I passed!

Last week the 18 month, £1,000+ saga of getting my UK driver's license came to a successful end. Well, almost, after I passed in true British process fashion they confiscated my driving permit and will send me a new license in 2 to 4 weeks. Trust and DMV, not usually words I'm comfortable with in the same sentence.

If you've been following the blog you know that I passed my written and video hazards tests last July. That was proceeded by a multi-week investigation into how to get a driver's permit followed by the actual application process which involved trying to find a six week period during which I could surrender my passport to the UK equivalent of the DMV, the DVLA. Unlike in the States there are no counters with surly government employees, just a mailing address.

After a break from test stress, this January I contacted the Royal Auto Club's official driving school, BSM. A littel side trivia here, the RAC was started in the very early days of the automobile and while they helped motorists and enthusiasts, according to a recent BBC documentary, their big initial membership jump came when they developed a system to warn members about speed traps. Teens on bikes...I kid you not...who would signal to members displaying their membership medalion of a speed trap ahead. For some reason that's not mentioned in their official Wikiepedia entry.

After 19 hours in the car with my awesome instructor Makabia I passed the first time around. Just as stressful as when I took my first test a long time ago... It was all about learning to drive like a 17 year-old again and forgetting gut and common sense to follow the rules to the letter. Makabia was an awesome instructor. I had been concerned that I would get some "kid" who wouldn't get that I had been driving for a long time, but he was great. Ask for him if you're taking lessons in South London. The fact that he's smart and funny is a bonus.

All my American friends keep asking me about how it is driving on the other side of the road. That part is amazingly easy. The hard part really comes down to vocabularly. The best example is pavement. In the States that's the road. In the UK that's the sidewalk, the road is the carriageway.

After it was all over I took myself out of champagne lunch. I was talking with one of the guys that works at the restaurant who is from South Korea and was telling him my story. He was shocked. He told me all he had to do was mail his South Korean license in and he got a UK one, didn't even have to take a written test or surrender his passport.

As one of my friend's over here says, "it's just part of the hazing of the American's, we're worried you'll get too arrogant."