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Listen to the episode
Driving Profile: Scott
(sneak peek)
SCOTT: it was called the Mongol Rally and it’s,
it’s an annual event that takes place to raise money for charity where there’s
like a few hundred teams each year that drive starting in the uK and they end,
nowadays it’s ulan-ude, Siberia. It’s just north of Mongolia.
And you choose
your own ride in between. So there’s no winners or losers. The goal is just
kind of to get to the end without breaking down too badly.. And the main rule
of the event is that there’s, there’s not a lot of rules of the event, but one
of the rules is that they make you take a tiny car, a car that’s kind of
totally not suitable for a journey of this sort.
So they actually
limit the engine size. And we ended up taking a Nissan Micra, which is like a
little tiny, hatchback. Basically, someone described it as like a middle aged
woman going to get her groceries in central London or something.
(intro music)
BHAVNEET: Welcome back to another episode of drive
with us podcast. Woo, I’m Bhavneet
TARANJIT: and I’m Taranjit and today’s driver is
Scott Gurian but before we properly introduce him and share our conversation,
we had a little quick car keeping.
This is something
I was debating whether to share or not. And I feel like this season has been a
little tough on both of us and I don’t, it’s hard to talk about this, I don’t
know if you notice in any of our past interviews this season, or maybe in the
future wants to come, but for some of them, I felt like, well, I’m going to
speak for myself.
I don’t know about
you. I felt like I wasn’t. My normal usual self as I was in the past two
seasons. I don’t know if it came across that way, but I just felt that way. And
I felt bad for our guests because I wasn’t able to give the full excitement
that I usually give during interviews.
And I felt like I
was letting them down and I was wasting their time. I don’t know if it’s just a
pandemic and I, I feel like a lot of people have been struggling during the
pandemic and you know, it’s still going on. So I just feel really, really bad.
So I hope you enjoy these interviews and I hope you at least enjoy their
stories.
Even if I wasn’t
My normal usual self
Well, anyways, ,
let’s get back into the lighthearted conversations about driving and less about
this serious topic that we just dived into for a little bit. But today’s driver
is Scott Gurian. He is a Peabody award winning journalists. And host of far
from home and immersive travel documentary podcast, that takes listeners on
crazy adventures to far-flung parts of the world.
He has done
everything from wandering through abandoned buildings in Chernobyl to attending
a hallucinogenic healing ceremony in Peru. Having been all around the world,
Scott shared his many driving adventures and driving mishaps that occurred like
the time he and his brother decided to participate in the Mongol rally in a
tiny car.
(transition music)
BHAVNEET: Welcome Scott to drive with us podcast.
Thank you so much for joining us today.
SCOTT: Thanks so much for having me.
BHAVNEET: Before we get into your crazy driving
experiences, we like to start off getting to know a little bit about your
background of driving. So what are some of the places that you’ve driven and
where are you currently?
SCOTT: So I’m currently?
, at home in
Northern New Jersey, just outside of New York. , I’ve driven, , I mean around
the U S you know, like not, not all the way across the country, but about
halfway across. I lived in Oklahoma for a few years. I drove out there and back,
, outside of the U S I’ve driven in the Caribbean.
I’ve driven in
Spain. , I guess the big. Trip I took was a road trip. I took a few years ago
where I actually drove about 18,000 miles from the UK to Mongolia and back, ,
through about 23 countries. And that was in, , a little like British car that I
bought. So the steering wheel was on the right side and that was my first time
driving stick.
So it was a whole
bunch of things all together. , , that was quite a driving experience.
TARANJIT: Oh, wow. That must have been
adventurous. And I’m sure a lot of things happened, especially since it was
such a long drive.
SCOTT: Yes.
BHAVNEET: , before we get into the actual details
of that story, let’s, , get into what kind of driver you are a little bit. So
how would you describe your relationship with driving?
Is it something
you prefer to do or do you like being the passenger? Is it, do you like, love
it? Do you hate it? What’s your relationship with it?
SCOTT: , I’m not, it was about being a passenger,
I, if I need to get somewhere, I like to be the driver. If I’m not like taking
public transit or something, I do like living. I’m lucky that I live near New
York where I can just hop on public transit. I don’t like to, I, I wouldn’t
want to live in a place where I was totally dependent on a car like Los Angeles
or somewhere, I like to have that option.
But, driving
myself, like, especially after having taken that big trip a few years ago, I
don’t mind driving long distances, . I mean, I try not to drive more than like
eight or so hours in a day. The roads are a lot better here than a lot of other
places I’ve driven. So, I really don’t mind being on the road for a long time.
I hate sitting in
traffic, but you know, as long as the traffic’s moving, I don’t mind.
BHAVNEET: Yeah. After driving. Across 23
countries. It’s like what’s 10 hours.
SCOTT: Yeah, exactly.
BHAVNEET: Have you ever been in a situation where
you were the passenger and you were like, oh my God, this was a bad idea. I
should not have gotten in this car. This person has a terrible driver.
SCOTT: Yeah.
I mean, certainly
I’ve been in cars with bad drivers. , I’m trying to think if any, come to mind
right off the top of my head, where there was a particularly bad driver,
nothing immediately
comes to mind, but I’ve, I’ve certainly been a passenger in vehicles where not
where I really felt like my life was in danger, but where I was just a little
bit uncomfortable.
BHAVNEET: I’ve definitely been in situations where
it’s like, or you’re sitting in the passenger seat and you’re wishing you had
where like drivers instructors have set of wheel, like breaks or something on
your side. It’s like, let me, let me just give you the keys.
Let me, let me
drive.
SCOTT: Yeah. The weird thing is on the rare
occasions when I’m in my own car, for whatever reason, someone else’s driving,
it always feels very strange to be a passenger in my own vehicle, because it’s
just such a foreign experience.
It’s so rare that
that happens,
TARANJIT: yeah. And the car that you’re used to
being behind the wheel, it just feels weird sitting anywhere else in the
vehicle.
SCOTT: Yeah.
BHAVNEET: Now let’s dive into your crazy driving
experiences. What would you say is one of your top three craziest driving
experience?
SCOTT: , there were a lot on that trip. I took,
. One of the things that comes to mind is in Tajikistan, in, in central Asia,
where, , we got stopped by some kind of shady traffic cops who were trying to
say that we were speeding though. We clearly weren’t and they actually aimed
their, their radar gun at another car that was speeding.
And then they
tried to say that it was us. , so they were trying to extract a bribe from us.
, and of course we didn’t. Tajik or Russian and they didn’t speak English, but
they showed him pointed to money and said like give us something. And, , we
haggled with them for probably stopped for half an hour.
, and they got
someone on the phone who spoke English and he was trying to say, well, okay,
they want you to pay up. Otherwise, they’re going to take your license to
Dushanbe, the capital, and, , Threatening us. , and we kept saying, well, no,
we weren’t speeding. And this is a scam. And we finally managed to get out of
it by giving them, , a bottle of vodka as a bribe and they let us go.
, but, , in a lot
of these countries, when you travel through, , in the developing world, you
come into my experience?
, you come upon a
lot of kind of corruption and things like this. It’s kind of inevitable sooner
or later.
TARANJIT: Yeah, we had a similar, not, we didn’t
get pulled over ourselves, but we heard similar stories of when we went to
India because we were traveling between different states. There’s been like,
where if you go to a different state, you’re from one state, they purposely
look for those cars, like, oh, you’re out of state.
Or like, we can
pull them over. They’re not from this state so I can see how police in other
countries can get away with doing more of those things than say in America,
SCOTT: I’ve actually had that happen here in
the U S , when I moved back from Oklahoma and I was living in New Jersey, which
is where I’m from, but I still had my Oklahoma plates on my car. And. I was
pulled over at one point where it was very clear. I was kind of being profiled
or stopped because of my out of state plates.
They tried to say that I was, as I was driving
down the highway that I drifted a little bit over the line on the side, it was
just ridiculous. And. They kept me there for quite a while and made me get out
of my car and were asking me all these questions and they were asking me, okay,
how come the, your middle name is different on your license?
That they were
just trying to get me for anything they possibly could. And eventually they
couldn’t and they let me go. It was just so dumb and I’m sure it was because I
had out of state plates, especially from a place like Oklahoma, which when
you’re a New Jersey seems totally foreign. It’s not like Pennsylvania,
Connecticut.
BHAVNEET: Yeah. . I mean, I’ve heard that the, the
police, there are way more strict and enforcing laws, since you are from Jersey
and there’s a whole law I have about you can’t be in the left lane. I was
passing. When you go to like other states, is that just like something that’s
ingrained in your mind, even if it’s not a law there, whereas it, like, you go
to a state like Maryland, where that’s not a law and you’re like, yeah, you’re
freedom left lane.
SCOTT: You know, I didn’t realize that was just
a New Jersey law. It’s just one of those things I just kind of take for granted
that if you’re on the highway, I mean, it’s generally kind of rules of the
road. I think kind of you stay to the right, unless you’re passing someone,
then you go to the left and right.
That, that is kind
of a pet peeve of mine where, if you’re driving on the highway and you’re in
the left, you want to pass people, but then you’ve got someone moving really
slow and you can’t go around them. And, you know, I find that really annoying.
That’s just one of those things that I’ve always taken for granted, I didn’t
realize was unique to where I am actually.
BHAVNEET: Yeah. I don’t think it’s, I don’t know
if there’s there are other states, but like, I don’t know if you’ve been in
Maryland then, , people will drive wherever they want and it’s like, now you go
around me. I’m not moving.
SCOTT: I would definitely find it frustrating.
BHAVNEET: Oh, yeah. I know you were mentioning
earlier of all the things that happen on that long trip that you took. What are
some of those mishaps that occur during that trip?
SCOTT: We had a lot of car trouble. , The rules
for this event. So it was called the Mongol rally. , and it’s, it’s an annual
event that, , takes place to raise money for charity where there’s like a few
hundred teams each year that drive starting in the UK and they end, , nowadays
it’s. Ooh, new day, , Siberia is just north of Mongolia.
, and you choose
your own ride in between. , so there’s no winners or losers. The goal is just
kind of to get to the end without breaking down too badly. , and, the main rule
of the event is that there’s, there’s not a lot of rules of the event, but one
of the rules is that they make you take a tiny car, a car that’s kind of
totally not suitable for a journey of this sort.
So they actually
limit the engine size. , and we ended up taking a Nissan Micra, which is like a
little tiny, hatchback vehicle that they drive around. Like Europe or
basically, , someone described it as like a middle aged woman going to get her
groceries in central London or something.
It’s not like a
car. You take over mountains and through deserts and everything like we did. ,
and. , as I said, the steering wheel was on the right side. Cause we bought it
in the UK. , it was manual, which we’re not used to. We’re used to driving
automatic as Americans, , and it didn’t have air conditioning cause he’s a
little tiny cars in the UK.
It just doesn’t
get that hot, , that often. And so they don’t really need air conditioning. And
these, the engines in these little tiny cars just, I guess, can’t handle an AC.
So, , We had a lot of impediments going into the trip?
And, , it was a
used car that we bought from someone off Craigslist
and. I think the
car, maybe we got it inspected by a mechanic ahead of time. They found a little
bit of rust, like on the door sills or something. So they welded that back. But
I think there was probably more Russ that they didn’t see. So the, the body was
like structurally compromised.
, and as we’re
going, through all these places, , over all these bumps and everything over
time, just the shaking of the car over, , it was 11,000 miles going there. And
especially there were a few instances like in Iran where we’re driving, at
nighttime and here we’re used to, , there’ll be speed bumps, there’ll be a sign
and it’ll be bright yellow.
And you clearly
see It’s coming up in Iran. There’s these speed bumps where they’re not clearly
marked and we’re not used to this as American drivers. And we’ll be driving
after dark. This dark road without lights and suddenly I see this speed bump,
like I’m going 40 miles an hour. And this speed bumps 20 feet ahead of me.
And there, there
were a couple instances where I just, I, I noticed it ripe when I was almost on
top of it and the car like went flying over it, , really hard. And my brother’s
asleep in the backseat and he’s like jolted awake, , really quickly.
And, , I’m sure
that did not help, , whatever issues there were already were with rust on, the
body of the car. , and , it got worse and worse over time, we heard it creaking
and , by the time we got to Mongolia, , the rear axle at one point just, or not
the, I guess they call it the wishbone kind of where the axle is.
It just cracked
one day in the wheel on the passenger side, bowed out at like a 45 degree
angle. , and so we had to get that welded. And then a few days later, it
cracked again, just beyond the weld. So we have to get it welded again. , but
that, that was actually the least of our worries.
The bigger one
was, , we kept having a car would overheat and we thought it was radiator
issues. There, there was a radiator issue, which we, we got that patched, but
then we kept having trouble. The problem started all the way as far back as
like Germany. And then we took it to a mechanic in, , in, , Romania and then in
Turkey and like we kept stopping and all these mechanics.
, and eventually
by the time we got to Turkmenistan, we realized that we had blown a head
gasket, which is like a major car repair. They need to like disassemble the
whole engine and take everything apart. And our visa was running out and they
wouldn’t extend it. And so we have to get the, we have to put the car on a
flatbed tow truck and get it towed six hours to the border with Uzbekistan, and
then wait there about a week for a new head gasket to get shipped from Dubai.
So, that was a
big. Expensive repair. And then even after they repaired it, they took the
whole engine apart and put it back together. , even in the best of
circumstances, that’s a tricky job to do. And it’s, it’s not a precise thing.
And, , we ended up still having, , trouble, even after that.
, like our car
problems really never went away. In many ways it’s a miracle that we eventually
made it all the way to the finish line with all the trouble that we had. And
actually, let me read you, something quickly that I posted on Instagram at the
time.
, By the time we
got to the finish line, the litany of all the, the issues we had, all the car
problems we had had along the way. ,
, after 52 days, when we finally got to the
finish line of this rally, , and just north of Mongolia and Siberia, , it had been
53 days and we’d gone through 18 countries on the way there. And then I decided
to drive back. But along that way, we went to 10 mechanics. We got towed seven
times we had two broken axles, a blown head gasket, a busted radiator, a broken
drive shaft tire blowout, and an emergency rescue in Mongolia.
just a whole series of things.
BHAVNEET: Oh, my gosh. That’s like everything that
could possibly go wrong, went wrong.
SCOTT: Basically.
BHAVNEET: You had more problems in one trip than
some people probably do their whole driving careers.
SCOTT: Yep.
BHAVNEET: Crazy. And then you said you got
stranded in Mongolia. My God.
SCOTT: Yeah, that was, , it’s Mongolia is a
very difficult place to get around. , If you look at a map of the country, you
see these lines going east to west, which you assume are, if not highways, at
least some kind of paved road. But at least at the point we were there five
years ago, the much of the country is not paved roads.
So just the main
east west roads across Mongolia are in many places, just like tracks through
the sand and grass that you’re following of, of whatever cars went ahead of
you. , so, GPS is of little use. Like, first of all, there’s not a lot of cell
service, but even if you have satellite service we, we had several paper maps,
we had, Google maps, we had a satellite map thing.
We were constantly
trying to compare them all and it was still easy to get lost. , because
oftentimes. You see a single line on the map, but in reality, the trail would
split like three or four different ways and you’re trying to figure out, okay,
which way should I go? Hopefully they all join up again.
It’s like very
confusing. , or you’d see several ways on the map, but only one way in real
life. , and there were no signs, not even signs in Mongolian or Russian, just
no signs at all in the country. , Mongolia has the lowest population density of
any country in the world. So very few people around to ask for directions, if
you get stranded
, so this one day
we were driving and, , the other thing I should mention is that there’s little
river crossings, like you’ll be driving and then you’ll come to this little
stream that you need to drive across. , , in some cases, there was a bridge,
but Cases, there were no bridges.
That’s just the
way to go. This little kind of tiny car that we had was just not capable of
going in deep water more than a foot or so deep. So, we had no choice. This one
day we went through this one little stream and we ended up getting stuck, , on
the way out. And we, , had to wait for a truck to come and pull us.
And that took a
while and it was kind of frustrating. And then we were looking at the map and
we saw another stream coming up a little later on, and we didn’t want to have
to go through that again. So we saw that there was like another path that went
off to the right. And we figured, okay, well, let’s try to take that.
It looks like he
goes kind of parallel to the main path and maybe we could avoid the stream and
catch up with the main road a little bit later on, which is all well and good
if you’re on flat terrain, but the problem is in this area, it’s very hilly and
our little car is not capable of going up steep Hills.
Like it just
doesn’t have a lot of horsepower. So. We start going down this, this side trail
and w getting a little nervous, cause it’s veering a little farther and farther
off the main path. And we actually managed to , see someone along the way that,
, we, I asked them, okay, w again, we don’t speak Mongolian or Russian.
They don’t speak
English, but we told them the name of the town we’re trying to go to. We
pointed this direction and they nodded, yeah, you could go that way. Then we
come to this other, this young kid who was probably, I think he was 11 years
old and he was hurting. Like he had this, he was in charge of this herd of like
a thousand goats, somehow this 10 year old kid.
And, we, we tell
him where we’re going and we point, and he’s very adamant. He like crosses his
arms in front of him. And he’s very adamant. No, you can’t go that way. And
we’re like, well, the other people said we could and , we don’t know what to
do. We can’t really communicate more than that.
And we’re a little
nervous, but at this point , we don’t have a choice because we had already gone
up and over one big hill. And once we went over that hill, we’re like, okay,
there’s no turning back because our car just can’t make it back up the way we
came. So we had no choice, but to keep going.
We say goodbye to him. We keep going. To make
a long story short. We ended up eventually stranded at the bottom of this, like
Rocky canyon, like this ravine where. We, we were afraid. Okay. Will we be able
to make it up the other side? There was a little like stream at the bottom. So
we crossed that we barely got out of the stream.
Our w our car just
couldn’t get traction over the rocks to get up, , the other side. , and we
tried everything. We took out the floor mats and tried to put them under the
wheels to get traction. We, we tried everything and we’re pushing and pulling
and our cars, , it was our car, my brother and myself, and then our friends,
Rosie and Jane, they had their car and our cars were both just stuck.
We just could not
move. Thankfully we had this like satellite device and we ended up, , sending
a, a message to a friend back in the UK who reached out to the British and
American embassies in Mongolia’s capital on the other side of the country. And
they ended up sending out, , a team of guys from the Mongolian national
emergency management agency to come a tow us out.
Super nice guys, ,
refuse to take any money. And , they got us back to the main road. And then, ,
after we got home, a month later, we actually, we were in touch with the people
from the American embassy and they sent us a photo of the U S ambassador, , giving
an award to the head of the Mongolian national emergency management agency for
rescuing us.
We apparently were
the first American drivers that they’d ever rescued in Mongolia.
TARANJIT: Oh, wow. That’s interesting.
SCOTT: Yeah.
BHAVNEET: You got that guy in metal.
SCOTT: Yeah.
TARANJIT: If you had to do this over again, would
you pick that same vehicle or would you choose something different?
SCOTT: Oh, no, no, no, no. I would definitely,
, pick a different vehicle. I mean, on the one hand. Yeah. Yes. It made it more
interesting. I mean, the organizers, this event say that by having a tiny, any
vehicle, that’s more likely to break down. It forces you to interact more with
the locals. So you’re not just speeding through these little towns and I get
that.
, and I wouldn’t
have minded, breaking down a couple of times, but after the third, fourth,
fifth time, it kind of gets to be old, real fast. And it also gets to be super
expensive, even though it’s a lot cheaper in these countries. I mean, it was. Ridiculously
expensive. If we had had to get a head gasket replaced here in the U S people
say it’s cars totaled, it’s not even worth it.
, I definitely
would have liked to have been able to spend more time exploring some of these
countries instead of spending time stranded it mechanics,
BHAVNEET: Yeah. I feel like that’s something that
you want to enjoy, like okay. Yeah. Be able to interact with all the locals and
stuff, but having to waste all that time on fixing the car, as opposed to
actually enjoying the trip is something it’s like, okay, come on now. So since
you have been to so many different countries and you’ve been to so many
different states, how would you describe drivers in different areas?
Would you say
there’s different types of drivers in specific countries versus like the us or
in different states within the U S.
SCOTT: I mean, I guess people are definitely
better drivers in some places than others. I feel like where I come from,
people are pretty confident drivers, because I live just outside of New York
city and I, it doesn’t bother me at all, like driving in the city, driving in
Midtown with all the traffic.
Some people, I mean, a lot of people from
other places are not comfortable with that. They could never imagine driving in
the city. And actually, even some of my neighbors here in New Jersey, they,
they never drive in the city and they’re like, I couldn’t handle that, , but
for me, it’s, it’s just not a big deal.
, I’m used to it.
That really doesn’t phase me. , especially after having driven some of these
crazy roads that, , on the sides of cliffs and, , Tajikistan or wherever. ,
drivers are definitely different in different places. , in Iran, the
friendliest people I’ve ever met and, and friendly drivers as well.
I mean, they were
just so amazed to see. , tourists, but also American tourists where we would be
driving down the highway and people would, would honk at us and wave and roll
down their windows next to us as we’re going down the highway and ask, oh,
where are you from? And, , give us the thumbs up as, you know, cause they see
these outsiders driving.
We were like celebrities driving through
there. So that was, that was always, , really exciting. I’d never quite driven
anywhere like that before. , And the roads obviously are very different in
different places. , driving across Europe, obviously the roads are really good
until we hit Southeastern Europe, like Romania and Bulgaria immediately.
The highway ended in Romania, it was like they
ran out of money to finish building it. And suddenly we’re diverted off on this
side road and the roads got really bad really quickly. , but then once we got
to Turkey, the highways were excellent again.
BHAVNEET: Yeah. I mean, your situations driving
across countries and seeing that drastic difference in roads, it was probably
at a way larger scale, but like, that’s kind of how I feel driving from
Maryland to Pennsylvania. Maryland maintains that roads a whole lot better. And
then right when we cross the border, you don’t even have to see the sign that
says entering Pennsylvania, you could just look at the road and be like, that’s
where Pennsylvania starts.
SCOTT: Yeah, I guess I’ve had that, experienced
that in some cases
TARANJIT: yeah. Now that we heard so many, your
crazy driving stories, that let’s dive into, what type of driver you are, how
would you describe yourself as a driver and would your family and friends
agree?
SCOTT: I think I’m a pretty average driver. ,
as I said, I’m used to like driving in New York, I’ve driven all these
different places. So I, I feel like I’m pretty confident on the road. , And, ,
things just don’t phase me that other would phase other people. , I, I do get
impatient sitting in traffic and sometimes I’ll take ridiculous detours to try
to avoid traffic that ends up taking longer than if I just waited and stayed
there.
It’s still sucks to just be sitting at a
standstill. , especially if I’m tired , , so I can be impatient at times, ,
under those situations.
But, , for the
most part, I feel like I’m a pretty average driver. Don’t really experience
road rage, or, deal with people who do, , I just try to kind of mind my own
business and get to where I’m going.
BHAVNEET: Yeah, that’s interesting. A lot of
people tend to say like, oh my God, I’m a great driver. Everyone else sucks.
But it’s interesting that you’re like, no, I’m an average driver, even though,
, you can handle New York traffic. So I’m pretty sure that, , that bumps you up
a little bit. Right.
SCOTT: I wouldn’t say I’m a great driver. I
mean, I can like anyone, I can maybe be a little too distracted at times, , And
I, , I’ve certainly I’ve gotten speeding tickets. , I’ve been in some minor accidents.
, so I’m not like a perfect driver, but I, I think average has faced fair and I
think most people I know would agree.
Yeah.
BHAVNEET: You’ve mentioned that you don’t really
get road rage, but would you consider yourself someone who honks at other
people?
SCOTT: No. In fact, I don’t have that impulse,
which is bad. I probably should, like, I don’t know how to get that in me, but
there’s instances where I should honk and like, I need to think about, okay,
now I should honk like. Like an impulse where I just honk like other people?
have That impulse.
I don’t know why.
I just, I, I, I
guess I’m a non-violent person or I’m just, there’s something about me that
just doesn’t have that impulse, which is bad because that’s what the horns
there for, and it’s important. , and that’s the opposite of so many people
around here.
Like you go in New
York, especially or even here in New Jersey, sometimes the light will change
and just a fraction of a second. And the person behind you honks, if you, you
know, Like immediately and inevitably I’ll look in my rear view mirror and
they’ll see they have New York plates probably because new Yorkers tend to be a
little bit, , less patient than people in New Jersey or, I mean, these are
subtleties that I recognize, but people in the rest of the country with the new
Jerseyans, new Yorkers, they’re all the same.
BHAVNEET: That is exactly how I am. Like, I have
to think about that. I should have honked and that situation like, okay, hold
on the Lord now. But then it’s like, it takes effort. That think about it.
SCOTT: Right?
TARANJIT: I know you briefly touched on this a
little bit earlier, but what would you say is your biggest driving pet peeve?
SCOTT: As I said, I think my biggest driving
pet peeve is, , people who go really slow in the left lane. Because sometimes I
want to get where I’m going and, , there should be somewhere where you could
pass people and, , if, if everyone’s going really slow and, and they don’t
allow that opportunity, like it.
Again, I didn’t
know. Maybe it’s not technically the law in other places that you’re supposed
to keep. Right. Except the past. But I feel like it’s should be common courtesy
or it should be something people think about, even if it’s not like a
regulation, ,
BHAVNEET: yeah should being the keyword, but do
they.
SCOTT: I guess, as far as other pet peeves,
sometimes, , unexpected tolls, like in certain plate. Like, when my brother and
I drove down to North Carolina a few years ago, I think there were somewhere
in, I believe it was Virginia. Where they had this weird toll system, there was
like a, , an HOV, lane, or I don’t know if you know where I’m talking about,
where they. had, , they have pricing almost like pricing, like on Uber or Lyft
or wherever where it changes depending on the time of day and how busy it is or
something.
So it’s like to
incentivize people to use certain lanes, if it’s like less busy , or more busy.
So. Yeah.
I went on this, on
the HOV in the HOV lane without realizing that at that time I was there, it was
like super expensive.
TARANJIT: Yeah, I think I noticed that when we
were, we drove down to Georgia and we cut through North Carolina. I feel like
they have something like. The NC pass or something like that, where you have to
have the pass to drive in the left mostly. So I don’t know, maybe if similar to
what you’re talking about in Virginia.
, but that’s
interesting.
SCOTT: Yeah, it was frustrating.
TARANJIT: Yeah. I bet seeing that bill after
you’re like, shouldn’t have done that.
Yeah. Going back
to your left lane of pet peeve, we drove up to Boston and I was just amazed at
how everyone was just go in the left lane and someone was coming behind them.
They would just move over and then it’s a lot faster.
It was coming. One
thing, it was just move over and I’m like,
SCOTT: Yeah.
BHAVNEET: This, this is how driving should work.
Now that we heard a little bit about you as a
driver, let’s go back to your driving first. How would you describe your first
time driving experience and who was it?
SCOTT: I think the first time I was a long time
ago, but when I first got my license, when I was in high school, , where you
have to you’re under 17 , I guess it differs by state. I think in New Jersey,
it was 17. , so you need to go like with an adult before that.
And so I went with
my mom the first time, just like to the grocery store or something. And the
thing that threw me off then was going around a traffic circle. Which, if
you’ve never done before, that can be a little bit overwhelming , with all
these different turnoffs in which lane am I in?
If I’m in the
right lane, can I continue going straight or do I need to go off that exit?
That threw me off. And when my brother, who’s a few years younger than me. Was
taking his driving test or with instructor for the first time. And the
instructor was saying, is there anything else you want to like test out or
anywhere you want to go?
I told him, make
sure you practice or run a traffic circle. Cause that can be a bit much, , the
other thing is more recently, my first time driving a stick shift, , driving
manual which was a totally new experience for me having always driven
automatic.
, so I had a
friend who, , taught my brother and me in his truck. , so we practiced a little
bit, , So I kind of knew basically how to do it, but still when I actually
picked up my car in London and was trying it for the first time, like it took
me quite a while to really get the hang of it.
And then also I
realized that it’s hard, at least in that car, if I was wearing hiking boots or
something like it, it’s hard to do the gentle taps of what you need to do, ,
with the big boots.
It definitely took
me a long time , to get the hang of driving stick.
TARANJIT: , which do you prefer now that you’ve
learned to drive stick? Hopefully you know how to drive it now? Which do you
prefer manual or automatic?
SCOTT: Oh, I still prefer automatic. I mean,
it’s less to worry about it’s a lot easier. , I know some people really like
stick in sports cars they really liked the driving experience. I’ve never been
someone who’s been into high performance cars or anything like that.
, I don’t mind it
as much. Like when I went to Spain a few years ago and I had to rent a car, , I
ended up renting stick just because it was cheaper. , and I was able to get the
hang of it again. , and the newer cars, if you don’t shift, right, it. If it
stalls out, it’ll automatically restart.
, it’s a lot
easier . , but, , it’s not something I would seek out, , if I need to, now I
know How to do it and, and I can, but I still prefer driving automatic.
TARANJIT: How was the driving on the left side of
the road for the first time? Was it confusing? Did you have moments where
you’re like, oh no, wait left, not right.
SCOTT: Yeah. I mean, there’s definitely a few
moments where, , I would accidentally get in the wrong lane for just a second
until I realized, and I would catch myself. , in the UK. , I mean, The theory
is that the driver’s side, , the steering wheel is supposed to be near the
center line of the road.
If you’re, if you
want to pass someone. So you could look around the vehicle in front of you. And
so that was of course, a challenge where we had this British car with the
steering wheel on the right. And we’re driving on the left side, but then once
we went through, , the English channel and got into Europe, then suddenly we’re
driving on the right side.
But the steering
wheel is also on the right.
So if I wanted to
pass a big truck ahead of me, I tell my brother who’s in the passenger seat to
look around for me to tell me if it was safe. , that was a bit of a challenge.
, so it, it definitely took some time to get that.
BHAVNEET: Wow, that that must have been so
confusing. At least you had someone in your passenger seat, like imagine I made
a drive on the
SCOTT: Oh, yeah.
BHAVNEET: Not being able to see anything.
SCOTT: You just asked anyone then unless it’s a
small car, you could easily see around, but like a big truck or something.
Forget about no, it just would not be safe.
TARANJIT: Yep. And then you’d be stuck in traffic,
which you don’t like.
SCOTT: Yeah.
TARANJIT: How would you describe your actual
driving test experience and where are you able to pass on the first try?
SCOTT: I did pass my first.
time that, I mean,
I didn’t, I wasn’t a good parallel Parker at the very beginning. And he said,
okay, you got to work on that, but I was fine at everything else. So he let me
go.
TARANJIT: That’s interesting because we have to
do, we had to do. Yeah. And then when our brother went to go do it, they took
it off, but they make you do a parallel parking first because they know that’s
where everyone fails and then they just don’t let you continue the rest of it
test. So, yeah.
SCOTT: Okay. It’s I mean, it’s so much easier
now that so many cars have backup cameras. I’m spoiled. , my car has that and I
it’s annoying when I have to be in a vehicle that doesn’t have a backup camera.
, it makes it so much easier. I don’t know why they didn’t have this years ago.
BHAVNEET: Yeah. That’s how I feel about having the
blinds. Like your blind spot mirrors on SUV’s and stuff. Now that I have that,
I, when I get in a car that doesn’t have it, it’s like, oh my God, how did I
survive without this?
TARANJIT: Now that we’ve heard a little bit about
your past driving experiences and your current driving experiences, let’s talk
a little bit about the future of driving. With the possibility of self-driving
cars becoming an option in the future. Is this something that you would get in
and what are your thoughts on self-driving cars?
SCOTT: I’m not initially comfortable with it. I
mean, I guess like anything I’d eventually get used to it, but I don’t know if
you’ve seen, there’s a video that someone posted online where there’s a few
test areas where they started allowing self-driving cars?
including there’s
an area somewhere, I think in Arizona.
, I guess it’s
Google, I think is running it and. There’s this guy who like he’s a
self-driving car enthusiast. And so it’s like an Uber kind of a thing or
whatever Lyft where you, you go in an app and you call the car to come pick you
up. And. There was some traffic cones, like a construction area or something.
And the car just
got totally confused and ended up stopping in the middle of traffic. I’m like
blocking two lanes and he was stuck there for the longest time. And he’s in
the, in the back of the car, he can’t do anything. And he calls the phone
number and is. Google or whatever is, telling them the issue.
And so they have
like a team of people that they can send out. In situations like this, like
actually get in the driver’s seat and take over for the car manually. The
people arrive, but then the car suddenly decides to start going again. And so
they’re chasing after it. And this whole thing went on for like 45 minutes and
it kept the car kept stopping in the most inconvenient places.
And thankfully, ,
no one was ever unsafe. But it was just super frustrating and they clearly
still have a lot of kinks that they need to work out.
, I certainly, I
think the technology is helpful and , some of like the Teslas where you’ve seen
where there’s , there’s an actual person driving, but there’s almost about to
be an accident. And the car recognizes it somehow way, , fractions of a second
before the person does before the driver does and is able to react.
And so that’s
super helpful. , but there’s still a driver there to, , to take over as well. ,
so I, I have no problems with that and I think that’s really great.
TARANJIT: Yeah, I agree. I feel like the hybrid
model where. It’s still a driver there, but then it has those added safety
features is probably more willing to be accepted by people and more likely to
be like put out sooner rather than the completely self-less, driving cars,
driverless cars. There’s a lot that has to be taught to the machine for it to
be able to function on a busy highway or a busy road.
SCOTT: Right. Yeah.
BHAVNEET: Bonus question time. Are you ready?
SCOTT: Okay. I guess so.
TARANJIT: Sound too enthusiastic.
BHAVNEET: If you could make one, a new driving
law, what would it be?
SCOTT: , aside from keep right except the past.
, that’s a tough one. I don’t know. I mean, I guess I could say coming from
Jersey where we’re used to, we’re the only state where, you don’t have to pump
your own gas. It’s, it’s nice to, , not have to get out and I don’t mind it ,
my mom was always like, I don’t want to pump my own gas.
One of you kids,
can you get out and do it, or there’s even a bumper sticker here that says like
Jersey, girls don’t pump gas or something. . State where there’s gas station
attendance everywhere. I don’t know why it’s still the law. I guess people were
resistant whenever they try to change it.
, that be nice to
not have to pump my own gas if I went other places. But it’s, it’s a very minor
thing. It’s not like I really mind and maybe, maybe the gas might be?
slightly cheaper
than other places if they don’t need to paint attended. I don’t know.
BHAVNEET: at least, you know, how to pump gas if
you had, I know someone from New Jersey and they, they, I guess they never
learned because that’s all , you’ve always had someone pumped before you, and
then they accidentally pump diesel into their car
SCOTT: I just like a meme about that or
something where some like college girl, girl went off to college in another
state, she was from New Jersey and she put like diesel in her car . You hear
stories like that?
BHAVNEET: Well, cause it’s like, then if that’s
all you’ve ever known, you were never taught. So then it’s like, now you can’t
go anywhere and pump your own gas. , I’m the opposite. I like to be able to
pump my own gas. Every time we go through New Jersey, I’m like, how great
they’re going to pump my gas for.
SCOTT: I’m just used to it, I really don’t mind
that much. It’s not that big of a deal. I mean, it’s nice when it’s like super
cold and rainy or snowing or something. It’s nice not to have to get out.
TARANJIT: I just feel like it takes longer because
you have to wait for them as opposed to you can just get on and do it and get
on with your day. But I guess I could implement for your law that you wanted to
this minor law, I guess I could implement like, Hybrid model for that too,
where it’s like, if you want someone to pump there, someone there that you can
like be like, okay.
Or, and then if
you want to do it yourself, just do it yourself.
SCOTT: I’d be open to that.
BHAVNEET: Do you have any final thoughts or any
tips that you would like to give other drivers?
SCOTT: Don’t rely too much on GPS. , for a few
reasons, , when I was in. Kyrgyzstan. We were trying to go from one place to
another and we all plugged it into Google maps on our phones and we trusted
Google maps. We thought, okay, this is where we’re starting. This is where
we’re ending. It’ll be fun. And it was going to be a long drive.
Anyway, it was
going to be like a 10 to 12 hour drive. But Google ended up routing us a
totally different way than we thought. Through the mountains on this little
side road, that when I looked at the, , GPS, at one point I zoomed in and the,
the line was , so squiggly, through this mountain pass and what was going to be
a 10 to 12 hour trip to begin with, ended up taking like two days instead.
, so you need to
be really careful with GPS and. I still hold onto my paper maps. I I’m like the
last one who does that. People laugh at me why I have maps in my car and I
hardly ever use them, but I like to just have them there as a safety, ? There’s
some, all the satellites go out or who knows, you know, just to have a backup.
And also just in
terms of like driving, going on a road trip and exploring , if you’re just
using GPS, it’s like tunnel vision. You don’t know what’s around you and you
don’t really know your way around and you, you just you’re, you’re just focused
so much on the destination, but sometimes the journey is.
Really great also.
So, , Yeah. it’s, it’s good to like have it, but don’t rely on it too much and,
and be flexible .
TARANJIT: Yeah. That’s a really great point
because you never know when technology might fail you or there might be an
instance where it doesn’t work. And then what are you going to do if you have
no backup plan? That’s a really good tip. , before we let you go, I know you
have a podcast of your own. Could you tell us a little bit about it and where
can our listeners.
SCOTT: My show is called far from home, , where
I tell fascinating stories from far away places from my travels. And actually
the whole first season of my show was about this road trip I took to Mongolia.
, I actually recorded the whole journey. So you could hear everything going on
as we’re forced to pay bribes and Tajikistan and deal with border guards and
break down and all these places, you could actually hear it as it’s happening.
It shows called far from home. You can check
it out wherever you get your podcasts, , or@farfromhomepodcasts.org.
BHAVNEET: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for
joining us today. It was really fun. Hearing your crazy experiences on the
Mongol rally.
SCOTT: Thank you so much for having me. I
appreciate it.
(transition music)
TARANJIT: like Scott said, he probably would have
enjoyed the Mongol rally if he didn’t have to go through all the car problems
that he went through. And I feel like I personally agree with him, but would
you participate in something like the Mongol Rally?
BHAVNEET: Eh, I don’t know. I mean, it seems really
cool, but I don’t know if I have that survive or like, you know, like survivor
type instinct type thing where I’d be okay.
Living in my car
for. However long, it took them to drive and I had to deal with all those car
problems that he listed off. Oh my gosh. And then like, you can’t do it in this
country, but you can do it in this country. So he had to go back across the
border and wait for so long. And I was like, yeah, I don’t
TARANJIT: know.
And then his visa
was about to expire or it did expire and he had to wait to get his car fixed in
another country. Yeah. It was just, it just sounded wrong.
BHAVNEET: Would you, would you do the Mongol
Rally?
TARANJIT: On one end it would be fun, but I feel
like it should, it would have to be in different countries, not feeling like if
there was some, like, I would need a stepping like a beginner rally to
participate in before I
BHAVNEET: get a rally in Maryland. Here we go.
TARANJIT: I was thinking more along the lines of
maybe if they had to include across like the states of the U S and do like a,
because we are technically, you could say we’re a little countries because
there is such a huge space. Like he could do a rally through X number of states
or something like across run co cross country road trip type of thing, or they
look
BHAVNEET: I’m down, sign me up. Let’s do this.
TARANJIT: I feel like that would be a great
stepping stone into whether or not I would want to do the Mongol Rally.
BHAVNEET: And then we get to explore the country.
Oh yes. Is there a thing that does that?
that’d be cool.
TARANJIT: That would be cool.
BHAVNEET: But not in that tiny, a British car
driving on the opposite side, right-hand steering on the right-hand side
driving.
TARANJIT: That was funny because they got their
car in England. I think he said right. But then the rest of the country. So he
drove through, I was on the opposite side. So.
Yeah, it probably
would have been better off if they got the car that drove on the correct side
for most of the countries. And then on the one country, it was okay if it was
on the opposite side.
I wonder , are there regulations in terms of
like, if your car is the opposite way of the typical cars, are you allowed to
do that?
BHAVNEET: Yeah, I that’s, that’s where I was
wondering too, like, are, are they okay with you? Like, oh, here comes someone
driving down the like, you know, the steering wheel is on the right. Uh,
whatever, , more power to you.
Well that was
Scott, we hope you enjoyed hearing his driving stories and be sure to stay
tuned until the end of this episode, to hear a sneak peek of next week’s
episode with Jen Amos
TARANJIT: who shares about the time that she was a
suspect in a Tennessee RV bombing racing on the Olympic Parkway and the lady
who got upset at her for reverse parking,
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 or leaving us a review.
It truly does help
us get discovered.
TARANJIT: Thanks for choosing to drive with us and
we’ll see you next week.
(outro music)
JEN: We decided to do an RV road trip to Nashville. And when we arrived, we actually arrived on Christmas Eve. Pretty late at night. And we happened to have found parking right behind the Nissan stadium, on Christmas morning, we woke up to the RV shaking.
And we feel a bomb go off. The first thing I see across the Cumberland. Is it smoke, you see smoke coming out and you don’t know where it’s coming from yet.
Within like 10, 15 minutes, you see like 20 cars, going over the bridge
and it was all very sudden. My husband and I agreed, like, maybe we should. Make the most out of this. Despite the craziness that’s going on. And apparently this was on the news all over, despite that we didn’t know.
So we start driving around and we ended up going to downtown Nashville. And, , we are just about to find parking. When we had five cops pull us over, we had two cars pull up in front of us, two cars behind us and one next.