Obsessing Over Maps

Hey everyone,

Recently I’ve been building up some longer driving trips to gain confidence on faster routes, motorways, challenging situations and driving on roads I don’t know. Pretty scary stuff for someone like myself!

So, as ever, I write as someone in the early stages of building this kind of confidence (I’ve had my license for almost a year and only went on a motorway for the first time a fortnight ago), but thought I would share my experiences and lessons learnt 🙂

First up, I now have a minor short-term obsession with… maps (come on now, we all have these phases!). I find myself endlessly using the Maps app on my phone looking up routes I plan to do, alternative routes, routes I’ve done, routes I could do, routes others have been on, etc etc.

This is both a good thing and bad – I looked at my first 100+ mile trip I ever did (completed for the first time last Summer when I’d only passed my test a month before – albeit I travelled at about 5am in minimal traffic but hey who’s counting). This half scared the life out of me and made me think “no WAY could I do that!” before realising actually… I already have, on multiple occasions! 🙂

On the other hand, I have a medium-length trip coming up soon. Today I found myself perusing an AA map at my Granny’s house obsessing over which roads look “scary” and whether the trip is remotely do-able. Remember not everything is on a map! A “difficult” route can be made easier with good signage, traffic controls, etc. Equally an “easy” route can be made difficult with roadworks, diversions, heavy traffic, etc. A map can’t tell you all that!

This brings me to my second point – as well as planning, what matters (to me at least) is the people in my car. How did I manage a 100+ mile trip so soon after passing my test? Simple – I was driving with family who know the route perfectly and know me and what is liable to cause a panic behind the wheel. This took so much pressure off me as the driver because I didn’t have to consider the route at all – my job was to follow directions and just concentrate on driving.

So I think it’s pretty important to make sure you are comfortable with those you are travelling with – you need people who are calm, collected and (where possible, in an ideal world) know the route and can help if you need it.

However… point three – sat navs. Both my pet love and pet hate in my car. I won’t lie – I went out as soon as I had a car and spent a painful amount on an all-singing-all-dancing sat nav. Forward facing camera? Check. Speed limit alert? Check. Collision alarm? Check. Maps of the UK and Europe? Check. Particularly bendy bit of road coming up? Check.

This is great because when I’m driving alone on an unfamiliar bit of road, it’s a massive comfort – I know that eventually it will get me home. On the other hand, I naturally have mine set to alert me on everything, which can make me jump/ tune out endless alerts.

Also I have to mess around with the settings endlessly to avoid routes I know I will hate/ feel out of my depth doing (hello, maps obsession). For example, I taxied my family to the airport for an early flight a few months after passing my test. The fastest route is on the motorway and I hated ignoring the endless directions to the motorway but knew, at the time, I would freak out on that kind of road.

Final point for now – is your car comfy? It sounds silly but there is nothing worse than trying to build confidence and finding your seat is *just* slightly too far back to be comfy. Or those shoes you thought would be OK are actually rubbing against your ankle. I found it can be disproportionately distracting, especially on an unfamiliar route.

Does anyone else have any good tips for starting to build confidence after passing? 🙂

Safe driving and take care!

V x

 

Instructors Galore

Hey everyone! 🙂

So I thought I’d dedicate today’s post to the joys of choosing an instructor and my sad-attempt-at-being-helpful tips for finding the right person to guide you through.

As you might know from my previous post, I had a monster time finding the right instructor. This brings me to Tip 1 – choose someone for yourself! That is to say, by all means ask your friends, family and anyone else for recommendations. But never feel you have to take those recommendations just because that instructor’s approach worked for someone else. Google reviews, Trustpilot or online testimonials can be really helpful in finding someone right for you – just beware of positive or negative overall bias ie. an instructor is unlikely to post a complaint someone had about them!

So, an example. My second instructor was a laid-back kind of guy, didn’t seem to structure the lessons or have much of a conscious plan for what we would do each lesson! The person who recommended him was similarly laid-back in attitude and probably happier than me to have no obvious structure and to let lessons flow naturally in that way. It’s not that the instructor was “bad” – it’s simply that his approach wasn’t for me, and left me (as a nervous driver) feeling unsupported.

This brings me neatly to Tip 2 – when you speak to an instructor, don’t be afraid to be open about what you expect, what you need from your lessons and how you hope to progress. Remember that you need to work together to help you learn. This could be anything from weekend lessons, off-peak traffic lessons, stress management help while driving, theory test help, automatic vs manual learning or even an hour just taking things back to square one. I found that having two-hour lessons worked best for me, especially once I started practicing in the town where my local test centre is located (half an hour’s drive from my home) – though it was only my third instructor who was willing to arrange these times with me.

Tip 3 – and this is one I picked up from my marvellous third-time-lucky instructor – when you start learning for the first time, or go back to lessons after a long break, have a few lessons in short order. I had two lessons a week to begin with and found it built my confidence more quickly and didn’t give me time to forget all I’d learnt the lesson before! I won’t deny I found it stressful at the time but it meant that small “beginner” issues were quickly hammered out and basics became second nature before tackling more challenging situations. If your new instructor cannot fit you in regularly, you may want to consider how long you want to leave it between lessons.

Tip 4 – the car you learn in. This might sound silly but it’s important to learn in a car you feel comfortable in. When you discuss learning with a new instructor, don’t be afraid to ask about the car they use, if they change which type of car they use and how others find it. My first instructor had a Hyundai i30 – nice enough car but it had Start/Stop technology which panicked me at every junction believing it had stalled!

Tip 5 – price and cost. There are some very attractive-looking offers for bulk-lesson buys. Be careful that the instructor is offering what you need and is not looking to maximise profit at the expense of your comfort, confidence and learning! Some instructors may cut a few minutes off your lesson time at the beginning and end, or have so many students in their diary that you cannot get the lesson times or frequency you need. Sometimes it may be worth paying a little more to ensure you get what you need.

Good luck to anyone trying to find an instructor and is looking forward to their first lessons or returning to driving – I hope this has helped! 🙂

V x

 

Ps. minor disclaimer here – I am in no way a driving expert or advisor! These are just tips based on my own experiences. I am not a driving instructor or advertising/assicoaited with any particular driving school. I hope that my tips help anyone but am not responsible if they don’t – we’re all different, after all!

 

First Things First – Hello!

Hello there!

So first things first, welcome to my blog 🙂

I guess I should introduce myself here – I am in my mid-twenties (argh! How did that happen?!) and I live in the Midlands in England. My current car is a much loved and *slightly* abused silver Fiesta, aka. Rolo.

I set up this blog thinking that maybe there are a few other people like myself who are not 100% confident behind the wheel and hopefully to spread some love, positivity and laughs around those who don’t believe they were Stirling Moss in a previous life. Sometimes it’s nice to feel you’re not the only one, right?.. hello?

So, backstory in a nutshell. I didn’t start driving at 17 like most people I was at school with. I love cars (not an engineering-type but I like ’em anyway) but never felt too bothered about driving at that point. Fast forward to being 19 and deciding to have a go at it. 5-6 lessons later and I swore I’d never get behind the wheel again – that’s how well it went. It became a topic which could not be discussed with me. A few years on, and I tried again – with similarly disastrous results.

That brings us up to two summers ago when I decided to move back to the Midlands having lived in London for a few years (joys of London – no need for a car with the magic of the Tube). Despite endless nerves, panics, swearing, crying and whatever else, I found a new instructor and passed my test last summer.

Happy ending, right? As some well-meaning, but, at the time, panic-inducing friends told me – you only learn half in lessons, the rest you learn after your test. That brings me to this blog – hopefully as a place to share experiences, positivity and maybe a giggle or two.

V x

First blog post

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