Quote:
Put all your expenses on credit cards if possible, which gets you the market exchange rate with most cards. That and the $200-500 in cash you bring with you and you'll avoid the ridiculous 5%+ vig.

That information is somewhat out of date.
Many credit card companies will now screw you to the wall. Citibank in particular.
They will charge you a ridiculous "foreign transaction fee."
I got massively nailed by this on a recent visit to Canada

So check your credit card "Terms and Conditions" carefully.
Or just call your various credit card issuers up before you leave.

I seem to recall that the Capital One "No Hassle Card" does not rake you over the coals for being a world traveler. I.e., no fees whatsoever.
So you might start there.

Under no situations should you use a Citibank card in a foreign country, as a local mafioso loan shark will probably give you a better deal. (Heck, even an airport Currency Exchange might be better a better deal than Citibank. Hmmm, possibly not, though.)

OK, back to the driving question....

I, too, recommend that you drive if at all possible. I enjoyed driving on the rural English and Scottish backroads.
Even the left-handed shifter isn't too much of an adjustment.

The only issues I had were with getting too close to rows of parked cars in more crowded urban situations.

Remember, it is the United Kingdom, not Italy! So you probably won't have to deal with people running stop signs at 100 mph or running you off curvy mountain roads (not least due to extreme lack of any mountains!).

Always think three times before backing out into the road.

And NEVER drive after having even ONE beer.
Your subconscious instincts won't keep you out of trouble properly,
even if you are in a region where driving-after-one-beer is legal.

In Sweden, a BAC of 0.00000000000000000001% is illegal. (So, keep away from the Listerine.)

In the UK, I don't seem to recall that they have a similar zero-tolerance policy, but why not be safe and just assume that they do,
what with all the wrong-side driving, narrow roads, roundabouts, and absence of any useful road shoulders.

[Hey! After all these years, it looks like I finally (recently) overflowed the 8-bit post count. Tune in after another half-decade to watch me go for The Tenth Bit! ]