I got to San Francisco last October and was due to pickup my "top class" rental car from AVIS. I got to the parked car and noticed it was automatic. I straight away thought this was a mistake and ran upstairs to ask for a manual transmission car. The two ladies before the counter looked all confused and said I would be very lucky to find such car...something like a sports car.

So I spent the next 20 minutes inside the car trying to figure out how I'm going to operate a saloon, automtic (I havent driven before), wrong side of the road on a busy motorway (san fransciso airport is next to the highway)...

By the end of my "training" week...I loved the automatic transmission...It even allowed me to roll my window down, hang my arm out while playing California love by Tupac&DR Dre....American dream?