Texas Woman Shares Reality of Driving in the UK—’What in the 1700s?’

A Texas woman who relocated to the U.K. has shared the biggest culture shocks she faced when she started to drive on the other side of the Atlantic.

Helene Sula, an American expat and travel blogger, is passionate about capturing her experiences traveling the world on her TikTok page. In a recent video, she revealed the differences between driving in the U.S. and U.K.

“I’ll never forget driving on the left in a manual. I thought we’d die! But, when we moved, since it was our second move, we bought a car fairly quickly,” Sula told Newsweek.

Thankfully, she had previously moved abroad to Germany in 2016, and did have some experience of driving a manual car in another country.

Unlike in the U.S., the majority of cars in the U.K., around 80 percent, are manual transmission or “stick shifts.”

U.K. drivers usually learn to drive a manual car, while in the U.S., it is more common to learn in an automatic car.

To add to the differences, U.K. roads are designed to be driven on the left-hand side, and the driver’s seat in cars is flipped accordingly to the right of the car.

However, it wasn’t any of these things that shocked Sula the most. Instead, it was the roads themselves, and their surroundings.

“The roads are so tiny,” Sula said. “But what I find fascinating is that, simultaneously along with the small roads, tall hedgerows, and stone walls, the speed limit will be quite high. Most of the country lanes are 60 miles per hour. I never go this fast.”

In a video on her Instagram page @heleneinbetween, she shared footage of her driving experience in the U.K. She reacted to some of the more quirky elements of British roads: “What in the 1700s?” she asked at one point, while, in another part of the clip, the text overlay read: “Not another roundabout!”

Viewers of the video, many of whom hadn’t traveled on U.K. roads, were stunned.

“I’ve always wondered about those thin country lanes. Are they all two way? They seem way too narrow for two cars!” posted Sara, while another viewer wrote: “You are so brave!!!”

“I’m stressed just watching,” commented Instagram user adventuresbylana.

It is an experience that resonates with many; from American visitors to the U.K. or some of the 166,000 or so American nationals residing in the…