Over the years, I’ve done all kinds of driving tasks that have challenged by abilities. I’ve done hot laps on the race track, gone off-roading on chunky trails, and even tackled the harrowing motorbike swarms of Vietnam. And yet, in all these years, I’d never driven on the wrong side of the road! This month, adventure demanded I learn how—and it was both easier and harder than I thought it would be.
This adventure was spawned thanks to the love I have for one of music’s more obscure and forgotten genres. This past month, I completed a lifelong dream and finally made it to Europe, heading over for a small tour that would see me perform at a grassroots chiptune festival named Wood Chip. Nestled deep in the Danish wilderness, I needed both transport and lodgings for my campsite. A campervan seemed the obvious solution.
This was all well and good, and I made my bookings with excitement. Only, come the big day… I realized I’d given myself quite the challenge. Not only would I be driving on the wrong side of the road, but I’d be doing so in a vehicle a full 90 inches wide. Oh, and it was a manual for good measure. Tally ho, then!
The camper I’d selected for our journey was a hefty beast. I’d initially hoped to find something small, compact, and modern. Perhaps along the lines of a nice VW ID.Buzz with a nice mattress in the back. However, Denmark is a small country, and there simply aren’t a lot of people renting out campers to weird obscure musicians. I had to take what was on offer.
What I wound up with was a full on motorhome. Based on a 2005 Fiat Ducato, this beast weighed a full 6340 pounds, while standing over 9 feet high and 23 feet long. The benefit was that it came with a shower and a functioning toilet, along with gas heating and beds for three. The drawback was that it was huge, hard to maneuver, and not exactly easy to see out of. I was in a small European country and it felt like I was being asked to drive a slightly smaller European country. Or some kind of embassy, at least.
My fears were manifold. I figured it was pretty likely I backed in to something or ran over a few mailboxes on our way to the show. I had concerns about keeping this behemoth in the lane lines on tight Danish roads. My biggest fear, though, concerned coordination. I worried whether I could teach my right hand to shift through the gears, when it was my left that usually handled those duties back home in Oz. If shifting gears wasn’t second nature, the rest of the driving task was going to be so much harder.
Still, needs must and all. I got behind the wheel, checked the mirrors, and got going.
Driving on the wrong side of the road for the first time. Oh, and I picked a motorhome.
Challenging?
Yes. Yes it was.
— Lewin S. Day (@rainbowdefault.bsky.social) June 23, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Right away, I was amazed at several things. For one, the Ducato’s clutch and shifter were a pleasure to operate. I’d expected to have a hell of a time trying to launch the heavy camper from a stop, but it was never a problem. Smooth on the third pedal, and the diesel torque ensured we were away without a fuss. My right hand, too, had no issue finding the shifter on the dash. It fell easily to hand and I had no problem walking the van up to second, third, and fourth.
However, I also learned that size does matter. The huge camper towered over everything on the tight suburban streets. I thanked the automotive gods I didn’t need to make any three-point turns as I gingerly inched past parked cars on either side of the road. Each turn was like threading a needle, until the relief of getting out onto the more open main roads. Of course, salvation was brief—I only had ten minutes to get my bearings before we had to peel this thing out on to the highway.
As we approached the on ramp, my strategy was clear. I’d use the best of my driving skills, honed on the aggressive roads of the east coast capitals. One must be clear of intention and decisive if one was to merge safely on to a fast road. I wound the Ducato past 3,000 rpm as I thrusted through the gears, keeping a stern eye on the traffic as I slid on to the highway. Once we’d made it on, my dedicated partner played navigator and spotter, regularly shouting “KERB!” every time I veered too far towards the gutter.
This part of the highway? No lane lines.
“Should we reduce the speed limit?”
“No, why would we do that?”— Lewin S. Day (@rainbowdefault.bsky.social) June 23, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Highway travel was surprisingly okay. My lane keeping was acceptable, and I managed to keep weaving to a socially-acceptable level. The Ducato could handle 100 km/h (60 mph) while the fastest traffic roared past closer to the limit of 130 km/h (80 mph). I even managed a couple of overtakes on curiously slow traffic without bringing the Danish road network to a halt. At one point, we came across a section of highway with no lane lines—and I like to think I managed it with aplomb!
It was only on the last stretch of our journey that I was faced with my most hellish challenge. We had to wind down some country lanes that were surely less than two lanes wide as we made our way to the festival spot. The huge girth of the Ducato proved problematic, as I gingerly eased it over crest after crest. Thankfully, we didn’t come to grief, and the handful of other motorists gave us a wide berth when we passed. It was only one particularly hurried bus driver that nearly spent my security deposit when he narrowly avoided clipping the rear end.
All in all, my first experience driving on the wrong side of the road was a harrowing one. It was 55 minutes of white-knuckle action, forever flipping between checking my six for incoming bogies and then flipping back to make sure I was actually staying in a lane. Still, we made it to our destination, and I learned plenty in the process. I then proceeded to set up camp, have some dinner, and played an incredibly fun set in the depths of the Danish night. Couldn’t have done it if I didn’t get there in one piece!
There were parts I found easier than expected. I thought it would be a struggle shifting a manual transmission with my hands swapped around but it was not a problem in the slightest. I had it right in seconds and didn’t make any mistakes. At the same time, there were things I found harder than expected, too. Mostly the positioning of the vehicle in the lane. To be honest, though, I suspect a great deal of that was because the campervan was simply so large. A smaller vehicle would have been far more comfortable, particularly given the size of the lanes in Denmark.
My advice would be simple. If it’s your first time driving on the wrong side of the road, consider being kind to yourself by picking something small and simple. Still, if you’re a masochist, go and get the biggest motorhome you can find and throw yourself to the fire and flames. Hopefully, like me, you’ll make it through unscathed.
Image credits: Lewin Day
My first time driving on the right-hand side was after landing in Heathrow. My rental car was a Peugeot 307 with a stick. Took a bit of time to get used to. My biggest hurdle was keeping centered in the lane. I would find myself too close to the right side of the lane.
Oh, and I accidentally drove it down a flight of stairs in Belfast.
How’d it survive the stairs?
It was totally fine.
Left hand shifting and roundabouts were never an issue for me when driving on the wrong side of the road. What nearly caught me a couple times; however, was seeing a parking lot on my right and instinctively just turning into it rather than checking for oncoming traffic.
When I lived in Japan – I never had an issue adapting to driving on the left.
But when I returned Stateside after 2 years abroad – lets just say that the folks outside the car rental agency a SFO got an eyeful of wrong-way drama….
I’ve only translated to the opposite side of the road one time and it was mostly fine. The worst thing, for me, was remembering what direction to take roundabouts. Life was made easier by having a (relatively) small Jeep Renegade with an automatic transmission. Being an Irish driver and managing Sicilian roads makes me feel like I could take on anywhere as the biggest threats were other drivers and getting accustomed to the size of the vehicle. Many roads were fairly narrow, and also unmarked, but I’m yet to see roads as narrow as some of those near where I live in Ireland.
There are options for me to take a car to continental Europe by ferry – to Spain or France. I think driving a right-hand drive car on the right-hand side of the road will add another layer of complication that I could do without, so I’m put off the idea. If I drive in those countries, it’ll be in a hire car that situates the driver on the correct side for that part of the world.
I definitely get what you’re saying re:roundabouts. There were some complicated intersections where I was very much relying on my partner’s navigation to figure out which lane we were supposed to thread into, lest disaster strike…
As an Australian musician, maybe next time you should look for a smaller van. Perhaps a fried-out Kombi?
Well played DrunkenWrench
Sounds like a fun adventure! Great work getting the hang of it. Glad you had a good time
As one that spent quite a while driving on the wrong side of the road (for me continental European) in UK, with a French car (just to complicate things) in UK. I can confirm that size matter.
I navigated the B and C roads in my AX without any problem…
Well THE problem was when I had to overtake something slower, as I was on the wrong side, I had to put the whole car on the other lane to be able to see if there was incoming traffic (I quickly learned that having a trusted passenger on the passenger seat was the best thing to have in that situation, as (s)he could tell you of said incoming traffic long before you were going to be able to see it)
As a yank I’ve had a couple close calls while driving in the UK; and only one was what I’d consider embarrassing or particularly boneheaded on my part, though no harm nor property damage came of it.
Start with small vehicles, set your mirrors well so you can gauge placement in your lanes accurately, and most importantly: be steady and predictable so that other drivers can treat you with care if you’re ever a bit too slow on the uptake.
I remember the first time I drove in the UK and was worried the same: will my off-hand be able to shift properly? And same as you, I was surprised at how quickly I adapted and really didn’t have a problem. The thing that took mental effort for me was turning at 4-way intersections, since left turns were now sharp instead of sweeping across the intersection. But at least I never got it wrong.
The funniest thing was when I talked to fellow Americans about it, a question that came up more than once: “are the gears in the same order?” Like they thought first gear might be on the right and fifth on the left. That had never even crossed my mind to ask. It’s not like they read right-to-left in the UK! A silly question imo.
I like this use of the word manifold
It’s good, huh! Seldom get to use it this way but when it fits, it’s delicious.
When I moved to Japan learning to drive on the left side of the road took about two days. The hardest parts was not turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signals(one of the few controls that is swapped in a right hand drive car). Driving a stick wasn’t even that bad, worse was coming back to the states. I’m fairly certain I gave the sales guy a heart attack on my first test drive. Oops! Sorry pal, as I sheepishly merge back over the right hand lane.
The controls aren’t necessarily swapped on a right-hand drive car. It’s dependent on the manufacturer. The vast majority of cars I’ve driven (which have been right-hand drive) keep the indicator and light controls on the left and wiper controls on the right. This is also how it was on the left-hand drive Jeep Renegade I had as a holiday rental in Sicily in 2019.
However, my first car had those controls the other way around – it was a 2000 Hyundai. To date this is the only car I’ve driven with the indicator stalk on the right.
All the JDM cars I drove(back in the 90’s) while in Japan had the turn signal stalk on the right side of the steering wheel. That was how we could spot a new arrival to the base. They would accidentally turn on their wipers as they approached a turn instead of the signal. Some of the other controls that were placed in the instrument cluster cowl were also flipped. Look up an ’89 Subaru Leone interior and compare it to the GL sold in the states. (I had a Leone Turbo 4WD) The A/C controls are on the left side of the steering wheel in the JDM but right on the US model. Now Subaru being the wonderful, weird car brand they were in the ’80’s and ’90’s they had some cool interiors and control setups. The Toyotas, Nissans and Hondas had the A/C and radio mostly in center console and that configuration was the same here and in Japan.
I can’t speak to an US branded cars set up for right hand drive as they were very rare in the ’90’s when I was there.
We’d have got a lot of JDM imports in Ireland over the 90s and noughties, too, and in general they’d have the controls switched over, if memory serves (I only ever drove one – and it was the first time I ever drove anything, so any memory is just that of terror).
Post COVID, a lot of imports started coming from Japan again as the used car market had completely dried up here. Only this time they were mostly imports of European cars. I’ve often wondered about those, as they can often be bought for a pretty reasonable price and with pretty low mileage (assuming that can be trusted), but can the language on the on-board screens be changed, and are the controls the same as what we’d be used to?
That would be a great questions for Mercedes Streeter! I’ve never imported a car. If I did, the Subaru Leone Turbo 4WD would be awesome! It was great in the snows of northern Japan.
I could be mistaken, but this seems to be the general pattern:
In European RHD countries, the indicator is always on the left.
In Asian RHD countries, the indicator is always on the right.
In Australia/NZ and Africa, it’s a mix depending on whether the car European, American or Asian.
When I lived in Ireland I had a 2005 Kia Sportage and the indicator stalk was on the right and wipers on the left. Drove me mental, especially when I would come back to the states and drive my cars here. I would invariably wipe the windshield accidentally for at least the first week of switching cars/countries.
Definitely get the wipers/indicators thing. Funnily enough Aus. market cars come both ways around depending on where they’re built/imported from. So I often get it wrong just switching between my partner’s Yaris and my Audi TT.
What is a clutch? If fears are manifold, where are the intake and exhaust? Am I suffering from speech aphasia or has the world changed faster than I can keep up or both? I’m serious.
Anyway, I’m pretty certain I couldn’t drive a mega motorhome with a clutch on the left side of the road. Maybe something smaller like a..a…a…I’m sure there are plenty of small manual transmission cars in Europe and Asia…but I wouldn’t know of any. I don’t know of any in the US either. In fact, I occasionally climb behind the wheel of an International or Freightliner truck (to drive 10 feet into a garage)…and most if not all of them have automatic transmissions now.
I’m pretty sure muscle memory would allow me to drive a manual on the right side of the road, but doubt I could handle it on the left. Kudos to your accomplishment. I’ll automatically stick to the right side of the road and take a taxi to the hotel when I’m in the left side of the world.
In Europe, most cars sold up until recently are manuals. Automatic really started to show up with the electrification for the EV, PHEV and variations thereof.
Before that it was a niche option that you were paying big money to have.
“6340 pounds, while standing over 9 feet high and 23 feet long” So Basically a regular sized truck in the US….Joke.
I do have to say, I think the biggest hurdle beside occasionally turning into the wrong lane for a sec would in fact be manually shifting with the left hand. I know it would be short lived and fine in the end, but still, at first.
Biggest thing I’d be concerned about if I went back would be turning through complex intersections. Very easy to get confused about where to thread yourself, particularly where there are one way sections or tramlines involved. Benefit of having a navigator onboard is they can take some of the cognitive load to figure it out while you focus on piloting.
the big question then is do they have traffic engineers messing with intersection over there, like here? Those strange shaped, Diverging Diamond, intersections on Freeway bridges these days seem to cause plenty of issues for those suddenly experiencing them.