The Quest for a Non-Stick Shift

I am forced to find a car to rent with an automatic transmission because I can't put any weight or pressure on my left leg for another month or more. This rental purchase has been no small feat.

The reason why I need a special car is because buses won't get me where I need to go. Even though Europe is known for better public transportation than in the US, my area is not one of the best examples of how the system should work. The Veneto consists of several small, medium and large centers that have vast areas of development between them, including residential areas and industrial parks. When you are travelling, it is really difficult to see where one city district ends and another one begins, for this reason. The people of the Veneto decided to build out and not up (like New York or even Lombardia and the example of Milan).

The problem is connecting all the dots from all of this development. The individual cities have only drafted connections going from main outskirt areas, all toward the downtown area: example--from Noventa to downtown Padua. This is fine for students who all pool into the city center area, but not often for professionals like me. I need to get from my house to the industrial area and then out to another suburban area on the other side of Padua, all on a typical work day. To do so with public transportation, I would find myself on 2 different bus lines with 2 different fees and ticket offices to get to each destination. In total at least 4 buses a day. Travel times can reach one and a half hours to go 15 miles just to get to one of these destinations. Needless to say, I cannot consider public transportation to get to work these days. But I can't drive my car either because it is a stick shift. It requires two working legs.

So began the quest for a rental to get me through my recovery period.

And do you think it's easy and reasonable to be looking for this service around here? Well, of course not. We're in Italy and just about anything other than locating great wine gets complicated.

After phoning 10 rental car agencies, I found most places with time limits of no more than a 29-day rental period. Those must be designed only with tourists in mind. Or the ones that require a long-term rental of 2 years or more, designed for company business cars. And all of them didn't have any low-end cars available with an automatic transmission. Only luxury cars like Mercedes and Audi could possibly fit my request. "Davvero?" I replied. If only I was paid more to afford a luxury car....

Why is it so impossible to find a car with a non-stick shift? I always knew it wasn't very popular here in Italy. but NOTHING? Come on!

Well, in the end I finally found and settled on a SMART car. It's the best deal I could get, while still quite expensive. I'll be picking up a black two-seater called FORTWO just 2 days after my cast comes off. People say it's really fun to drive. Maybe like a very fancy and powerful go-kart? I will finally get the thrill of driving a truly tiny European car, yet I never really was interested in that, but that's OK.

Vroom

Vroom

Scooter Reality

After 3000 km and an entire winter's experience behind me, I now get the full thrill of having a scooter to ride around Padua.

Feeling cool air rush over your skin while the sun beats down is a great summer benefit that a moped provides. I can also dart past long lines of cars stuck waiting at city traffic lights. My skinny transport machine allows me to stealthily weave in and out of slow traffic, too. Driving becomes a faster and cooler pursuit with a scooter. The hair that sticks out of the bottom of my helmet jumps around in a frenetic dance.

We bought our first moped in October. Too bad it was the beginning of the cold and rainy season.

The winds and rain can really pound, especially when going 40 mph. I had never felt a raindrop hurt before having to travel to some work locations outside of town during heavy showers. The innocent water turned aggressive as it crashed against my cheeks at near-freezing temps. Many Italians don't even use their scooters during the winter because of the chill factor and inconvenience but since ours was new, we just had to start using it! For next winter, I will be prepared with a full face helmet. The "zip" version (as they call it in Italian: open face, in English) I currently have is convenient because it fits under the sella (seat), which is necessary when the bauletto (carrier) is filled by my husband's helmet. This is necessary when we ride around together. However, the open face helmet only covers half of your head. Air easily whips under the visor and rips across your cheeks, nose and chin. What I need to cover my head completely is called integrale in Italian.

I am lucky that I already had rainproof alpine outer-clothing. That apparel now doubles as urban rain gear for the moped: jacket, pants and gloves.

During the first few months, I also had to get used to pushing around the weight of the scooter: 115 kg (250 lbs). Parking it, reversing, and moving it when the engine is off are typical moments when you have to manoeuvre its full weight. The bike even fell a couple of times, luckily on grass, while I was getting the hang of shifting its mass.

As for other aspects of driving, it can get a bit dangerous to do so when the schools let out. All the teenage drivers hit the roads at the same time with "Fast and Furious" on their minds. You risk getting swarmed by them, your machine enveloped in a madly nervous buzzing cloud of other scooters.

Having a moped makes it now easy for my husband and I to get into the downtown city for a night out, a single drink or a quick shopping jaunt. We used to have to park the car and walk about 10 minutes to get to our usual haunts. Now we can park literally in front of them.

My teenage students seem to have a new respect for me, the American who now rides a moped like them. They were so cute when they saw me with it for the first time. They sounded like their parents when they said, "Be careful."

In some ways, you're not completely Italianized until you've driven a scooter in Italy. And this, I have finally tasted over a decade after arriving here.

A dear picture of me from my first day with the brand new bike in October:

The Scooter: City Life in a New Light

It's official, I have finally become absolutely Italianized.

I own a scooter.

It took over ten years for the day to come, but now my husband and I have splurged on Italy's favorite vehicle with 2 wheels.

It's liberating. Traffic is a breeze. There is a sense of freedom. We dart around town instead of plodding along in traffic at rush hour. It takes 5 minutes to get downtown. There's no fatigue involved like when cycling. The gas mileage is great!

On the other hand, it can be very cold with chilly wind rushing over your hands and through your pants. It can be dangerous: if a mistake is made, and even if it's the car's fault, I will probably suffer some serious consequences. I have to be "all eyes"!

It's a new scooter world for me and a very Italian one.

I am now relearning the roads through the city since z.t.l. (zona traffico limitato-restricted traffic zone) areas have previously been off-limits to me, a car owner who does not have a business or residence within those borders, and on a bicycle, I haven't had to respect one-way signs through town like scooters should do. Now everytime I get on the saddle, I have to rethink the roads to take, make mistakes and discover this new method of moving through urban space. I have to think like a scooter driver which is uniquely different than the cyclist or car driver.

"Buona guida," I think to myself, "e che brivido!"