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There are but a few places in the world with left-hand traffic or LHT. Simply put, the steering wheel would be on the right side of the front seat of a vehicle. And as 72% of the world's roads carry traffic on the right, some coil right-hand driving as driving on the "wrong side of the road". More often than not, RHT countries use cars that are LHD or left-hand driven where the driver's seat is on the left-hand side of the car. Conversely, LHT countries quintessentially utilize vehicles that are RHD or right-hand drive.

Understanding guidelines in driving in LHT countries is essential for mobility stressing on countries where public transport is nil to impossible. Also, this information will be crucial for the pedestrian-slash-commuter who can save on a lot of viable humiliation and casualty by checking this page. With a bit of luck, this short number will encourage the readers and students in particular to conduct further research on the countries intended for visit. Road orientation is bizarre, etiquette is unusual, and all the while the car feels wrong while driven on the right. So if you're a traveller or expat who has been accustomed to driving on the right side of the road, or simply some ignoramus looking for factoids, here are some sane LHT reminders and road advices.

1. The obvious, the driver's seat is on the right.

2. Traffic is mainly kept left unless overtaking.

3. Approaching traffic is seen also from the right.

4. For the most part, the traffic signs are on the left side of the road facing the motorist.

5. An overtaking vehicle passes the other vehicle/s on the right, with some exemptions.

6. On a roundabout, the traffic direction is clockwise.

7. Freeway exits are on the left.

8. Public transport entrance and exit are on the left, save for some with additional doors.

9. The pedestrian, upon crossing a two-way road, must look for traffic from their right.

Renting a car is beneficial to mobility and comfort especially in hot countries, the Middle East, for instance, where gasoline is generally more expensive than water. Also, this is a more economic option when travelling in a crowd of 3 or so. Although the orientation and directions can perplex, there are quick and easy advices that can be taken on. Not so much to worry about besides switching orientations really. So, here are 4 no-brainer quick safeties the traveller can do to ease the new joy of right-hand driving.

1. Go for AT (automatic transmission). As if driving in an entirely different universe isn't hard enough, lessen the challenge at hand by not worrying how to switch gears with your left hand, particularly when entirely inexperienced with driving on the right.

2. Know the car before you hit the road, like you were when you were learning to drive. Basically, this means feeling the car and familiarising yourself with the car's controls and equipments, which are almost at the same place (just on the right), except for the handbrake and gear. A-B-C which stands for accelerator, brake, and clutch, is the same on the right.

3. Do a dry-run. When you haven't got a chance to practice back home, then drive some rounds or the basic forwards and backwards at the rental company's car park. The emptier the lot, the better and safer!

4. Once you hit the LHT roads, remember to always keep left. All the right-hand driving adjustments may confuse you so much as to divert you. It doesn't take too long to get used to this with constant driving and practice. The main principle is to have the driver nearest to the center line. These road and transport choices go way back in history, mainly British and its flag-plunging history. There would have been more than 75 LHT-oriented countries, if not for most countries adapting to the road system of their colonizers, as Spain and France. Most parts of the world that has become a part of the British Empire remained to drive on LHT, as the former French colonies maintained RHT.

Backpackers need to be made aware of the different road and traffic rules that apply in various countries throughout the world when considering your next backpacking adventure. Studies show that countries driving on LHT have lower collision rate just because humans utilize far better the dominant eye, which is more commonly the right. Nevertheless, driving on the left-side of the road is just as safe as on the right. Those that say otherwise are merely theorizing. Among countries or in any place, traffic laws may differ insofar as traffic lanes, licenses, insurance policies and highway etiquette - adjustments are always necessary even in Right-Hand Traffic (RHT) countries. Research of the traffic laws at the country of destination is not just a smart decision, it is intuitive.

LHT countries include:

1. Anguilla

2. Antigua and Barbuda

3. Australia

4. Bahamas

5. Bangladesh

6. Barbados

7. Bermuda

8. Bhutan

9. Botswana

10. Brunei

11. Cayman Islands

12. Christmas Island (Australia)

13. Cook Islands

14. Cyprus

15. Dominica

16. East Timor

17. Falkland Islands

18. Fiji

19. Grenada

20. Guernsey (Channel Islands)

21. Guyana

22. Hong Kong

23. India

24. Indonesia

25. Ireland

26. Isle of Man

27. Jamaica

28. Japan

29. Jersey (Channel Islands)

30. Kenya

31. Kiribati

32. Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia)

33. Lesotho

34. Macau

35. Malawi

36. Malaysia

37. Maldives

38. Malta

39. Mauritius

40. Montserrat

41. Mozambique

42. Namibia

43. Nauru

44. Nepal

45. New Zealand

46. Niue

47. Norfolk Island (Australia)

48. Pakistan

49. Papua New Guinea

50. Pitcairn Islands (Britain)

51. Saint Helena

52. Saint Kitts and Nevis

53. Saint Lucia

54. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

55. Samoa

56. Seychelles

57. Singapore

58. Solomon Islands

59. South Africa

60. Sri Lanka

61. Suriname

62. Swaziland

63. Tanzania

64. Thailand

65. Tokelau (New Zealand)

66. Tonga

67. Trinidad and Tobago

68. Turks and Caicos Islands

69. Tuvalu

70. Uganda

71. United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland)

72. Virgin Islands (British)

73. Virgin Islands (US)

74. Zambia

75. Zimbabwe

Josh Boorman
Editor-in-chief
Backpacking Addictz
http://www.backpackingaddictz.com

Backpacking Addictz is a website set up by backpackers for the use of backpackers. On this site you will find a lot of very valuable backpacking information surrounding different destinations and countries from around the world. Also very helpful backpacking tips and travel advice on planning a budget travel and backpacking adventure. You will also find an enthusiastic and insightful backpacking blog which is regularly updated with new posts and article.

In the 16 years that I have known my friend Mario I have heard many different tales of his world travels and he is one of those people who have lived, worked and hitchhiked through different exotic countries. Mario is a Toronto high school teacher and teaches French and world issues. He spent time living and working in places like Thailand, Indonesia, Mexico and Quebec and came face-to-face with often vastly different cultures.

Mario is also an immigrant in two different countries, Australia where he moved as a small child in the 50s, and Canada, where he arrived as a teenager. Here is his story, the story of an immigrant, traveler and global adventurer.

1. Please tell us a bit about your background. Where were you born and where did you grow up?

I was born in San Vita al Tagliamento in northeastern Italy in the province of Friuli. But my parents are of Calabrese origin from Southern Italy. After his military service in the north of Italy my father decided to stay there due to his fondness for Friuli culture. In 1953 my father moved our family to Australia where he worked with a French contracting firm and we settled in Brisbane, Queensland when I was 2.5 years old. It was there that I had my first memories of the immigrant reality which was a very simple house made of wood. The roof leaked into our house and we had plants growing through the floor in the kitchen. The conditions were very basic, but this would set the stage for 11 years of a very challenging cultural adjustment period, following which my father moved us to Canada in 1964.

At that time, Italians faced a lot of discrimination, even harassment or sometimes violence in different forms, physical and psychological. My family was actually the target of a number of different forms of attack because we were immigrants. It made for a rather paranoid existence, constantly having to looking over your shoulder.

Remember, this was the 50s and Australia was still governed within the framework of the "White Australia Policy", a form of institutionalized apartheid. I witnessed various acts of brutality towards Australian aborigines with whom I was often mistaken, given the darkness of my skin. The proximity to the sea, however, made me appreciate the beauty of Australia in its purest form. During this time I developed a strong sense of self-reliance and I learned the importance of defending myself.

In the mid 70s I returned to Australia and I noticed that the work of many of those earlier immigrants had born fruit in the form of comfortable lifestyles and accomplished middle-class experiences. Italians had finally become mainstream and accepted. This also corresponded with Australia's new multi-cultural policy. Australia started to open up to different nationalities, which made for a more tolerant society.

2. You are a gifted multi-lingual individual. How many languages do you speak and what are they?

English and Italian are my first two languages. I also speak French, Spanish and Portuguese at a pretty high level. In addition, I also get by in Indonesian and I speak basic German and some phrases in Russian. The sound of different foreign languages fascinates me and I also appreciate that speaking the language is the key to these foreign cultures. Apart from the initial period during high school when I was exposed to English, French and German for the first time, the rest of my languages were acquired through living in the culture.

3. What was it like when you first came to Canada?

I remember it being very very cold since we arrived in Canada on February 16, 1964. My first observation was a very abrupt introduction to the Canadian climate. For a good several years I found it very difficult to adapt to the climate. On the other hand, as far as culture went, I could finally tap into my Italian-ness. It was actually in Toronto that the whole notion of being an Italian took on a new meaning for me because I felt accepted. I felt embraced here and felt that I could express my Italian heritage which led to me perfecting my Italian, considering I had suppressed speaking Italian in Australia. Once we came to Toronto I felt a desire to further go into the language.

High school in Canada was an appreciation of many other languages. We were offered courses in French, German, Latin and Spanish at the high school level. The school I went to reflected the transitional nature of Toronto at that time, which had been very WASP (white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant) until the 1960s and from then on started to change into a more cosmopolitan environment. There were people of different backgrounds which made you comfortable expressing yourself. By the time I went to university I was fairly at ease with my own intercultural identity.

My appreciation for Portuguese started on a construction job in Tecumseh, Ontario, where 2 gangs of construction workers, one Italian, one Portuguese, were confined to a very small house, provided by the construction company and were forced to live and interact with one another. I started to appreciate the similarities and differences with Portuguese culture, which I found absolutely fascinating. This was my initiation into the Portuguese language.

4. What were your earliest travel experiences?

Apart from the immigrant boat travels, my first travel memories were when I hitchhiked to Niagara Falls and Barrie, a medium-size town 90 minutes north of Toronto, when I was 15 years old. This gave me a sense of independence and the ability to design my own path on any trip. I felt in control and decided where I wanted to go. We did not realize that we needed a passport to cross into the United States, so we learned the lesson that you need your documents in order when traveling to foreign countries.

The next big trip was at the age of 17, crossing Canada with a fellow student in a VW beetle. We went to Vancouver for one month, picking strawberries, working on farms to survive. The second leg of that trip was to Mexico via California. This was the period of Height-Ashbury, the Summer of 68, and we truly experienced Flower Power in San Francisco. This left a lasting impression on me because of the freedom and the camaraderie among the youth. Anybody would open their house to you and you felt a bond with many young people.

The paradox of this period was that it was during the Vietnam War. So just as you had young people bonding with each other, believing that peace was the answer to the world's dilemmas, people were getting killed on the other side of the globe. The administration in Washington believed that war was the answer and these young people had in effect opted out of the system.

Mexico in itself was an eye-opener. It was my initiation into Latino culture and decrepit third world conditions of the masses. This was my politicization when I realized the plight of the majority of humanity and it made me even more curious to go back and get in contact with these people.

When I came back from Mexico it was very difficult to adjust to mundane middle-class values, just fitting into my place into my system. So I dropped out of 2nd year university and continued traveling without a set itinerary.

I went to Europe first, starting with London, worked in a hospital, and then spent 2 months traveling Europe on a Eurail pass. After Spain I visited Morocco where I met a guy called Giovanni Pozzi who turned me onto images and illusions of Afghanistan, a place he had been to before. This created a great desire in me to also discover that part of the world.

After Morocco I intended to meet up with Giovanni and travel with him from Brindisi, Italy, overland to Afghanistan. In September of 1971 I visited him in Milan after having gone back to discover my Italian heritage, and I then linked up with him in Brindisi from where we took a ferry to Greece and began our overland journey in the direction of Afghanistan.

We made it to the Turkish-Iranian border after a harrowing incident on a Turkish train which derailed. Unfortunately I had not learned the lesson of my teen years and had not checked out visa requirements for Canadians. Iran required a visa for Canadians, so I had to return to an Iranian consulate on the Black Sea where I obtained my Iranian travel visa. Somehow Giovanni and I got separated and this was the beginning of true independent traveling. I learned never to depend on other people's information, always double-check everything yourself.

3. Please tell us of your experiences and impressions during your first trip to Asia.

After traveling through Iran for about a week, which was during the repressive reign of the Shah, I hitchhiked with 2 Pakistani truck drivers from Tehran to Mashad, the site of the Blue Mosque, one of the most beautiful mosques in the Islamic world. From there we went to Herat, Kandahar and Kabul in Afghanistan, where I was privy to some of the most fantastic images of Afghan culture. I saw horsemen in bright green silk pants, in attire suited more to the Middle Ages than the 1970s. Afghanis appeared to be a very proud people, dignified and ferociously independent.

After a short stay in Kabul I went through the Khyber Pass into Peshawar in Pakistan. This too was an amazing view into the gun culture of this region. Every man had a gun 4, 5 feet long and it was truly an overwhelming sight to see this much weaponry on display. Unfortunately this was to continue since a war would erupt between Pakistan and India at this time, and after leaving Pakistan I ended up traveling through India during a time of war.

I was traveling on trains with a mobilized army, a people in frenetic motion not knowing what to do. The whole country was in a state of tension. Foreigners were asked to leave the country, so after a month in New Delhi I had to change my plans of visiting Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) and take the next flight out of Calcutta in the direction of Bangkok. The flight ticket at that time cost US$80 one way in 1971. Calcutta was also the site of millions of refugees pouring in from what would eventually become Bangladesh. They literally overtook Calcutta. I was about to sleep outside when I was approached by a couple of Anglo-Bengalis who insisted that it was absolutely improper for a European to sleep on the ground that way. They then insisted that I go and stay with them for a couple of nights. Their only requested favour in return was to send them a Levi jacket when I'd get back to Australia.

4. From India you moved on to Thailand. Please tell us about your experience in South East Asia.

In Bangkok of 1971 I would stay at the Atlantic Hotel for $1 a night, Bangkok was still a relatively small capital at that time. I left Bangkok and headed south, hitchhiking where I was brutally initiated to Thai culture. I was at the back of a pickup truck and dangling my feet out of it, the pickup truck was passed by another vehicle whose occupants got out and threatened me, pointing to my feet. Luckily a young Canadian from Saskatoon, Murray Wright, was sitting in the front of my pickup and explained that it was a big mistake to show the soles of your feet. This is a major insult in Thai culture. I then realized that when traveling it is very important to understand non-verbal communication as well. This was a major lesson for me.

This meeting with Murray was fortuitous. He had had an accident building a Japanese sugar factory and asked me if I would take over his job as a carpenter. This led to one month working with Thais and understanding to some degree Thai culture. It was also my first experience of amoebic dysentery, a tropical disease, which nearly killed me. This is how I was initiated to eating conditions in the developing world.

The full interview with photos is published at Travel and Transitions - Interviews

Susanne Pacher is the publisher of a website called Travel and Transitions(http://www.travelandtransitions.com). Travel and Transitions deals with unconventional travel and is chock full of advice, tips, real life travel experiences, interviews with travellers and travel experts, insights and reflections, cross-cultural issues, contests and many other features. You will also find stories about life and the transitions that we face as we go through our own personal life-long journeys.

Submit your own travel stories in our first travel story contest(http://www.travelandtransitions.com/contests.htm) and have a chance to win an amazing adventure cruise on the Amazon River.

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