A/N: Alright, Alright! My DUDES! It's time to shake things up in my story again. It's time for AMERICA to go to other countries and react to them. And yeah, it still counts as Strange things about America. Because American's are weird wherever we go. ONWARDS!
America was tired. He hated going to Europe sometimes. The time difference was cruel. But today, it didn't matter! England had actually invited him over, not for a meeting, but to just hang out. This never happened! So, America had agreed at once to come over.
After America had gotten out of the Airport, he hailed a cab and went to the car rental place nearby. As he walked in, he saw a lady behind one of the counters. Walking up, he gave her a smile.
"Hello, I'm here to rent a car?" America said. Looking up, the lady gave him a warm smile.
"Hello, welcome. What's your name?" She asked as she pulled up something on the computer.
"Alfred Jones."
"Please fill out this form." She said, handing him a clipboard. After doing the paperwork, she handed him a list of cars. "I see that you're from America Mr. Jones. Are you aware of the dangers of driving in England?"
"Yes, very much so." America laughed.
"Have you driven in England before?" She asked with a frown.
"Yes, but it's been awhile." America said with a shrug. "I usually take a cab, but I'm here on vacation, so I thought I would rent a car this time around."
"I see. Would you mind if I gave you a piece of advice on which car to choose sir, if I may be so bold?" She asked.
"No, go ahead." America said.
"I would choose a smaller car." She said, pointing out some of the smaller cars. "Personally, I enjoy the Mercedes E300."
"Yeah, I see." America said with a nod. "Ok, I'll choose that one."
"A good choice." She said with a smirk. After America signed a few more forms, she walked into the back room and came back with two pieces of paper and a set of keys. "Here are your insurance forms, where the car is on the lot, and here are your keys. Have a safe trip sir."
"Thank you!" America said, flashing a smile. "Have a nice day."
As he walked out into the parking lot, he started to get excited. He couldn't wait to get to England's place. Finally, he spotted the car. Unlocking it, he got in on the right side, and after shutting the door, he looked around.
The first thing he noticed, was there was no gear shift in the middle of the car. But there was what looked like a touch pad. Frowning, he turned the car on. As the thing came to life, so did the touch screen. But to his confusion, it didn't show a gear shift, but a GPS, music selection, and other things.
"Ok." America said, fiddling with the controls. To his annoyance, they didn't do what he wanted.
"Just click GPS." He grumbled as he messed with the touch pad. After five minutes of trying to press the stupid button, he started to get irritated. He had tapped the touch pad, the screen, and everything else he could think of. Just as he was starting to get really angry, he accidently pushed the touch pad down, and the screen clicked on the GPS.
"Oh, so that's how you do it." America said in relief. As he typed in England's address, he looked around for the gear shift.
"So, how do we get this thing into drive?" America wondered as he looked around the car. But to his confusion, there was nothing.
"What?" America asked desperately as he scrolled through the screen options. "Where is it?" For about 20 minutes, America scrolled through the menus, but he found nothing. He couldn't find a gear in the car itself, on the floor, ANYWHERE!
"I'm being setup." America yelled angerly. "Is this a joke?!" As he said this, he hit the indicator stick, and the car went into reverse. Confused, America looked closer at the indicator, and was surprised to see that it wasn't an indicator at all, but a gear shift. The indicator stick was above it. As he came to this realization, he felt his eye start to twitch.
"Who in the hell puts the gear shift on the FUCKING STEARING WHEEL?" America roared angerly. As he finally pulled the car out of the lot, he vowed to get revenge on the people who designed the car.
A/N: So, this experience came when I went to England last year for the first time. My dad, (who was born and raised in England), and I picked the car I mentioned for our trip in England. We spent, and I'm not joking, 30 minutes trying to find the gear shift. We looked all over, and in the instruction manual, but we couldn't find it. It was a lucky accident we found it. I'm not sure if this an European thing, or if it's just the car brand, but in America, we have our gear shifts in the middle of the car next to the driver seat, not the steering wheel. And that touch pad thing sucked! (But maybe we're just stupid. Idk.)