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??