>>2875711
It's pretty intuitive. The main mind bender is trying to drive a rhd on a lhd country and vice versa.

>>2875711
I recommend springing for the automatic even if you're comfortable with a manual

>main danger
turning left onto a road without traffic and defaulting into the right lane
>main challenge
getting used to the mirrored geometry while maneuvring
>main annoyance
windshield wipers when you wanted to indicate and vice versa

Also:
>not visiting the Isle of Man on a motorcycle or as a foamer
How much will you get from a couple hours there?

>>2875712
I can imagine, I wouldn't dare drive my own car over there, luckily that's not a problem with a rental.
>>2875714
Oh absolutely, I'm shit with a manual even at the best of times lol
>>2875715
>turning left onto a road without traffic and defaulting into the right lane
This is what I fear the most. Especially in the countryside with narrow, twisty roads and fewer cars. Any tips how to reduce the risk?
>How much will you get from a couple hours there?
It's not ideal, but it fits my itinerary pretty perfectly so I just went for it. I'll land there at 9am and leave at 6.30pm, so I'll have the whole day. Motorcycles and races doesn't interest me in the slightest, so I figure I'll spend my time hiking if the weather's nice and walking around Douglas and checking out the city. I'd love to have two weeks to spend in every location I visit, but I'm limited in both time and money, so when an opportunity arises to tick an obscure territory off the list, I take it.

Be careful in the Lake District anon, there are a few mountain passes there that are a little fucked if you're not used to driving steep gradients (Hardknott for example has a 33% grade)
Your itinerary seems a little tight too, honestly I would cut the Isle of Man from it and throw more time into either the Lakes or Snowdonia

>>2875721
It sounds autistic but if you're alone then point & call does the trick.

Try to go up Snaefell if the weather's good.

>>2875722
Looking at it on Google Maps now and holy shit that's scary. I'm not unfamiliar with driving on shit forest roads, but going at it in a rental and risk losing thousands if I get a scratch, oh boy. I'll avoid that if I can lol, thanks for the heads up.
>Your itinerary seems a little tight too, honestly I would cut the Isle of Man
Flights are already booked. Like I said it's not perfect, and if I could spend more time in each place I would, but I only have five days. I want to cram as much as I can into those five days because my next opportunity to visit IOM might not come soon you know.
>>2875723
I've thought about putting post-it notes on the dashboard that says "LEFT!!" with arrows pointing, I'll drive alone so autistic tricks are absolutely on the table. Snaefell in good weather would be lovely, fingers crossed for that!

You get used to it pretty quickly. You will naturally drift away from the center line so just pay attention.

>>2875711
i'm from the uk and i have spent quite a lot of time working in the usa with rental cars each time i was there
the driving itself is not actually that difficult. everything is basically a mirror image (the pedals also reversed) so i just spent a few minutes doing a few laps around the car park to get acclimatised before heading out onto the road
i found it more challenging getting used to the different rules of the road. for example the rule that it's ok to turn right if you are at a red traffic light always felt a bit strange
also remember that some things about driving in the uk are just a bit weird. distances on road signs are in miles, but we buy fuel in liters, that kind of thing
even so, you are doing the right thing. getting around some of those places by public transport would just be a pain

>>2875747
Thanks for the advice. Doing a few practice laps before setting off sounds like a good idea. I think I'd handle the different rules of the road pretty well (I think!), the only thing that would be weird are speed limits in miles, since I'm so used to kilometers. But the speedometer will be in miles anyway so I should adapt quickly. I hope, lol.
>even so, you are doing the right thing. getting around some of those places by public transport would just be a pain
Thanks for that, knowing public transport is off the table makes it an easier decision. A calm sea never made a skilled sailor I suppose.

>>2875711
I drove in Japan a month after getting my license in europe

Got used to it near instantly except for the blinker/wiper sticks being swapped

>>2875711
i am british and drove Pacific Coast Highway in California in an opposite side drive car, also an automatic. you get used to it quickly, it isn't a big deal.
although on these rural roads in the lake district etc, where there sometimes is not a lot of traffic and you have a car full of people talking, foriegners often lose concentration and drift back onto the wrong side of the road. i live in the highlands of scotland and every year there are multiple deadly crashes caused by foreigners driving on the wrong side of the road.

as long as you concentrate you will be fine.

You'll be fine. Just be mindful of where you position yourself relative to the center line / edge of the road. Make sure you know how roundabouts work too.

Actually I think non-brits are better drivers while in Britain because we're so nervous about doing the wrong thing we pay 3x more attention at any given moment. It's great if you have a wingman in the passenger seat who can shout at you if needed. That being said, you'll get used to it pretty quick, it's like in a video game where the controls are reversed, your brain "resets" and then you're fine. I do recommend watching some videos on roundabout etiquette.
>Narrow, twisty roads
Lake District and Wales have the narrowest country roads I've seen in my life. When another car approaches you just...figure it out, and hopefully neither of you was speeding (though if the other guy is local he probably was). I rented a bigass SUV last time and boy was that a mistake.

The main thing you will struggle with is gauging the distance between your "passenger side" and the kerb. You will probably be hitting the kerb a lot if you aren't careful.
Also roundabouts. Some smaller roundabouts in the UK don't have a separator island with a blue arrow clearly indicating which side you need to be on so it's an easy mistake to try and circle it anti clockwise. That's not a problem in the bigger roundabouts though because they have the islands and massive black and white chevrons indicating the direction of traffic.

I don't know what country you're from or which countries you've visited, but one thing to keep in mind is British roads are old. Even by European standards because most European countries went through large road redesign and rebuilding projects in the 60s and 70s. NIMBYism won in the UK and cars got faster, so you there's roads with very high speed limits but still following the same gradients, angles and cambers of when they were built for horses. And this isn't a feature of country roads only. There are major routes thousands of people use to commute every day where large vehicles still have to negotiate when passing each other.

Having said that British drivers are generally polite and patient. They are used to stopping every 200m if they're stuck behind a bus and there's not enough room to overtake, so instances of road rage are relatively low compared to most other countries.
If you want to let everyone know you're anxious, you can search for a green "P" sign, I think they're called new drivers sign, and they're used by drivers who recently passed their driving test to indicate they're inexperienced lol. You can put one of those on your car regardless of how long you held your license for and it might let other drivers know to be extra patient around you.