The dead giveaway that you aren't in the US is that an automatic is an option. In the US, it is (to my knowledge) literally impossible to rent a vehicle with a manual transmission from a mainstream rental outfit.
In Europe sometimes it's the reverse. I had to literally drive to another country once (fortunately, in Europe it's much less of a big deal than in the US) to be able to rent a car with automatic. I can drive a manual, in theory, but with me decades out of practice and my family on board, I'd rather not...
