I wish I could drive

a Volvo, or a Hummer, or a beamer

i want to drive away, and go wherever i want. With the radio on and a pack of cigarettes in the console. And a car phone.

But I can't. I can't drive. I never learned how to, and I am 30 years old. I feel so lost, and immobile. I am a New Yorker, so wide open spaces are scarce, but I need to learn fast.

Any tips?

Empty parking lots are a good place to practice

yes

i feel like i'd be good at turning

driving is awesome! i am planning a roadtrip next weekend

http://i60.tinypic.com/orm7ax.png

my advice:
"just do it!"

ohh that looks like a beautiful roadtrip

How crazy is it that the town you live in is called Home

there's no place like it

i sense a country song brewing...

Hey Surm do your parents still live on Long Island? Cause if so and you do learn, once you graduate from parking lots the Ocean Parkway is an excellent place to practice. That's where my dad taught me. Lots of straight road, hardly any traffic (as long as it's not summer) and it's gorgeous to boot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_Parkway_(Long_Island)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_Parkway_(Long_Island)

awesome! thanks. my bff still lives out there, and she has a BMW...

wtf? I don't know why those links aren't working.

YES DO THAT. But practice in something else first. My dad took me out the first time in his prized possession which was a Mercedes and I broke down and tears thinking I was going to destroy the thing (i didn't).

ah yes good point. she used to have a white Civic with a spoiler, really good times. i used to sneak my parents Mercedes out for latenite drives around the block when i was a kid. it was emerald. definitely kind of intimidating.

and the doors were so heavy!

If you spend much time riding a bicycle in traffic you already have the alert, defensive mindset of a good driver. If you don't have that mindset, it will take you much longer to learn to drive. If you have that mindset, all you need to do is learn to control the vehicle, which is not especially hard with an automatic transmission.

Take my example. I didn't get my license until age 28. I hadn't sat in a driver's seat for more than a decade when I decided to go for it. Over the course of about 3 weeks I took five or six lessons from a professional instructor, took the driving test, passed, and got my license. It's the ability to process what's happening around you and respond smoothly and appropriately that's urgent and key; the skills of steering, accelerating and braking are trivial in comparison.

practice a lot. start somewhere very quiet (parking lot ideal, def) and ramp up to busier and more awkward scenarios as you're comfortable. but drive every chance you get, it makes the biggest difference not to let it get rusty ime.

Now that I suddenly have a new vehicle that handles like a fucking champ and has a little bit of zip, I want to do more roadtripping this year. I'm looking forward to the drive to Knoxville next week, which I wasn't a few days ago. I just need to figure out how to make these miles work-related.

ENBB, the links don't work because the ) at the end isn't recognised correctly here.

This link to Ocean Parkway (Long Island) should work

yeah i was gonna take my boyfriend's bike out today, but he didn't let me bc i've never biked in the city

soooo i'll have to work on that keeping my wits about me thing