So, I decide to spend the weekend by paying a visit to “the Grand Hole” or the “big hole”, as the Arizonians would call it or the Grand Canyon as the rest of the world might know it. I had to drive to a little town called Williams and take a train from there to the south rim of the big hole. Williams was about 180 miles from Tempe, AZ. Without too many driving misadventures, I reached Williams at 9:15 AM. I had planned to visit the Grand Canyon and spend the night there and return the next day by Train to Williams. The Grand Canyon railways is almost 100 years old. They have these little trains which take you from Williams to the south rim of the canyon. Every coach has these coach executives who are very nice people and screamed funny instructions like “Gentlemen, make sure you use ONLY the men’s restroom which is at the rear end of the coach and also make sure you take the 2 extra seconds to flush.” They also talk to each passenger about what they should be doing after they get off the train...what activities they can do. The tell you a lot of trivia about the railways and the canyon etc..The GC railways also has singers who come to every coach and perform..which I thought was really good and each singer specializes in one kind of music. I got a chance to hear some old English songs and on my return another artist sang some folk songs of the native Indians.
And the lady, Victoria was talking for 2 hours 14 minutes and 57 seconds during the travel time of 2 hours and 15 minutes. I slept. When I got out, she politely said it was a pleasure having me in the train. Well, I am sure it was!!!
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
I rented a car. I am driving alone in the US for the first time. I had the support of google maps and yahoo maps. So, I drove from the airport to my hotel. All is well and I reached my hotel.
The next day I had to get to my office. So, checked the google map, wrote the directions down and started driving. I drove, drove and drove on. The 48th street seemed to have vanished. I see the 40th, the 44th but I can’t see the 48th. The cars were whizzing past me. Some drivers giving me a odd look and a few of them honking. Well…jet lag and all that stuff, it did not occur to me that when someone honks that it means that I have made a mistake. Twice around, I realized after about 15 minutes of driving that I have been driving around the same roads and streets. The tension was mounting since I had to follow rules of the new country and also get to my office. Finally, with the help of 3 kind souls I managed to reach the office. My client greeted my with a big smile when I told him that I was driving for about 2 hours. It was quite "interesting" to know that the office was just about 2 miles away from the hotel I was in.
Anyways, things started improving as I started driving more. I still kept missing streets and exits. But the improvement was that I knew that I have missed one in less than five minutes and I knew how to find my way back.
It was hilarious when I had to go to Grand Canyon. With the new found skill of mine to take the wrong exits or turns, I realized that I am on the wrong road. Again, this also with my special competency to that when I am on the wrong road, in about 15 minutes. Only that I had driven a fairly long distance since the speed limit was 75 miles an hour and as usual I was doing more than the speed limit (85 miles). So, I start working towards finding my way back. After 25 minutes, I reached my hotel and without realizing that I have reached my hotel before I saw the board. I lost an hour in that and I had a train to catch at 10 AM. I started all over and managed to reached the station at a fairly reasonable time and catch the train.
I came to Houston from Arizona. Houston did not seem to have as many signage like in Arizona which made it difficult. I was searching for a sign that talks about the speed limits while people were whizzing past me. So, I started driving faster too. I had to drive through the Sam Houston toll way. I did not realize initially that I am reaching the toll station and I was in the left most lane of the road and that is only for people who had exact change. So, with great difficulty I managed to reach the right most lane (had to cut 4 lanes) and paid the toll. As I happily started cruising, to my great irritation, comes another toll station. There we go. But there were only 4 cars ahead of me and I had exact change this time. So, I took the “Exact change only lane”. As I reached the machine which would eat my money and open the gate, the darned thing said “COINS ONLY”. God damn it, all I had was a dollar bill and 25 cents. To the irritation of the other car drivers I ran to the manned toll gate and got some change from the gentle man there and managed to get out. Oooof.. boy, frickin stooopid machines, I tell ya.
And now, the grand return to Houston IAH airport from my office in Houston. I started well ahead, @ 12:00 noon, to catch my flight @ 3:50 Pm. The distance 33 miles and the travel time about 35 minutes. It’s fairly simple, get on to the I-10, reach Sam Houston toll-way, take Beltway 8 East and you are at the airport. I reach the toll way, all is well and cruising happily. It’s 50 minutes and I have not reached the airport yet. There was some traffic and I am hoping that I would reach the airport soon. 1 hour and 15 mins and I suspect that I am lost. I get to a gas station and ask a gentleman, who was kind enough to confirm that I have missed Beltway 8. He asked me to go back. Airport is about “40 mins” from the there. So, I start going back. I reach a point which says Beltway 8. As soon as I enter, Beltway 8 splits into North and South. I decide to take Beltway south and start driving hoping to get to Beltway East. No luck after 20 minutes. So, I head back and try Beltway North for 15. No luck again. Okay, head back to Houston. Again, get into a restaurant’s parking lot and ask a person there. He goes “Oh! You are a long way away from the Airport, its at least 40 minutes from here. Take 59 and after 15 minutes you will reach the I-10 blah blah blah”. Time 2:15 and 40 minutes to the airport to catch an international flight at 3:50. I could not help laughing at myself. I decide that I should still get to the airport at least to change my travel date to the next day. So, I start again and finally by some magic reach the JFK boulevard and see the sign to the airport. By the time I returned my rented car, it was 3:00 Pm. I took a bus to the airport and reached the ticket counter at 3:10 Pm only to see people checking in still and to be told that the boarding would start in 10 and I should get to the boarding gate quickly. Lady luck had had enough of laugh and decided to be kind to me. The security check did not have a huge queue and I did not have to walk miles to get to my boarding gate. Wow!! Some experience it was. The only thing that I was surprised at the end of this was that i did not panic or feel the pressure instead I just laughed at myself and found the whole thing just too funny. Not bad, eh??
The next day I had to get to my office. So, checked the google map, wrote the directions down and started driving. I drove, drove and drove on. The 48th street seemed to have vanished. I see the 40th, the 44th but I can’t see the 48th. The cars were whizzing past me. Some drivers giving me a odd look and a few of them honking. Well…jet lag and all that stuff, it did not occur to me that when someone honks that it means that I have made a mistake. Twice around, I realized after about 15 minutes of driving that I have been driving around the same roads and streets. The tension was mounting since I had to follow rules of the new country and also get to my office. Finally, with the help of 3 kind souls I managed to reach the office. My client greeted my with a big smile when I told him that I was driving for about 2 hours. It was quite "interesting" to know that the office was just about 2 miles away from the hotel I was in.
Anyways, things started improving as I started driving more. I still kept missing streets and exits. But the improvement was that I knew that I have missed one in less than five minutes and I knew how to find my way back.
It was hilarious when I had to go to Grand Canyon. With the new found skill of mine to take the wrong exits or turns, I realized that I am on the wrong road. Again, this also with my special competency to that when I am on the wrong road, in about 15 minutes. Only that I had driven a fairly long distance since the speed limit was 75 miles an hour and as usual I was doing more than the speed limit (85 miles). So, I start working towards finding my way back. After 25 minutes, I reached my hotel and without realizing that I have reached my hotel before I saw the board. I lost an hour in that and I had a train to catch at 10 AM. I started all over and managed to reached the station at a fairly reasonable time and catch the train.
I came to Houston from Arizona. Houston did not seem to have as many signage like in Arizona which made it difficult. I was searching for a sign that talks about the speed limits while people were whizzing past me. So, I started driving faster too. I had to drive through the Sam Houston toll way. I did not realize initially that I am reaching the toll station and I was in the left most lane of the road and that is only for people who had exact change. So, with great difficulty I managed to reach the right most lane (had to cut 4 lanes) and paid the toll. As I happily started cruising, to my great irritation, comes another toll station. There we go. But there were only 4 cars ahead of me and I had exact change this time. So, I took the “Exact change only lane”. As I reached the machine which would eat my money and open the gate, the darned thing said “COINS ONLY”. God damn it, all I had was a dollar bill and 25 cents. To the irritation of the other car drivers I ran to the manned toll gate and got some change from the gentle man there and managed to get out. Oooof.. boy, frickin stooopid machines, I tell ya.
And now, the grand return to Houston IAH airport from my office in Houston. I started well ahead, @ 12:00 noon, to catch my flight @ 3:50 Pm. The distance 33 miles and the travel time about 35 minutes. It’s fairly simple, get on to the I-10, reach Sam Houston toll-way, take Beltway 8 East and you are at the airport. I reach the toll way, all is well and cruising happily. It’s 50 minutes and I have not reached the airport yet. There was some traffic and I am hoping that I would reach the airport soon. 1 hour and 15 mins and I suspect that I am lost. I get to a gas station and ask a gentleman, who was kind enough to confirm that I have missed Beltway 8. He asked me to go back. Airport is about “40 mins” from the there. So, I start going back. I reach a point which says Beltway 8. As soon as I enter, Beltway 8 splits into North and South. I decide to take Beltway south and start driving hoping to get to Beltway East. No luck after 20 minutes. So, I head back and try Beltway North for 15. No luck again. Okay, head back to Houston. Again, get into a restaurant’s parking lot and ask a person there. He goes “Oh! You are a long way away from the Airport, its at least 40 minutes from here. Take 59 and after 15 minutes you will reach the I-10 blah blah blah”. Time 2:15 and 40 minutes to the airport to catch an international flight at 3:50. I could not help laughing at myself. I decide that I should still get to the airport at least to change my travel date to the next day. So, I start again and finally by some magic reach the JFK boulevard and see the sign to the airport. By the time I returned my rented car, it was 3:00 Pm. I took a bus to the airport and reached the ticket counter at 3:10 Pm only to see people checking in still and to be told that the boarding would start in 10 and I should get to the boarding gate quickly. Lady luck had had enough of laugh and decided to be kind to me. The security check did not have a huge queue and I did not have to walk miles to get to my boarding gate. Wow!! Some experience it was. The only thing that I was surprised at the end of this was that i did not panic or feel the pressure instead I just laughed at myself and found the whole thing just too funny. Not bad, eh??
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