Rental Cars

This past week I traveled back to Spokane, WA. It was weird going back someplace I’v already been - as the majority of my trips this year have been to new places. I had a lot of Deja vu moments. LOL.

My rental car this trip was a Hyundai Kona. Kind of fun to drive for an economy car. Although it did have something sticky on the door jam - so every time I opened the door it was ripping heavy duty packing tape off cardboard. You know, that sound? I suspect someone spilled their coffee and Hertz employees didn’t do the greatest job at cleaning. The inside was fine but I did see dog hair in the trunk area. Far from being offended, the dog hair made me smile.

Driving rental cars a lot is weird too. Constantly looking for buttons and knobs. Occasionally I get a Kia Soul that still uses a key - that always throws me. And trying to get my phone connected to Bluetooth can be interesting. Sometimes I have to first delete someone else’s phone to have room for mine. I get irritated and wonder why people didn’t delete their phones when they return it - but I just realized I don’t do that either. Who has time?

So when I get a rental car, I usually end up in the rental area for about 10 minutes getting situated. Gotta get the mirrors and seat right. Connect my phone. Figure out if I have maps or if I need to use my phone; where to plug in the phone charger, etc. Then I need to plug in the address of the hotel into maps. Sometimes I have to figure out how to turn on the air conditioner.

I’ve driven: Kia Soul (they’re fun!), Nissan Sentra, Toyota Camry, Chevy Malibu, Toyota Prius and a Honda Venue. I left my prescription sunglasses in a rental car. Bye bye. And I can’t remember which trip it happened on. Lesson learned. Sometimes the cars are pretty new and clean. Sometimes they have 30k miles and are stained. For the most part, they’re shiny on the outside. I did get an SUV once in Cleveland where they apparently shampooed the seats and didn’t let it dry enough. By the time I got to the hotel my jeans were damp. Ugh. That was a Nissan something or other. What is it about Cleveland?

Sometimes I can remember trips vividly by rental car - like my time in San Diego, CA in a Honda Venue. It was a blast to zip around the city in that little car, sightseeing and cruising. Or the horrid Nissan Sentra that wobbled with broken cruise control down the desert highway of Nevada. Good times.

They’re good for a lot of laughs. But I must say I prefer being a Hertz Gold member so I can bypass the line at the desk and pick my car out of the lineup. I can get used to this kind of lifestyle. It’s a far cry from my old Nissan pickup in college days. 😂

On the way back, I caught some interesting cloudy views of Idaho and Boise River from the plane. And we finally got cool weather and a bit of dampness (dare I call it rain?) to help with the smoke and fires. It was nice to have a clear view of the mountains again.

Loving the cooler weather!! Stay tuned for next week - it’s gonna be amazing! As always, thanks for reading.

GypsyJules