Rental car

After perusing many websites, it became obvious that I would need to rent a car. 

This did not thrill me. 

A review said, "Would you rather spend your vacation standing around waiting for public transport, or making the most of your time and travel?

Another said, "Parking is ample in San Diego".

I was concerned about the expense. 

One of my online one date wonders told me that it is very cheap to rent cars. 

He also said, "Right on," constantly and told me that surfing is easy. But I digress. 

I took a deep breath and put visions of carjackings aside. 

We had two "economy" choices. We selected red, because it looked cool. 

This car?  Is a piece of ¥*#%. 

Anyway, if you've been following our blog, then you know about the $53 parking ticket that greeted us less than five hours after we arrived. 

From that point on, we parked in the paid parking across the street. It was $5 for 12 hours, or whenever we moved the car, whichever came first. 

That was an unplanned expense. Perhaps because the only place in Maine that you have to pay for parking is a few locations intown in Portland. And with the exception of garages, you can park for free on nights and weekends. 

Yes, there is ample parking in Portland. I spent more in parking than I spent on hospital bills with my firstborn including an emergency c-section and 6 day stay. 

Maybe that's a slight exaggeration. But only a teeny bit. 

Seamus, having learned the rules of the road and earning his permit just two weeks ago was the navigator. As such, he had preferential front seat treatment and command of Google maps.

And we learned that Seamus did not have his directions: right and left, quite as clear as one might have wished. I instructed him to point. 

Every bit as annoying as the parking situation, though not as expensive, was the car itself. 

It could hold only my carry on rolly bad and backpack in the trunk. We stacked everything else on Keagan. 

I noticed immediately that the gas was less sensitive than my car at home.  So I floored it. It lurched forward, drawing complaints from my travel companions. 

In frustration, I declared, "This car had no 'nads."

From the back seat, "What are 'nads?"

*sigh*

"'Nads are pickup. This car had no acceleration."

This POS car couldn't go 60 mph. It struggled to go uphill. 

I was on the Pacific Coast Highway, and expected CHiPs Ponch and John to pull me over for driving too slow. 

In a race between this car and a golf cart, the golf cart would look like Usain Bolt versus the tortoise Seamus videotaped at the zoo. 

So yeah, the rental car was a good idea. Just an expensive and disappointing good idea.