my driver’s license needed some pizzazz after sitting in a drawer, gathering dust
My 28-year run of driver’s licenses has recently come to an end. Considering what I had to go through to get a driver’s license in the first place — in the ’80s! — you’d think I’d make more of an effort to keep it valid. But as it turns out, I don’t miss driving enough to deal with the bureaucracy involved in converting my Canadian driver’s license to a Portuguese one. In fact, after 28 years at the wheel, I don’t miss driving at all.
My very first driver’s license is from BC in 1989, while I was in high school. After I finished Grade 10, I worked a tough summer job in a home for the mentally ill to pay for driving lessons. I used my BC driver’s licences while living in Australia, the UK, and the USA, then had Ontario licences from 2006. Each was only valid for five years, but between the moving and name changes, I don’t think I ever held the same card for the full five years.
When I moved to Portugal in 2013, the rules were that I had to convert my Canadian license to a Portuguese one within 185 days (six months), submit a medical certificate, and some other things including the kicker: a letter from the issuing authority confirming that I passed the driving exam.
But wait, isn’t that what a driver’s license is???
It seemed like a ridiculous request to make to Service Ontario, but then they referred me to BC, which is where I got my first licence, 24 years and a few names before. That was part of the problem — I had to produce ID with that name and I’d spent five months chasing ID to get married, followed by more months to change ID. The last thing I wanted to do was jump through another ID hoop voluntarily. Ultimately, the driver’s license wasn’t an immediate priority. My first six months in Portugal were spent working to catch up on a huge backlog of editing and getting oriented to everything. That time was a blur.
Meanwhile, I kept asking around about what other people did to obtain this silly letter and the responses were not particularly helpful. Of all the Canadians living in Portugal I’d asked, most people didn’t convert them at all (“What if you get caught???”) OR they were from Quebec. One Eastern European asked a random police officer to write the letter, but there’s no way I would ask a Canadian police officer to do that.
Fast forward to my one trip back to Canada in December 2015. I was out of the six-month grace period but I thought I would try to get this letter while I was in Vancouver, just in case I could still use it. I went to the ICBC corporate office in North Vancouver, who then sent me to another office, where they gave me the number for the ICBC headquarters in the capital, Victoria. I called Victoria and I was told that they have a department called “Miscellaneous Correspondence” that can only be reached by fax.
FAX.
It sounds like something out of Fawlty Towers, doesn’t it? Or it’s 1994 again.
Then I get home to Portugal and discover that — lo and behold — the legislation changed and those letters aren’t required anymore. Good, right? But the 185-day rule remains, and that means I’ll have to go through the whole licensing process from the beginning, anyway. What does this entail? More time and money and testing than what I had the first time around, that I know, to pass: three exam sections of Theory, Technical, and Practical. It’s possible to have an interpreter come along to the test, and according to Angloinfo, an applicant can attempt the practical exam five times in two years.
Someone else from Eastern Europe told me that she was advised just to book an exam at IMTT (Portugal’s driving authority) and take it without going through lessons: “If you’re a confident driver, you can pass.”
Well, one surefire way to find out is to make an attempt with the attitude of “I have nothing to lose” and make lots of mental notes in case of failure. The other way is to take driving lessons.
At the beginning of this year, I happened to find my Ontario license and was surprised to discover it was going to expire this year. I changed my name with Service Ontario in 2013 after I got married and before I moved, thinking they would restart the clock on the license and I’d get a full five years with it, but no. But I’ve had plenty of time to figure out what to do about it. I even briefly considered renewing it online, except all my neighbours in Toronto moved and there is no-one to forward the renewal to me.
The fact that I completely slacked off on the licensing issue confirms one thing: I don’t miss driving.
I’ll be the first to admit that car ownership is expensive (insurance, fees, maintenance) and often time-consuming (traffic) and a hassle (parking). When I was driving around Vancouver/Seattle a year and a half ago, then in Pennsylvania last October, I drove out of necessity and convenience, not enjoyment. In fact, it’s one of the reasons I retired from shooting weddings: I don’t want to drive for work. If I lived in a small town I would probably need to drive, but Porto is a metropolitan area. I walk all over the city. I take public transit more than I’m in a car. I like taking the train. I’ve taken three taxis in Portugal since I arrived in 2013, and no Ubers (ever).
If someone told me I’d never drive again, I would just shrug. No big deal. Just reading my older entries is a reminder that I practically lived out of my car for years, with crazy commutes by ferry and 1,500km weekends. I came to Portugal to slow down and change my life, and that’s what I’m doing. If it takes me longer to get where I’m going because I’m taking a bus, then so be it. I’ve used my driver’s license twice since 2013. Now that my license has officially expired, my next step is really to learn Portuguese well enough that I don’t need an interpreter at the driving exam… whenever that will be.
