First Drive in Kyushu ~The curves on country roads are truly terrifying😱~

The other day, I mentioned in my Kyushu travel article that I drove a little bit.

As someone who has taken refresher driving lessons many times, I had been thinking that I wanted to drive a long distance soon, so I was plotting to see if I could challenge myself during this trip😜

Initially, when we were renting a car, my husband suggested we get a light car, but since I wanted to drive, I said to him,

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Actually, I want to practice driving a little bit at some point when we go to Kyushu
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and I asked him to make sure we rented the same car model as the one we have at home🤭

Then, unexpectedly, he readily agreed and said,
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If Kaorin is going to drive, that might be better than a light car


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and he went ahead and made the reservation. A few days later, my husband, who is a bit laid-back, hadn't made the reservation yet and said,
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Sorry, the AQUA reservation slots were gone💦 The only one available is a YARIS, is that okay?[[phN_close]]

Well, I usually only drive the driving school car anyway, and it's a Toyota car of almost the same size, so I thought it would be fine and agreed😅 And for the refresher lesson right before the trip, I had already asked the instructor in advance, so I practiced in my own car. After the lesson, the instructor encouraged me by saying,


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The AQUA and YARIS are similar, so I'm sure you'll be fine. Please enjoy driving in Kyushu!
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😊 With this, I was fully prepared👍️ And then the day arrived. We went through the procedures at a car rental shop near Fukuoka Airport. The car that came out was...

When my husband checked the reservation email later, it said YARIS or FIT😂 Since it wasn't an AQUA, it didn't matter anymore😁

Before handing over the car, my husband told the lady at the shop that we wanted to borrow a beginner driver mark.

My husband said,[[phN_open]]My wife wants to drive at some point, but she's a bit anxious since it's been a very long time since she last drove.[[phN_close]]

The lady brought a beginner mark and carefully stuck it on the car for us😂 No, I'm not going to drive for a while, so you don't have to stick it on🤣 While thanking the lady, I removed the young leaf mark from the hood and put it in the glove box on the passenger side🤭 Since I'm going to be speeding along the highway for over 100km, it's way too high a hurdle for a beginner😂 For now, I left the first day's driving to my veteran husband and sat in the passenger seat as usual.

In the end, it was raining heavily on the second day, so I gave up on driving, hoping it would stop the next day.

The next day, the rain stopped, and it was the long-awaited cloudy third day! The day to finally challenge myself had arrived! My dream of driving fast on a wide road with good visibility was coming true✨ I was feeling a strange mix of nervousness and excitement😂 My husband brought the car from the hotel parking lot to the front of the entrance, and I got into the driver's seat.

I adjusted the seat position and the mirrors. I put on my seatbelt and shifted the gear to Drive. I released the parking brake and... here we go! I started moving slowly and turned left out of the parking lot. I was on the public road now~🚙 Oh my, I'm driving!😆 My heart is pounding, but there's no turning back now! My husband is next to me, so if things get really bad, he'll help me, so I'm sure it'll be okay! Come on, me!

After driving a little, I received my first baptism😂 Is that just how country roads are? The center line was gone!😱 There were only some road markings or something💦

Eh, I don't know where to use as a guide to drive!😭 My husband immediately said,


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I think you're drifting a bit toward the center, can you drive a little more to the left?

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He taught me gently. Am I drifting toward the center?😵‍💫 I don't even know where I'm driving on the road anymore💦 It's scary!😭

Then my husband said,

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You see the 50 speed limit written on the road? If you drive so that your body passes over the zero, I think that's about right.

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Yeah, it's there! So I drive over this? But after that, there's almost nothing written😭 I wish there were lots of '30's, '40's, or '50's, anything! I kept driving without really knowing where I was on the road. I started to feel like I was on a roller coaster😂 And then the next baptism... The speed of the locals is incredibly fast! They're doing 70-80km on a road with a 40km speed limit!😱 On wide roads, they would pass me, but on narrow sections, they would stick right behind me💦 I was trying my best to press the accelerator while thinking, 'Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' but as soon as I picked up a little speed, a curve would come, and I'd get scared and slow down, like that😰

And then came further baptism!

It's a mountain road, so there are curves everywhere!
And the ups and downs are intense!

I can't predict the size of the curves, so I get scared and end up slowing down💦

On uphill slopes, I can't see what's ahead, which is scary😵‍💫
On downhill slopes, even if I take my foot off the accelerator, the speed doesn't drop, which is scary😵‍💫

If I'm too slow, I end up with a long line of cars behind me like a daimyo procession😱

Eek!💦
What should I do?😭

Feeling sorry for the cars behind me, my husband threw me a lifeline:

"The left side is clear, so why don't you pull over and let them pass?"

he suggested.

"Phew😅"

It seems there were about six cars behind us, so I waited for everyone to pass before starting again🚙


And the ordeal continues.

I want to stop, but there are no traffic lights💦
There really are no traffic lights at all!😂
People who want to speed must find it pleasant, I suppose🤭
I'm scared and want to take a breather, so I want to stop at a traffic light😅
I finally found a traffic light and it was red, so I thought,
"I can stop now."
I felt relieved for a moment, but the next instant it turned green!😭
"Why~💦"
I can't stop.
I just kept driving, almost non-stop.

In the end, I drove nearly 30km to our destination without stopping at almost any traffic lights.

And finally,
the entrance to our destination was terrifyingly narrow and overgrown with weeds.
Also, since there was a cliff on the left, I thought my husband would take over, but
"I'm watching the left side, so do your best to turn the wheel!"
he said, and my husband was surprisingly Spartan about it😂
I ended up doing it all by myself until I parked.

And I drove on the way back after finishing our errands.


What surprised me was that while I was driving this time, my husband in the passenger seat patiently kept quiet except when it was truly dangerous.

And he gently taught me about the things I was concerned about later.

After we switched drivers following lunch, my husband's "Driving Tips Lecture" began🤭

Husband: "Was driving scary?"

Me: "Yeah, there were so many curves, and I couldn't see ahead, so I didn't know how much to turn the wheel, and it was super scary💦"

Husband: "It's easier to predict curves if you look at the navigation route."

Me: "I don't have the mental capacity to look at the navigation yet!😂"

Husband: "Well, that might be true, but it's good to remember that using tools like this is one way to do it, right? You just need to get used to it little by little."



He's absolutely right, as always😌
I was nervous, thinking he would get angry at me a lot while driving, but this time he was incredibly kind and gentle while teaching me various things, and I thought, 'This guy is being such a gentleman today'✨
I fell in love with my husband all over again🤭

The lecture continues.

Husband: "Do you know what this diamond-shaped mark is?"

Me: "Hmm? There's a pedestrian crossing ahead, right?"

Husband: "Oh, you know that..."

Me: "Hehe😁"

I know this because I'm learning from Kentaro-san's YouTube channel🤭

Being in the passenger seat, I'm free from tension and can talk easily😂


Until now, I left all the driving to my husband, so we never talked about road signs or traffic rules, but I'm very happy that I can have these conversations now that I've started driving.


Thanks to that, I feel like our conversations as a couple have increased.
Starting something new has unexpected side benefits, doesn't it?🤗

I found out later that the reason I couldn't grasp where I was driving—my poor spatial awareness—was revealed in the next lesson.

I will talk about that in the next article🤗

Today, I shared my story about driving on country roads during my trip to Kyushu.

Thank you for reading until the end😌