay on what is actually labelled a motorway.


2. There are car parts littering the road, a reminder of the danger that lurks around every bend when you are in Belguim. If a blown out tyre doesn't get you, a crazy Belgian driver just might.


3. You suddenly acquire a trailer. Belgians drive even more closely together than the Dutch. Need I say more?


4. My blood pressure rises. It shoots up just by seeing the Belgium sign at the border.

Oh, I know there are worse (i.e. more life threatening) places in the world to drive a car but I don't go there on a regular basis. Maybe I don't get out enough but being in a car in Belgium is the most dangerous activity I undertake every couple of months. It's terrifying.

The Dutch Obsession with Caravanning

Every summer millions of Dutch people prepare for their summer holiday. The signs are easy to spot: the Dutch streets fill up with caravans that have been rescued from their winter hibernation. They remain parked for at least a couple of days (or in the case of our neighbours at least a week) whilst they are spruced up and filled with essential supplies (think along the lines of hagelslag and cheese). Then the caravans disappear and Dutch towns turn in to ghosts of their former selves. The exodus abroad has begun.

Photo: Dora Pete

If you happen to be driving on the European motorways over the summer you will quickly understand the scale of the Dutch obsession with caravans. Almost all the caravans you see in Belgium, Germany, France and Spain have Dutch licence plates.

As a Brit, I associate caravans with older couples, driving at 30 miles per hour along the country roads of the Lake District in the North of England. If you want to see a hilarious take on caravanning in the UK, watch this Top Gear clip where the boys were challenged to take a trip in a caravan..... Notice the age range of fellow campers on the caravan site!



However, this is not how caravanning is for the Dutch - all age ranges, walks of life and family compositions head off on their summer holidays in a caravan armed with tents, surf boards and bikes. I discovered that they are renowned across Europe for their caravanning!

Have you joined up for this Dutch trend and got yourself a caravan? Is caravanning popular in your home country?

And last, but absolutely not least: if you have Dutch family or friends who are caravanning fanatics, here's a birthday or Christmas present tip...

A subscription to "Caravannen"- a magazine about new trends, gadgets and accessories for caravans! 

A Service Station, But Not As You Know It

As I mentioned in my last post I just popped over to England for a week and during the journey through the Netherlands, Belgium and France ideas for blog posts came flooding in (writing them down whilst travelling on Belgian roads was a challenge in itself - but more about that in another post). One thing that came to mind was service stations.

Stopping off to fill up and stretch your legs - service stations
(c) The Writing Well

Coming from the UK, I grew up with long road trips broken by toilet breaks and lunches or suppers in service stations. The quality of the facilities was reasonable and there was always a fair bit to occupy a curious child during a stop off. The most exciting type of service station was one on the other side of the motorway - we needed to walk across an enclosed bridge stretching across the motorway. Trust me, as a child it was exciting...... really, how often do you walk over a motorway?

Nowadays, motorway services in the UK are more and more commercial and seem to resemble mini shopping centres, contain an array of eating options from the big fast food chains and beverage choices from the major coffee house companies as well as a petrol station to fill up at. They also contain arcade amusements, WIFI areas, picnic areas and some even have a hotel to rest your weary head in. Oh, and there always seems to be a man trying to sell you breakdown cover or a credit card.

In the Netherlands a service station seems to comprise a petrol station selling sandwiches and coffee, a toilet you have to pay for and in essence a car park that is a cross between a lorry park and a giant dustbin. This pretty much sums up service stations in Belgium too, though in my experience the toilet facilities in Belgium are generally not great (and maybe explains why you see so many Belgians using the car park as a public toilet) and many places also have a baffling voucher/turnstile system for the toilet. In essence you pay 50 cents and you get a voucher. With this voucher you gain entry to the toilet facilities and then use the voucher in the shop as credit towards a purchase. So if you were going to buy something anyway, you essentially wee for free.

And that brings me to France. There are two types of service areas in France - one fit for humans, the other less so. The "toilet block in the middle of nowhere" aires de repos areas are common and easy to find along the motorway. You can usually smell the toilets before you leave your car and my best tip is to watch the faces of others leaving the toilet block before you venture in. You need to supply your own toilet paper (the French know this but us tourists are often caught out) and a torch certainly comes in handy. There is generally nothing else there, except for maybe a child's play area and a bit of grass or a bench to picnic on. The second type are service areas (aires de service) as are common elsewhere in Europe with fit -for-use toilets, a petrol station, eating facilities and a shop.

Bon voyage!

What are service stations like in your home country? What are your experiences like of stop offs during road trips from the Netherlands?

Raising the Speed Limit: Dutch Motorways

Dutch Motorways - Speed Limit Changes
(c) The Writing Well

We've just come back from another trip to the UK. To get across the channel we used the Channel Tunnel and to get to the Chunnel we hurtled down many a motorway - in three different countries. In the Netherlands, driving along the A17 we noticed plastic covered speed signs that indicated a speed limit of 130. By the time we used the same road a week later on our return journey the plastic was off and the raised speed limit was in force.

It is part of a trial by the Rijksoverheid on a third of Dutch motorways. The aim is to shorten journeys and air quality, traffic noise and traffic safety will all  be monitored.

Here's what I observed from the passenger seat during the late afternoon traffic last Tuesday:
My husband, the driver, had to brake sharply a lot. Why? Because the A17 is two lanes. Whilst everyone in the left lane was driving the new speed limit of around 130, the cars in the right lane were not. So when they pulled out to overtake slow moving lorries and holiday goers with caravans the traffic suddenly had to decrease speed sharply. Safer? I think not. Quicker? Nope.

It seems a strange stretch of road to increase speed on given that there are only two lanes and the outer lane is constantly used to overtake slow moving traffic before pulling back in to the right lane. This is the only experience I have yet to have with the increased speed limit but so far the safety aspects don't measure up. I guess time will tell!

What about other roads where the speed limit is being trialled higher? Anyone got any experience?