(Manchester, England) After flying all night, my wife and I landed at London’s Heathrow aiport at 1:30 this afternoon and rented a car for the 160 mile drive to Manchester.
Even though I’ve driven on the left-hand side of the road before, it’s never easy, especially in the UK with its incessant “roundabouts” making it even harder to navigate for those us used to right-hand driving. That plus hardly any sleep and having to use a stick shift for the first time in years made for a stressful drive.
The one bright spot (aside from having my wife Patti at my side) is that I had a UK version of the Magellan Maestro which Magellan loaned to me for the duration of this trip. It would be an overstatement to say that it was a life-saver but it certainly was a sanity saver. Trying to navigagte UK motorways and roundabouts, even with a GPS is hard. Without one, it would be been a lot worse.
The hardware and the interface was identical to the Magellan that I use at home but aside from having maps of the UK and Continental Europe, the voice was distinctively British. And speaking of voice, the device did an incredibly good job telling me where to turn and which roundabout exits to take without my having to take my eyes off the road. When driving at home, I’m comfortable glancing at a screen but here in the unfamiliar UK, I really need to keep my eyes glued to the road at all times.
The device I borrowed came pre-configured with European maps. What I haven’t been able to figure out is whether owners of a U.S. Magellan can purchase a European map to use on their device while overseas and then revert back to a U.S. map when they return home. If anyone has the answer to that, please let me know.
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