S4E3: Amy Scott – Rear Ended & Totaled Car + Road Rage with Teacher (Transcript)

(sneak peek)

AMY: So I was driving from San Francisco to
New Jersey and had just left Chicago and was mapping out my route on the back
roads. This is 2005. So before cell phones and stuff, I had an Atlas actually
spread across the drivers…

Not while I was
driving, while I was at a red light. I remember I had the Atlas, like, spread
across, like, okay, I’m gonna go up here and get on this blue highway.

And I got rear
ended sitting at the red light, and I was moving, and I had a little hatchback.
I had the back of the car was full of stuff and rear window shattered. I was
just like, what am I supposed to do now? 

(intro music)

BHAVNEET: Welcome back to drive with us podcast.
I’m Bhavneet.

TARANJIT: And I’m Taranjit and today’s driver is
Amy Scott.

BHAVNEET: So quick car keeping. Before we meet
today’s driver, we have both video and audio this season. So if you would like
to see our guests, as we chat about driving, you can head on over to our drive
with us podcasts, YouTube channel, or become a patron on Patreon to have access
to the full video podcast.

TARANJIT: Now let’s meet today’s driver, Amy
Scott, originally from the United States and currently based in Mexico city,
Amy Scott has spent the past 16 years traveling the world and living abroad
while running multiple businesses. She’s passionate about helping
entrepreneurs, freelancers and remote workers.

Harness the power
of location, independence to create freedom in their life and work as a founder
of Nomadtopia, Amy connects and supports people around the globe who are
building their own version of a location, independent lifestyle, AKA
Nomadtopia. When she’s not sharing resources with her community or interviewing
her fellow nomads on her podcast, Amy can be found reading books of all genres
tasting local delicacies and exploring new place.

Or relaxing in the
park with her Argentine husband and their Mexico born twin toddlers.

(transition music) 

BHAVNEET: Welcome. Thanks. so much for joining us
today.

AMY: Thanks. It’s great to be here.

BHAVNEET: We’re so excited to talk to you about
your driving experiences, especially since you have traveled so many different
places. But before we dive into your crazy driving experiences, let’s get to
know a little bit about your background of driving.

So what are some
of the places that you driven? Where are you currently?

AMY: I’m from the U S um, you know, grew up
there and learned how to drive there and got my driver’s license there, all the
usual stuff. And I actually was pretty nervous about driving in other
countries. In fact, even in the U S I lived in a couple of big cities, like,
you know, drove in Philadelphia, drove in Washington, DC, drove in San
Francisco.

, but I grew up,
in New Jersey. About an hour from New York city. And I never, to this day, I’m
in my forties. I still haven’t driven in New York city. And I would watch my
dad, you know, navigating the crazy lanes and stuff. And I was just like, oh, I
don’t want to do that.

 New York is just, you know, New York has
definitely crazy, but I think I’ve been some crazier places, you know, cities
in India, um, in Southeast Asia, Mexico city, Buenos Aires like totally insane.
And I have always been like, like, I’m just not going to do it.

And my husband
doesn’t drive at all. He grew up outside Buenos Aires and never learned to
drive, never needed to, you know, took buses and whatever. We now live in
Mexico and we moved to Mexico city a couple years ago and I would watch the
traffic there. And I was like, I am never going to drive here.

 And of course I should know by now it never
say never because then we’re in a pandemic with twin toddlers actually, who
were not toddlers when this all started. And we didn’t feel comfortable taking
Uber’s anymore. And we were like, what are we going to do? And we actually
ended up buying a car and I’ve been driving in Mexico city, and now we moved to
another city in Mexico and I’m driving here.

So yeah, you just
never know where life will take you.

TARANJIT: So, what would you say is your
relationship with driving? Is this something that you enjoy or is it something
that you don’t enjoy? Do you like being the driver or would you rather be the
passenger?

AMY: Generally I love it. I think I’m more of
like a road trip kind of driver. You know, I’ve taken a couple of long trips
across the U S with other people and by myself, and I liked that kind of
driving. One of my trips. I intentionally took the back roads , driving from
the west coast to the east coast.

 And that kind of thing is a lot of fun for me.
And. As I said, I’ve been really nervous and not so excited about the prospect of
driving in urban environments, whereas just like tons of traffic so I’d say
that’s less enjoyable to me in general.

The only challenge
right now, because my husband doesn’t drive like. Mine’s, you know, being the
one, doing the driving, but because we have two little kids and we still don’t
have childcare because of the pandemic. It’s like, we all have to go or I have
to go, you know, I can’t just like send him to the store or whatever.

So, , that’s
probably the only downside, but generally I’m happy to do it.

TARANJIT: Is your husband just not going to learn
to drive at all? Is he okay with not knowing.

AMY: I think he would really like to know,
actually we’ve talked about it a little bit. , he’s talked about taking
lessons. He’s interested in cars, you know, not like, super hardcore, but like,
he’ll see a cool car and be like, ah, you know, someday I’d like to drive one
of those. But he definitely didn’t want to learn when we were in Mexico city.

We’re in a bit of
a smaller city now. And I think this might be a place he would be open to
trying it. I think it would be great. You know, obviously like we did a really
long road trip in the U S together and I, again, I did all the driving. Like,
it would be nice to be able to share the driving and that kind of experience.

 And also a couple of years ago, we went to
Costa Rica. And a lot of people had said, , and a lot of places, right. When
you travel, they say like, really the best way to get to know the places to
rent your own car. And you can go wherever you want. And people had told us
that about Costa Rica, but I’d also heard that, the roads can be like super
steep, unpaved, muddy, potholes, like craziness.

And I just
thought. I don’t know if I’m up for that challenge being the only one in the
car who knows anything about what’s happening, , so we ended up, taking the bus
and hiring a shuttle and all of those things to get around instead, which was
fine, but I can definitely see some situations where it would be nice to feel a
little bit more confident.

BHAVNEET: Yeah, I definitely agree. Like road
tripling is so much more fun than like having to sit on a bus, but then again,
like you don’t want to be the only person able to drive.

AMY: Yeah.

BHAVNEET: Have you ever been in a car or where
you’ve been a passenger and you’re like, oh my God, I should not have gotten in
this car?

AMY: Oh, gosh. Yes. As a passenger, Oh, gosh,
so many, so many things are flashing through my head. Mostly I would say
involving like taxi and Uber drivers, who either clearly did not know where
they were going or I just didn’t feel safe. I didn’t feel comfortable with the
way they were driving, especially, some places where it can be a lot of stop
and go traffic, but you’ve got someone who’s like really weaving in and out
and.

Not my thing and I
don’t feel comfortable watching someone else do it with me in the car. Nothing
really specific comes to mind, but I’d say I’ve definitely had some experiences
with taxi drivers like that.

BHAVNEET: You did say that you have been an India.
So I wonder have you had the taxi drivers like that.

in India? Cause
that driving I know is crazy.

AMY: Yeah, it is. I mostly remember.
Honestly, in the big cities, there’s so much traffic and I remember this like
in Vietnam too, for example, like there’s just so much traffic and there’s an
amazing flow to it somehow that, even though there’s definitely some of that
weaving in and out and stuff, it’s like, everyone just knows where to go and
how things are going to move.

And I think, I
actually think. Less uncomfortable about it there. I also had an experience in
India where I ended up with another traveler. We hired a car to drive us from
the mountains back to the city and, That was one of those things where I’m
like, I’m glad someone else is driving because I would have no idea.

Like there was a
cow in the middle of the road, what am I supposed to, , do you go around it? Do
you honk? Do you wait? , I’m glad someone else is doing the driving. There was
always something that happened. I’m like, I’m really glad I’m not the one
making the decisions right now.

TARANJIT: Well, this is a great segue into your
crazy driving experiences. What would you say are your top three craziest
driving experiences you’ve had?

AMY: There’s so many, a couple that come to
mind. One as when I saw this question on your list and I remembered,
unfortunately I tried to Google it and nothing came up. I can’t find the
specifics exactly. But when my husband and I were on our road trip on the west
coast of the U S we saw a guy walking on the side of the highway, like on route
one or something And I don’t remember for sure.

Unfortunately, he
was like carrying a globe or he was like dressed as a globe or like hauling a
globe. I don’t remember. There was something, just this crazy thing this guy
was doing. And I think we looked it up later. And like, oh yeah, this is a
thing.

Like, this guy is,
walking route one . And that was, just something we drove past, but it was
memorable. That was almost 10 years ago.

 Two of my other ones that came to mind are, ,
related to some of my long road trips in the U S actually I had one.

Where I was
driving solo. This was the one where I was choosing all the back roads. I was
actually reading a book called blue highways. That is about the back roads and
kind of the magic of the back roads in the U S so I was driving from San
Francisco to New Jersey and, had just left Chicago and was.

Mapping out my
route on the, on the back roads. This was 2005. So before cell phones and
stuff, I had an Atlas actually spread across the drivers. Now, while I was
driving while I was at a red light, I remember I had the Atlas like spread
across like, okay, I’m going to go up here and get on this, you know, blue
highway.

 And I got rear ended. Sitting at the red light
and I had, I was moving. And I had a little hatchback. I had the back of the
car was full of stuff and, rear window shattered. I was just like, what am I
supposed to do now? And actually part of the reason I wanted to share this is
because the best advice I got in that situation, which I still remember now is
I called my insurance company

and they said talk
to the other driver’s insurance company and they totally hooked me up. I didn’t
even know this was a thing. She was driving a, um, like a, not a, not an
ambulance, but like she was transporting somebody like to the doctor or
something, you know, if somebody in a wheelchair is like a big kind of van
vehicle thing and she immediately, she was like, oh my God, honey.

I’m so sorry. So I
talked to her insurance company, they put me up in a hotel , the adjuster
person or whoever it was, she actually, this may have been like a conflict of
interest. She invited me over to her house for dinner. Like she felt so bad and
like we, what did we do with my stuff? I think we got all my stuff up into the
hotel room.

I had to go to the
hospital to get checked out. And just had kind of a, you know, whiplash and I,
my back was kinda messed up, but they couldn’t really diagnose anything
specific. Anyway, I ended up, , stuck there. And then they got me a rental car
and I was on my way to the Kentucky Derby, and going to, whiskey distilleries with
my cousin and all this good stuff.

I was in no shape
for it. So I got the rental car. I got like some of those like heating pad
things to stick on my back and I drove straight to New Jersey just to get to my
final destination. So that was definitely crazy.

TARANJIT: Interesting that your insurance gave you
that advice? I feel like there’s certain insurance companies that would take
your money anyways. And the fact that they were super helpful. That’s

awesome.

AMY: It was, it was, and I mean, like I had
no idea who could help me, you know, when I called them, I was like, I’m
driving across the country. My car is full of stuff. Like, what am I supposed
to do? It wasn’t even really about like, The car itself in that moment, I was
just like, like, I’m stuck in the middle of nowhere.

What do I do now?
So yeah, having that kind of advice from them was a huge help because they
totally hooked me up and my car actually ended up being totaled. So I left my
car in Indiana at some junk yard and drove a rental car the rest of the way.

TARANJIT: Did it affect your insurance rate or
what. Was it like, because it was covered by the other lady

AMY: Yeah, good question. I actually did not
get another car after that, so I don’t know.

BHAVNEET: yeah.

AMY: became a non-issue. In fact, I hadn’t
had a car as, since then, until I bought a car in Mexico about a year ago

BHAVNEET: Well, that’s one way to prevent
insurance increase.

AMY: exactly. Just to leave the country.

So the last one
was, so I was supposed to be a bridesmaid in a wedding. That wedding was on
September 15th, 2001, right after September 11th. And needless to say, like, I
think I was supposed to fly on Wednesday. I think Wednesday or Thursday,
September 11th was the Tuesday. Everything was shut down.

No flights were
going. All of us, my friend, who was getting married, I was in San Francisco.
She was getting married in Cape Cod, like as far away as possible, pretty much
in the U S we were just trying to figure out, like, what are we going to do?
Like, are we, one is the wedding happening? And two, how are we going to get
there?

Can we get there?
And there was actually another bridesmaid who was a really good friend of the
bride and her parents also were invited to the wedding and they also lived in
the bay area. They put us in touch and I remember they called me on Wednesday
night and were like, we think we’re going to rent a car and drive.

And like we did
the math. We have to leave tomorrow morning, Thursday morning, or we’re not
going to make it and I said, all right, I’m in. And you know, they loaded up
all our stuff, put our, you know, dresses flat across the back of the van. We
got a minivan. It was a very smart setup because the way we planned it was you
have someone driving.

The person in the
passenger seat stays awake with the driver. Then the middle is the person who’s
going to be on deck next. And then in the back was the person who just finished
up front and was like ready to sleep. And we literally did not stop except for
gas coffee and pee breaks. We drove straight through, we left Thursday morning
and we got there.

Maybe three hours
before the wedding. It was such a whirlwind.

BHAVNEET: can’t imagine like, well, I mean, you
guys had a really smart idea then if you were able to just rotate through and
like not have the person that’s near the driver’s sleeping. You know, that just
messes everything up. But whoever thought of that idea, like that was really
good.

AMY: I know it was. And yeah, I share that
also, because if you ever have to make a non-stop road trip, that was a really
good setup. Of course. The more people you have the better. Right. Because then
you can do more rotation.

TARANJIT: Yeah. You’re so lucky that you got
there just enough time. I feel like I would be. Anxious like, oh my gosh, it’s
cutting it. Close.

AMY: Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, like I said,
we’d done the math and it was like, W we really are on a tight timeline. Plus
we were losing three hours, right. With the time difference. So yeah, it was
crazy, but it can be done in almost exactly 48 hours

TARANJIT: Would you do it again?

AMY: If I had to. Absolutely.

BHAVNEET: and now you have a good system in place.

AMY: Exactly.

BHAVNEET: Yeah. And so you weren’t mentioning that
, since you’ve been to so many different places and you’re in Mexico city,
you’ve been across the us. , have you noticed that there are certain type of
drivers in different places that you’ve been? So like, for example, what we’ve
noticed like here in Maryland, Drivers.

Like, I don’t know
if you’ve driven in Maryland, but like drivers do not follow the rules. They do
not use their indicators. They love to tailgate. So like, have you noticed any
kind of like driving type.

AMY: Yeah. Oh man, that takes me back. Yeah.
I went to college in Washington, DC. So I was, you know, in and out of
Maryland, Virginia, like that whole area all the time. I feel like. Well,
that’s not totally true. I was going to say that in some ways I feel like
drivers in the U S in general and you’re right. It definitely can vary, even
different, uh, regions.

 I think drivers in the U S are a bit more
aggressive, but aggressive in like a weird way. Like, it’s not like people here
aren’t aggressive, it’s just a little different and it’s kind of hard to put
your finger on it. It’s funny because we’re all encased in these metal boxes
that are the expression of your, you know, your driving styles.

So it was kind of
funny to think about, I actually remember in Florida I remember thinking that
people were terrible drivers in Florida. Sorry, Floridians.

 And you’ve heard that too. And then I remember
thinking like, well, maybe it’s because there’s a lot of older people here.
Like maybe they just drive slow or I don’t know what it is, but I don’t think
it was just the older people.

I think it was
just kind of a, yeah, not great in general. , I also feel like there’s kind of
some etiquette to like different highways and stuff, right? Like I drove 95 a
lot. My parents were in New Jersey. I went to college in DC and then I lived in
Philly for a while. So like, you know, that 95 stretch.

I know very well.
And I feel like there’s kind of a vibe on 95, but then I lived on the west
coast and like driving up and down, , like highway five in, in California feels
different. So yeah, there’s definitely some personality to it. My feeling in
Mexico is that There’s just not a lot of training, frankly, like you in Mexico
city last I heard and I believe this is true still is that you don’t have to
take a driving test to get your license.

 Well also, you might not even have a license,
frankly. So you’ve got people who are just, they just kind of figure out like,
well, you know, you turn the wheel and the car turns and like, what, what else
do you need to know? And it feels like a real free for all because of that. So
yeah, that’s and like I said, also I felt like very much in Asia, especially
just this kind of magical kind of dance and flow to it that.

 I guess, you know, you just kind of study it
for a while and you figure it out and you just roll with it. I actually think I
got a lot more comfortable with the prospect of driving in Mexico city after
having been a passenger there for a couple of years. Cause I was very observant.
Like every time I was in a cab or an Uber, I would be, paying attention to what
was happening and who was, you know, who’s weaving and where and what, and how
it works.

So by the time I
actually got behind the wheel, Kind of felt like I knew what to expect, which
is pretty much anything.

BHAVNEET: I just, I can’t get them. Like you don’t
have to take a test.

AMY: I know, I know I was going to get my
license in Mexico city. But then we’re in the middle of the pandemic and like a
bunch of offices were closed and it was complicated. And anyway, I ended up
getting it here. I’m in the city we live in now, which I can happy to tell you
about. I did have to take them.

Where I am now.
Um, but yeah, last year I was researching online. Like, what do I need to do?
And it was fill out this form online and make an appointment. Like there was
nothing about a test.

Yeah. I don’t know
if that’s true many other places in the world, but it explains a lot. I think.

TARANJIT: We actually had a guest come on, not
too long ago, who was talking about, I think Nicaragua and how it was kind of
like a lottery system where there was like 14 people there. And then whoever
got picked and depended on them. If they pass everyone pass, if they failed
everyone failed.

Yeah.

AMY: That’s Crazy.

BHAVNEET: I was like what are these systems.

Wow. Very
interesting.

TARANJIT: I just feel, it just feels weird, but
that driver’s tests aren’t as, I guess, strict in every place. It’s like some
places it’s just so easy to just get behind the wheel. . So which place other
places that you’ve either been on the road or driven in, which do you feel the
most comfortable in the car in, and which did you feel the

least comfortable?

AMY: . I feel like my gut reaction is to say,
I feel the most comfortable in the car in the U S because. I know the rules and
I like, I know how it works and I think also one thing I’ve been aware of here
is that

 I realized that I come into a driving
situation thinking that I know how other people are thinking.

 And I’m realizing like more and more, every
time I drive in Mexico, that is not true. Like, whoa, what that guy just did
that he clearly is not thinking what I’m thinking. And I, again, every person
is obviously an individual, but I feel like generally in the U S I have an idea
of what other drivers are thinking, what they’re going to do next.

 Where do I feel the least comfortable? Gosh,

 I mean, I feel like it’s more situational than
country-specific, you know what I mean? Like I think of situations, for
example, in , Argentina, I lived there for a while. , my husband is from there
and in many places, the airport is a ways out of the cities. So it’s like, you
know, full on like high speed driving on the highway to get to, and from the
city, from the airport.

 There have been a lot of times that I’ve been
like, this guy is just going like way too fast but that’s not necessarily about
Argentina, you know, or Buenos Aires. It’s more, I think I feel less
comfortable. When someone’s driving really fast.

And there’s just
that sense of like, how alert is he? And like how ready is he to react to
something that might appear? So, yeah, I think just generally high speed,
probably that makes me the most nervous.

TARANJIT: Yeah, that makes sense. That it’s more
driver’s specific as opposed to country.

AMY: Yeah.

TARANJIT: let’s dive into you as a driver. We
heard your crazy driving stories. Let’s dive into what kind of driver you are.
So how would you describe the type of driver you are and would your family and

friends agree?

AMY: This is a funny one. I was actually
talking to my husband, um, about the fact that I was doing this interview and
he definitely had some thoughts about it. Well, first of all, I. I think I’ve
actually changed a lot as a driver over the years, I’ve been driving now almost
30 years.

 so needless to say, I’ve been through a lot of
experiences since then and you know, matured, but also just, I think actually,
especially my international experience and even just in the last year or so, I
feel like it’s mellowed me out a lot. I was, I think I was pretty. Agro is the
word that comes to mind to like describe myself as like a young driver.

And my husband
said that I’ve mellowed out because actually last year, so it’s been almost
exactly a year, I think, since we got the car and, um, and we moved in January,
so we were in Mexico city for six, seven months driving and the first few times
were so stressful and I’m using Waze to navigate and it was.

I’m like, are
these telling me to turn here up there, like 10 feet, 50 feet? Like it was
super confusing this lane or that lane. And I was like, vocalizing all of it. I
do that a lot. And, and my husband actually said like, this is super stressful.
Like, I don’t want to drive with you. And I’m like, well, we just bought a car.

Like we need to
drive. And he was basically like, you really need to chill out or like this
isn’t going to be fun for anybody. And so I started one, just not vocal, every
little thing, like, oh, I don’t know what to do. Or like, what did that guy
just do? That was crazy.

And just rolling
with it a bit more, which I found was actually easier to do when I stopped
talking about it. I might have a moment in my head of like, what, what was
that? But I’m just carry on. Don’t let my husband know what would, that was the
freak out right there. so yeah, much less.

Yelling at other
drivers, much less like complaining about navigation, confusion and what have
you, and just, and just kind of rolling with it.

 I think the other thing is I noticed that,
I’ve always been, I would say fairly defensive driver, and kind of,, not
cautious, but aware and not doing anything too crazy. And that definitely has
been amplified a bit driving with kids in the car too.

So that’s probably
something else that’s mellowed me out a little bit.

BHAVNEET: Yeah, I’ve been having kids in the car
definitely will change your perspective on driving. But, but I’m glad to hear
that you’ve, mellowed out, would you say that you are a person that tends to
honk in situations.

AMY: Yeah. You know, that is something that
also varies a lot, like horn etiquette honking etiquette definitely is
different in different places. And I would say yes, in the past, especially in
the U S like if someone would. Like in my way, being stupid.

I don’t know what
definitely would lay on the horn. Now not so much. And especially because in
Mexico I see people honking when there’s no good reason for it, like in Mexico
city, you’ll be sitting in traffic and there’s pretty much nowhere to go. And
like one person maybe is trying to switch lanes or something and like people
start honking.

I’m like for what?
Like what do you want anyone to do about it? , and the city we’re in now,
actually, especially because of the pandemic, traffic’s been pretty mellow. So
now I don’t find myself in a lot of situations where I need to honk and I don’t
really totally know the vibe here yet.

So I’m kind of
like if I had to, like, if someone was literally like blocking my path or
something, it might just kind of go like, you know, it is a tiny little just,
you know, I’m here.

BHAVNEET: Excuse me.

TARANJIT: What would you say is your biggest
driving pet peeve?

AMY: Oh, yeah. I think it’s people who drive
with their blinker on like when they’re not turning straight on the highway
with their blinker on.

BHAVNEET: Do you see that a lot down there in

Mexico?

AMY: Well, the funny thing is I’m, you know,
I’m still figuring this out, but there’s actually, people use their blinkers
kind of differently here. And so sometimes I’m not sure if I’m just still
learning what they mean by having their blinker on, or if they’re actually
just, you know, they drop the ball and it didn’t turn it off.

 One thing is if you’re if you’re on the
highway and you’re in the left passing lane and someone comes speeding up
behind you, which is frequent people here on the highway drive really fast.
They’ll put their blinker on, which means, Hey, you pull over like move out of
my way. , at least that’s how I interpret it.

Because they’ll
come right up and get close to you and I’m passing somebody, but I’m not going
as fast as they are. And they clearly are like, you need to get over it. And so
then I, what I think people do and I’m, yeah, like I said, I’m kind of
interpreting this as I go is like, then I put my blinker on, like I see you and
I am going to move over.

But obviously I
can’t write the second cause I’m passing a big truck or whatever. And then the
other weird thing that people do here that I’ve seen as a passenger, I haven’t
yet experienced it as a driver. Is that say you’re on a two lane. Like a more
rural road with two lanes, one in each direction.

And if someone
needs to turn left, instead of slowing down and actually blocking, you know,
the main lane of traffic, they’ll put their left blinker on, but then they’ll
pull onto the right shoulder. And then they wait until it’s clear and then
they’ll turn left across both lanes. The first time I saw I was, I was like,
that was another word I’m like, oh my God, I’m never driving here.

Like what’s
happening,

AMY: That’s why I think just, you know,
taking time to be observant and just figure out like, how are people doing
things here? You know, because it’s not necessarily what we’re used to.

BHAVNEET: It’s like its own different language and
like different places. , w what is this complex like left indicator means I’m
turning right.

AMY: I know.

BHAVNEET: And I’ve also heard that, we’ve had
someone say that in some places they use, they will flash their lights to be like,
Hey, move over when not use their, any indicators or like,

AMY: I’ve gotten that too.

BHAVNEET: I feel like here in the U S is
definitely more about the horn. Nobody uses anything else. It’s just like here
me I’m here.

AMY: Totally.

BHAVNEET: So would you say, say that, so I know
you said you’ve mellowed out and you’re not as aggressive, but would you say
that you’ve ever experienced road rage? Whether it was you yourself who’s
experienced it or you’ve had someone have road rage towards you?

AMY: Yeah, there have definitely been a
handful of times. I’ve had, luckily I’ve never had the kind of thing where I
felt like, someone was pursuing me, you know, I’ve heard of people being like,
they’re mad that you cut them off. And so they like start following you or
whatever. I’ve never had that kind of thing, but definitely like, uh, you’re
slow.

Move over. And
then someone drives past like, you know, giving you the finger and shouting at
you or something like I’ve definitely had that happen numerous times. And I
actually, I don’t remember exactly what was happening at the time, but, this a
long time ago when I was in college

one of my classes,
we were going on a field trip. I think we’re going to museum, but we were
carpooling and, I didn’t have a car then, but my boyfriend did. So I drove his
car a lot. And so I was driving his car to go to this place that my class was
going.

And my professor
decided to drive with me, . It was my professor, one of my really good friends.
, so this is in Washington, DC, so we’re city driving and, someone cut me off
or did something stupid bed, or I don’t know what, and I like went off like, wow.

 And forgot who was in the car. And then my
professor was looking over at me, like. What was that about? Amy and my friend
was like, oh yeah, Amy is

BHAVNEET: Yeah.

AMY: she’s a little agro behind the wheel.
And I was like, oh my God, this is so embarrassing. Like I have a reputation
now.

TARANJIT: Well, that’s the one way for your
professor to truly know,

AMY: Right.

TARANJIT: just get into a stressful situation

BHAVNEET: in the car.

AMY: Totally

BHAVNEET: I wonder what they’re thinking is like,
why did I come with you?

AMY: right. I know I couldn’t driven with
so-and-so.

TARANJIT: So now that we’ve heard about your past
driving experiences let’s dive a little bit before that, of when you first got
your driver’s license or when you first started driving, how would you describe
the very first driving experience? I know you have like two first because you
have the first in us and then your first in Mexico.

So how would you
describe those experiences?

AMY: Oh, I, it feels like a really long time
ago that I started, , learning how to drive in the states. Well, it was long
time ago , I just remember being, so, I mean, like most of us, right? Like, I
was just so excited to finally learn how to drive and, , I don’t feel like I
was particularly, , nervous or stressed out or anything when I was driving.

 Like doing driver’s ed. Behind the wheel and
all of that felt pretty good about that. , I remember that things got more
stressful. I think I probably already had my license at that point, but my
senior year, yeah, it was my senior year of high school. And my parents had
gotten a new car and told me that, they were like, well, we have this old car.

Now you can drive
this to school, but it’s a stick shift and say, you’re going to have to learn
how to drive, stick And that was total trial by fire. Oh my God. I remember to
this day, my brother, he’s about three and a half years younger than I am. And
so he’s like a bratty middle school, kid.

And he is sitting
in the back seat. My mom is in the front with me and I’m driving through our
neighborhood, trying to learn how to shift. And the car keeps stalling. It’s
like bucking like crazy. And my brother, because this is better than a roller
coaster. And I was like, shut up.

And it was, oh my
gosh, it was so stressful. I remember like trying to go in a parking lot and
just the whole balance of, of the clutch and everything. And, oh my gosh, I,
yeah, that was super stressful, but I actually prefer driving stick, these
days. And I would have actually got, probably would have chosen that in Mexico,
but someone right before what?

Right when we were
starting to look for a car, I remember I was in an Uber with a guy and I said,
commented on the car he had. Cause I’m like, oh yeah, you know, what do you
think of this car? And, He’s like, you know, the thing is you got to get an
automatic because the T the stop and go traffic is such a nightmare.

And like, you just
don’t want to have one more thing to deal with. I was like, oh, I never thought
about that. He’s right. anyway, so yeah, all that to say my early experiences
driving were pretty good, except for trying to learn how to shift.

BHAVNEET: But were you glad that you were forced
to learn how to drive a stick?

AMY: Yes, definitely. I mean, it’s such a
useful skill to have because there’s so many places that you go that, it’s not
available. And also I remember like little things, like my brother, I remember
him saying like, in, like, for example, in college, you know, you have a
situation where like, A friend needs you to drive their car home or something.

And what if their
car is the second? You don’t know how to drive it, right? Like there’s, I think
it’s just a useful life skill to be able to hop into any car and drive it if
you need to.

TARANJIT: So, how would you describe the actual
driving test experience and what were the differences in your driving test in
the U S versus Mexico?.

AMY: Oh, I don’t remember the U S test very
well, except that I was super nervous. I remember being really nervous about
like the three point turn, even though it’s like, that’s pretty straight
forward. I don’t know why I was worried about that. My test in Mexico,
obviously I remember much better because. Like three months ago. Well, first of
all, there is no, I had to take a written test and a practical test. There’s no
material to study at all.

And so even though
in the state where I am now, you know, they require a test. , I didn’t have
anything to study on, so I was kind of making it up as I go. But I had someone
I speak pretty good Spanish by head. Some hired someone to walk me through the
processes. She went with me to kind of say, okay, now you go over here and you
do this and you give them this paper.

And so she had
told me a little bit about what the test was going to be like. And it was like
both very short and very difficult cause I actually don’t remember. I think it
was not this way in the U S but if you remember, and you can tell me if I’m
wrong. I think in the U S the parallel parking was on the right side, right?

Like you would be
parking on the right side of the street, like the way you drive. Well, in
Mexico, it was on the left side. I had a parallel park on the left between two,
two of those big construction cones, like kind of barrel things, right? The big
orange things. And am the person who was helping me said, if you touch anything
like with the car, that’s it, you fail. And I was like, oh my God, I was so
nervous. And they also say, you have to do it. I think this is the same as the
U S you have to do it. What was it? Four moves or less so I also, I did not
practice at all, which was probably not a good idea.

I would think I
was like, you know, I’ve been driving for 30 years. W what else? You know, what
can I do? And I didn’t really think about actually like going to practice
parallel parking, which I haven’t done a lot of recently, so that probably
added to it, but it was super stressful and they, I actually, I got in and I
think it was more than four moves.

And then the woman
says that like the driving, you know, the test person says. Can you try again
and can you get closer? Cause I was probably like, I don’t know, at least a
foot from the edge of the street, which was actually a rope. And so I tried it
again and it was total crap. Like I probably took at least six moves and I was
maybe like an inch closer than the previous time.

I was like, oh my
God. And she was like, okay, you can go park. I was like, I don’t even know if
I passed. Like I really not. Sure. And so I was amazed when I came back and
they told me, yeah, Um, and then right after that, the person behind me failed
immediately because they saw that he didn’t have a seatbelt on.

 And he was like, what?

TARANJIT: Well, I mean, that should be the first
thing that you put on.

AMY: It should. It absolutely should.

TARANJIT: Yeah. So

if you can’t even
put that on, should.

you be

driving?

AMY: Exactly. I’m sure that was the, DMV,
equivalents. I’m sure that was their argument. Yeah.

TARANJIT: Yeah.

Well, I think here
they’re starting to, I don’t think many states require you to do parallel
parking anymore. I know in Maryland, we had to do it when we took the test, but
they removed it before our brother went to go take the test. So super easy now
for people to pass their tests,

BHAVNEET: Which is scary..

AMY: That is. And I mean, honestly, I feel
like parallel parking is also one of those like life skills, because sure.
Maybe where you live, everything’s a parking lot and you don’t need it, but at
some point you’re going to go to a city and there’s going to be a line of cars
behind you. You’ve got to get into this tight spot as fast as you can.

TARANJIT: Yeah.

you’re not going
to be able to, I mean, you could just keep driving in circles until you find a
That’s not parking, but do you want to waste that time?

AMY: right.

TARANJIT: Well, I heard about your past driving
experience, your current driving experience. Let’s dive a little bit into the
future of driving with the possibility of self-driving cars becoming a thing.
Probably not like tomorrow, but like in the future, what are your thoughts on
self-driving cars? And would you get in one?

AMY: . I think I’ve mixed feelings about it.
On the one hand. I think it sounds fabulous. One, you know, just to be able to
do something else while you’re in the car, and not have to be totally a hundred
percent focused on the road. That sounds lovely and also I’ve heard, that
there’s a lot of things that they can actually do too.

 Kind of synchronized cars on the road and
stuff. So it’s actually more efficient, right? Like cars can drive closer to
each other and, and fewer accidents and like all of that sounds great in theory
but I think I’m still at that point of like, but I mean, machines can make
mistakes.

Well, obviously
humans can make mistakes also. Right. And maybe humans are worse at it than
machines, but yeah, it just seems like there’s a lot of room. Problems , in
fact, there’s a show, there’s a show we were watching recently where, somebody
died because they sabotaged his self-driving car. And so like, it didn’t stop
when it was supposed to stop or whatever.

Actually two
people died in that show because they’re self-driving cars for sabotage. But
regular cars can be sabotage too. Right.

BHAVNEET: Yeah

I kind of feel the
same way. I. Want to see how reliable they are before I would get in one,

AMY: Yeah,

BHAVNEET: then I love driving. So I don’t know if
I would want to give that up.

AMY: totally. I feel like some situations,
I’d like to be able to turn it on and off. Right. Like sometimes I would like
to be able to drive myself and sometimes it might be nice to have the car
drive, but yeah, I feel like for me, it’s not just like, seeing the data on
Some tests they did of driving cars in the desert or like one self-driving car
among all the other cars.

Like, I wanna see
what it’s like when there’s like hundreds, thousands of self-driving cars on
the road. Like, how’s it going then? Actually that will be an interesting time
when it’s a mix of regular cars and self-driving , it’ll be interesting, like
will, we’d be able to tell the difference

it’ll be
interesting to see how that plays out.

TARANJIT: I wonder if they would allow self-drive
like, if there’s a good number, Those self-driving cars to be on the same road,
I guess, as ones where humans are driving or would they create separate

paths?

AMY: Yeah. Right. Like maybe you’d make like
an HOV lane kind of thing for the self-driving cars. Now, like obviously most
of the cars on the road are not self-driving. And so like, if you see someone
like, , down like this, on their phone or reading a book or something, like,
obviously they’re not paying attention to their car, but when you’ve got a mix,
then how do you know if someone’s actually paying attention as they need to be?

Or not?

BHAVNEET: Yeah, we will see, I feel like it’d be
more like, oh my God, that person’s totally driving because they’re going
crazy.

AMY: Right. Probably

BHAVNEET: Bonus question time.

AMY: I’m ready.

BHAVNEET: If you could make one, a new driving
law, what would it be?

AMY: Ooh. Interesting.

I kind of feel
like I’ve thought about this before, but I can’t remember what my, what my
thinking was.

This sounds kind
of silly, but in line with what we were just talking about with, you know,
people being distracted and being able to do other things in the car and like,
it’s amazing to me that there are rules about like, not using your cell phone.
But no rules about like putting on your makeup or eating with both hands or
like all these other things, or also there’s like these TV screens, like you
could be having something, like, , within your eyes line of line of sight, um,
while you’re driving, that’s playing a TV show or something like that blows my
mind too.

And I feel like
there’s a lot of other distraction things that, people never really worried
about too much, but I know you both have long commutes that make up thing,
especially, right? Like you see so many people in like stop and go, like in
the, in the rear view mirror, putting on their mascara or whatever.

And it’s like, I
mean, yes, we’re not going that fast, but still.

TARANJIT: It’s worse when they’re behind you,
because then you can’t control them that much. You have to like watch out for,
in front of you because you have to watch out for the cars around you. But then
you’re also like don’t hit me from

behind.

AMY: Totally. That’s such a good point. Yeah.
This is totally going back to something we talked about earlier, but I want to
mention this because this is like a driving etiquette in Mexico that I think is
actually a super interesting one of the things that I’ve always , I’ve always
hated, stop and go traffic when people , like people speed up and then
suddenly, people are almost at a dead stop.

Like I find that
very stressful. I’m always worried that I’m going to get rear-ended. Even
before I ever got rear ended myself and in Mexico, if there’s a slow down,
people put their hazards on. And it’s like a heads up, like, whoa, we’re slowed
down up here. And so, and it started kind of starts a chain reaction, right.

That like, oh, I
see hazards and people put their hazards on and I, I love it. I think it’s the
best thing ever. Ooh, I’m going to put my hazards on we’re down. So yeah,
that’s one thing I’ve seen here that was new to me that I think was a really
good idea.

BHAVNEET: I agree. I think that’s an amazing idea.
There’s like, there’s been so many times when I’ve been driving that I’m like,
oh my God, dead stop. And I’ve looked at the hazards and I’ve like, should I
turn it on? So that the people behind me know that I’m like, dead, stop, not
slowing down stopping.

AMY: Exactly.

BHAVNEET: Oh my God. That’s amazing.

Can we bring that
up here?

AMY: Yeah, let’s start it.

TARANJIT: Yeah. It’s like when we hear all these
different driving rules in different countries, I’m just like what we should do
that here. Like it works there, but then again, I guess if they grew up with
it, they’re used to it. I don’t know if we implemented some of those laws here,
how well it would work because people are just not used to it.

but

they are good
rules.

AMY: Totally. Yeah. And it also makes me
wonder, like how many things are. Actually a rule or a law and how many things
are just like common practice.

BHAVNEET: So,

TARANJIT: if you had to give any advice to either
new drivers or just drivers in general, what advice would you give them?

AMY: I think two things are coming to mind.
One is, learn to drive, stick for all the reasons I said before. Like, I think
it’s just a good skill to have. And I think it, you know, just kind of expands
your understanding of driving and how cars work and, , not that I.
Knowledgeable about cars really at all.

But like even just
those little mechanical things of like, oh, you know, you have to push the
clutch in to get this gear to move. I like that sense of kind of awareness and
control that went in, in an automatic you’re like, why isn’t the car like
picking up? And then the other is, I think back to my early days, and like I
said, being kind of agro and I, I picture myself being

I dunno, just like
gripping the wheel, like what is wrong with you people? And I think, just go
with the flow, just cause it’s less stressful for you, but then also, like what
I’ve seen in a lot of other countries is like, there is just kind of, uh, a
flow and a rhythm and a dance to it all.

And to just go
with that instead of. Feeling super, rigid about it all. Of course it helps if
other people are also thinking the same thing.

BHAVNEET: Yeah.

TARANJIT: since we did drop out for a little bit,
, w we were just talking about your advice that you had for other drivers. And
I love the advice of learning to drive stick, because it is a useful skill and
we haven’t learned to drive yet, but we that’s like one of our goals.

. And I feel like,
as you mentioned earlier, it’s a great way to travel because , no matter where
you go, you can, you won’t be restricted. You can,

you can drive.

AMY: Yep. Totally.

TARANJIT: We really enjoyed listening to all your
stories on the show today, but before we let you go, where can listeners find
you?

AMY: I have a podcast called Nomadtopia radio, and it is inter mostly interviews with people who are living abroad,
traveling. Full-time basically people who are either early retired or able to work
from anywhere. And so they’ve become nomadic. And you can find more information
about that@nomadtopia.com or wherever you listen to podcasts.

BHAVNEET: Well, thank you so much for joining us.
It was really interesting being able to hear about different countries and
especially Mexico. Cause we haven’t heard much. About there yet. So that was
really interesting. And I’m going to try, we’re going to try and bring that
hazard light etiquette up here, because that seems awesome.

AMY: Yeah, it’s fun to talk about this stuff.
You know, you don’t sometimes realize even how many different, , experiences
you’ve had and, , it’s fun to talk about. So thank you. 

 (transition music)

TARANJIT: It was so interesting to hear how she
has changed and grown as a driver and like the more experience she got the more
calmer, , she got, because it sounded like she used to be a little more,

a stress driver
who would just. Have different things affect her more quickly as they do now.
Now she’s gotten to the point where she’s able to manage it and control it.

BHAVNEET: That definitely has to do with her
international driving experience, seeing how crazy other drivers can be. It
probably have mellow. You. Yeah, very quickly.

TARANJIT: I feel like this is another one of
those driving, even though she, we were talking about driving and how it’s
better to not be as stressed out and hold grudges.

I feel like it’s
another thing to apply to just life in general, in order to have a more happier
quote, unquote life like to have a more calmer, peaceful life. It’s just better
to let things go and not hold those gurdges if you are able to let it go, you
want like, hold it in your heart or like as a burden over yourself, because
it’s not just hanging there.

You know what I’m
trying to say?

BHAVNEET: Wow. We’re now of philosophical podcast,
psychological psychology.

TARANJIT: I feel like driving is a good one
analogy for life philosophy. So it works hand in hand, , but who do you think
is a more stressed out driver between us?

BHAVNEET: Uh, , I haven’t, I haven’t seen you in
your normal commuting environment. I’ll stress.

TARANJIT: I think,

BHAVNEET: I feel like I may be more stressed.

TARANJIT: Yes.

BHAVNEET: That’s where you’re going.

TARANJIT: I feel like you are because even just
in general you worry more than I do about things. So I feel like he’ll probably
translate into your.

Too.

BHAVNEET: I could see that. I mean, I think, the
reason that you’re not as stressed is you tend to zone out. I think that so
you’re like, I’m good. Good. I’m good.

I stress out

TARANJIT: the only thing that I can cause my
heart rate to go up.

BHAVNEET: Yeah. don’t say the dreaded D word.

TARANJIT: Yeah. If I hear the word dear.

See a deer. If I
see movement and thinking it might be a deer, but it’s just a tree blowing on
this.

BHAVNEET: She will be the deer in headlights.

TARANJIT: Yes. That’s the one thing that will
stress me out. I feel like the rest, not as much as I think it would affect
you.

BHAVNEET: Yeah. The one thing I really, really
liked about.

what Amy was
talking about, that happens in Mexico, that I want to bring here and we all
need to do it. So if we just started doing it, I’m pretty sure I’ll catch on,
or I hope it will. And everyone will start doing it is the whole hazard lights
situation. You’re on a highway and all of a sudden everyone’s just stopped and
you’re like, wait, what, if you, if you see hazard lights, you’re more likely
to slow down.

Whereas if you
just see brake lights, I’m pretty sure, , some people will be like, oh, they’re
just slowing down. They’re not stopped whatever. And they’ll come full speed
and they won’t slow down. But if they saw all five lanes of cars had their
emergency lights on, I’m pretty sure everyone would slow down further back.

We need to start

TARANJIT: that or they’ll do the thing where they
see emergency lights and then they just have to see what’s going on. So
everyone just slows down anyways.

BHAVNEET: Exactly. So then people will slow down
at a safer distance. We need to bring that in here. Like that is ingenious.
That’s a great way to commute and it’d be like, Hey, we’re not just slowing
down.

We’re stopped. So
watch out.

TARANJIT: That’s the thing. I’ve only seen it
happen like once or twice is when it was a bad storm in the winter time. It got
so white, like you can’t see anything because it’s just snowing so hard. And as
you can’t even see the car in front of you, but you can faintly see flashing
lights, then you know, there’s another car there.

Or when we went
through that snow squall.

BHAVNEET: Yeah. I

couldn’t even see

anything

TARANJIT: exactly. But I could faintly every once
in a. You see the flashing emergency lights to be like, okay, there’s a car
somewhere. . Yeah, exactly.

BHAVNEET: Well, we hope you enjoy listening to
Amy’s driving stories. Be sure to stay tuned until the end of this episode, to
hear a sneak peek of next week’s driver dr. Jeff Williamson,

TARANJIT: who shared about the time that he had
to squeeze an RV? Well, more like his family had to squeeze an RV through a
tight tunnel and the time they had to build a log bridge to cross water.

BHAVNEET: Thank you for tuning in this week. And
if you enjoyed this podcast, you can help support the show by sharing it with
your friends subscribing or leaving us a review.

It truly does help
us get discovered.

TARANJIT: And thank you for choosing to drive
with us again this week. We’ll see you next week.

(outro music)

JEFF:  I think I was about ten where we had decided to go see the mountains, the black Hills of South Dakota. And we were in a we were in a camper that was it was like a reno school bus camper

that my dad tricked out. It was really cool.

And we got up to a point and there were four or five other RVs pulled off and looking confused. And we’re like, what’s going on here?

And so my dad pulls over and we go walking up and we’re looking at and it’s like the only way forward from there was through this cut tunnel, straight through the stone in the side of the mountain.

And these other RVs that were also pretty good size, they were sitting there afraid that they didn’t have room to make it through. And my dad’s like, well, I think I can get through there.