To ask how learning to drive changed your life?

[OliviaisGoodAtLots]

I'm 34 and currently learning to drive. It's costing me a fortune and I'm losing heart a bit. I've had to learned as I've moved to a city that doesn't have great transport. I currently cycle everywhere but on awful weather days I'm often stuck.

Please tell me the ways in which driving changed your life so I can keep my motivation up!

Driving gives you immense freedom but cycling is waaayyy better. Just wear a rain coat for bad weather. I cycle in all weathers.

100% changed my life for the better. Learnt to drive when I was 28 - so later than most. Learnt to drive because I couldn’t find a way to keep my hands warm in the winter cycling. I love driving now and couldn’t have done so much without it. It’s such a freedom!!!

Following with interest as I'm also 34 and should be learning to drive but it scares the hell out of me! It would be great to be able just get up and go and actually go to places without having to plan everything and being reliant on public transport. And ferrying my kid around would be so much easier! Good luck OP! You should report back once you've passed your test!

I have to cycle my child too in a bike seat - cycling in all weathers really isn't an option as it's downright dangerous in snow and strong winds, and heavy rain where I can barely see.

WonderTweek, I really do recommend taking lessons! I am quite an anxious learnee but I do really enjoy my lessons. It's the feeling of learning something totally new. I never would have thought I'd be in a car actually driving and changing gears and everything like a proper grown up!

interesting, I’m 48 and in an area of very poor public transport (that is now getting worse) and everyone learnt to drive at 17. I’m not sure how I we would be able to do anything if we hadn’t driven.

I'll start by saying that our local bus service is atrocious!

I can take my children to after school clubs without having to either hang around waiting for them (with nowhere decent to sit) or having to try and time it for buses. This sounds a small thing, but it's made a huge difference. The evening bus service here is almost non-existent.

We can have a cheap day out just using fuel money and packed lunches. We've been to so many places that are just a complete pain in the bum to get to if you don't drive. Our weekends are busier and more enjoyable.

Shopping is better, we can shop around easier. If I forget something I can nip out quickly to get it, rather than having a round trip of an hour walking.

I can take the kids to friends' parties and the like without thinking twice about bus services, or feeling like other people felt obliged to offer a lift.

I just have a completely different sense of independence and the urge to get out and do things, and offer my kids more experiences. It's been brilliant for us.

I learnt to drive when I was 31, I was terrified, hated my lessons and cried frequently. Passing genuinely changed my life. I moved 90 minutes from the town I'd lived in all my life to be with my DP, was able to leave a job I hated, drove myself to hospital when I was pregnant and had reduced movements: I wouldn't have bothered if I had to use public transport or ask a friend and ended up having an emergency section an hour later so it literally saved my sons life. I've been able to take my daughter to places, A&E in the night, drove 150 miles to attend my grandads funeral... And I really enjoy driving now. Keep at it, it really does make a difference

It meant I could get a hobby and ds could have hobbies outside of school. It means my dp isn't always the designated driver so we can take it in turns to drink when going out or split the drive when going further afield. I can go to IKEA whenever I like . Being able to do things independently of dp was a huge game changer too. I'm so glad I did it.
I was 31 when I decided to learn after moving to an area with rubbish transport. I had it boxed off and test passed within a couple of months. I just focussed on getting through it.

I’m 35. I passed my test April 2018.
I got a new job just before passed my test. After I’d passed my test I got a promotion. Which then turned to me setting up and running my own company. Giving me major flexibility so I can stay at home in the day with my ds and I never work weekends (unless I get offered silly money). My earning increasing also abled my family to move to a bigger house in a better area.

I was a stay at home mum for 4 years previous.
Passing my driving test has bettered my life massively and has given me so much confidence. It was also two fingers to my exh who told me for years I was to stupid to drive.

Freedom - you could go anywhere you want in this country whenever you want. No waiting for the next bus/train, no sitting next to someone smelly, want to stay an extra hour you can - you just jump in the car when you're ready.

DH and I are on holiday this week (camping) we've driven ourselves through some stunning scenery that you would never see on train, we even pulled over a few times to appreciate it more - can't ask the bus/train driver to do that!

Stick with it, I promise it's worth it

Driving allowed me to take my business to the next step and not rely on public transport. Allowed me to get to the nearest college withing 25mins instead of 1hr and a half or more on public transport. Also being able to travel long distances without caring how I am going to get there.

It is worth it op. I got dis-heartened at various points but pushed through.

I learned when I was 39. Best thing I’ve done. To know I can go anywhere I want without massive planning is fantastic.

I only passed late last year, took me until January to actually drive daily and stop avoiding it. Now I love it.

I love that I overcame what was a tricky thing for me (eg. Learning and passing). I love the freedom, the convenience after years of public transport and weirdly the headspace. Driving to work is time to just zone out and listen to music.

Better job prospects as I could drive for work

Better social life as it was easier to see people / go places

A sense of freedom - you can go anywhere and do anything at any time

Competed nationally and internationally for a sport that requires a lot of kit and is often in the middle of nowhere - would have been almost impossible to have done that without a car

Driving opened so many doors for me. I couldn't have had the job I had without it, the DC wouldn't have been able to go to the schools we wanted them to go to or do the hobbies they did (2 DSs playing football every weekend in very remote places)

It was instant freedom as soon as I passed my test at 17. No more waiting for lifts/buses/trains.

DS1 passed his test and DS2 is currently learning as I want the same for them.

Keep at it.

I passed my test at 18 but didn't drive till I got my first car age 23!
I moved from an city with good public transport to a small town with very unreliable transport options. Having a car has opened up my world! Shopping or taking the DC to school is easier. There are much better job opportunities should you wish to change jobs. Trips away / out are more accessible...
Definitely go for it!

Keep it coming!

I hadn't actually thought about the job thing but you're right. Lots of jobs here say you have to drive.

Simply one of the best things I ever did. It gives you so much freedom, and I love a good drive by myself listening to my music, I enjoy it. It's a life skill that's very useful! Keep going!! I took ages to learn, I was not a natural at all! A few times I said I wanted to give up, so glad I didn't.

It meant I could join a special interest group (venue would have been difficult to get to on public transport) where I met my DH. Also, later on when my mother started needing more care I was in a much better position to provide it - and when she eventually went into a home it made visiting her much easier.

Being able to take the DC’s to their extra-curriculars, not having to rely on local bus service (which is shit), and having the freedom to go on impromptu outings without having to do loads of planning, eg checking bus and train times outbound and return etc.
Also I couldn’t do my current job without a driving licence.

Well I passed at 17, but being able to drive has allowed me to:
Get a job that need you to be able to drive
Prior to that, get various jobs in places that would have been difficult to get to on public transport
Get from work, to college when I was studying, and time was tight an the college was a long way away (those qualifications allowed to move to better things)
Later, when at work, able to get to courses / trainings / meetings that wouldn't have been possible in the time available
When at college, work shifts that started / ended when buses weren't running (and I wouldn't have felt safe getting the bus)
Get to hobbies (therefore making load of friends, including dh - wouldn't have been able to get to a lot of these places on public transport)
Then, once had dc, get them all over, from when they were tinies, to now in their 20s. Meant they could attend things that wouldn't have been possible (let alone pleasurable) on public transport or walking. One in particular has played sport which often means over an hour each way to each match. At many times, one dc has been going in one direction and another in the other.
Visited people in hospital and in the hospice.... not always great to come out of hospice at night and then have to think about how you get home
Shared the driving on holidays, when going to France
Been able to go round the country visiting friends and family when dh isn't necessarily coming with me.
Being able to get the dc to things when dh is away.
Just convenience, from the weekly shop, to going to the theatre.
Driving vans and minibuses at various times, helping people move home or helping out on camps etc.

Must be loads more.

Being able to drive is so incredibly useful, I'd call it a life skill. All my dc started learning at 17.

I learnt when I was 17 so not the same but without a license I couldn’t live the life i do now. We live in a gorgeous commuter village but it has poor public transport, my commute is very short but only manageable by car, it means our children can go to the best nursery in the area (in another village so only really accessible by car), I can take them on day trips to NT places in other obscure villages, I love my job and it’s quite niche so not so easy to find another, but it’s in another obscure village!

Ha see I'm.probably going to be the voice of doom now.

I find it's all just extra responsibility I could do without. The amazing freedom and extra time I was told I would have never really materialised and instead of being able to MN/google/order from Amazon in traffic I'm now sat in it having to actually drive.

Everyone looks at me weird when I say I got the bus or walked somewhere as having a car and not using it for short journeys or getting a bus that goes every twenty minutes and costs lest than the parking would is an alien concept to anyone who has a car.

And I generally hate it. I hate sitting on traffic. I hate the arseholes who either practically impregnate me despite the highway code recommending a 2 second gap ( 4 in wet weather) . And I hate the arseholes that decide that despite going at the speed limit its stil imperative they get past me including undertaking ke on a roundabout because an Audi must never be behind a fiesta.

Disclaimer I live in an area with good transport links. My mum never drove and we managed ( dad was always at work) and I am very used to navigating my way everywhere I need to go via bus and train and I dont mind using them.

I learnt at 39. I live in a city with amazing transport links so managed but then DH died, the car was sitting there and it was up to me to get us around. So a 40 min bus journey now takes 5 mins. It is a game changer. I will drive anywhere now including the 4+ hours north/south to visit family.
What put me off driving is that I tried in my 20s with an awful instructor . I spent loads of money and everyone I knew told me to dump him but I was not assertive enough at the time. He only did 90 min lessons (90 mins is far too long for some starting out but fills the instructors books up). Just did the same routes and was a misogynistic racist!
However when DH died and I really needed to get driving I did my research and found a driving school with only the highest the rated instructors. When lovely Steve took me out for the first time and said I probably needed 15 hours of instruction (after all these years) I could of kissed him. And I did when a passed a few weeks later!

Having an instructor you gel with is key. Bastard probably got me to a level which meant even several years later I could pass with lovely Steve. But he was the one on my first lesson got me straight on the ring road and dual carriageways and when it came to practising stuff like reversing around corners made sure it was a difficult bend on a hill. Because why 'start easy, start with what you need to do to pass'!
Also I got my theory done and test booked and had 2/3 lessons a week. Once a week is too long between lessons. GOOD LUCK!