File:Citroën Xantia LX 1.8 (UK) (5524506575).jpg

My rental car at the Stonehenge car park, shortly before I start driving back toward London.

This was the first time that I ever drove a right-hand-drive car and/or a car with manual transmission, and I actually managed fine. Being able to drive out here to Stonehenge through the wide-open, lush Salisbury Plains was definitely a nice reward.

This was also my first-ever drive outside North America. The second, in South Korea, wouldn't happen for another ten years.

At least for US drivers, driving in the UK does not require an International Driving Permit (IDP), as an IDP is merely a certified translation anyway; a state-issued US driver's license was good enough, and although I lived in New York as a student for the time being, I used my license from my California permanent address without a problem. However, the rental agency was a bit puzzled as to why a young student traveling alone would get a "huge" (by European standards anyway) Xantia, rather than something smaller like a Vauxhall Corsa.

In the Citroën lineup, the Xantia, designed by Bertone in 1993, slotted right below the flagship XM. It had replaced the venerable BX from the 1980s, and in turn was replaced by the C5 in the current Citroën lineup. Its primary competitors included the Ford Mondeo, the Opel Vectra, and the Renault Laguna. The Xantia was also a rare Citroën that had a name rather than an alphanumeric model code; its smaller contemporary sisters, the Xsara and the Saxo, also share the distinction.