Driving in New York Part III

We were to take an important decision...
and ... we were right... the road was taking us out of the city...
Where??? Who knows!!
Still we took a sigh of relief...

Now it was a on-demand call center setup inside my car (just to putin a jazzy name)...
3 of my friend calling their friends for online route assistance...
I really appreciate the sincerity of efforts... they were really doing a good job...
However the atmosphere building was more so of a fish market...
Calls all across US.... 1 friend calling to west coast (Seattle)... One friend calling to central (Charlotte) ... and one friend calling to east coast (Newark, Delaware)...
at this point you can clearly makeout how much they trusted their driver...

I wonder what my fourth friend was doing at that time...

With some expert online advice we kept on moving...
When very close to EWR, GPS came back to life... take my word never depend entirely on your GPS for your trips...
The remarkable thing of all this was that I didn't made many mistakes (like taking wrong exits etc.)
Man! I was doing good...
We were about to enter airport area... so many entrances!!!
Why do they make airports so confusing??

Maybe flight companies conspired so that people miss there flight... and have to buy tickets again... whatever

Carefully I parked my park in a area where parking was not allowed... My friend got down on time...

I was quite happy ... at the same time looking at time I realized it is going though time to return back to JFK...

The immediate question was ... How do I make it?
Till now nobody had given thought over the other part... and now everyone realized; it was going to be tough...

God only knows how much I despised going back on those roads...
bit tired.. bit scared ... bit skeptical of GPS working...

Still my first priority was not me... but to drop my friends to airport...

There were two options... me driving back or they taking train... railway station was inside EWR, they could take a train to New york!

We were discussing...

more in next blog :)

Driving in New York Part II

Welcome to next episode of driving in New york...

So we had started very early to be on safer side still for the first time GPS had completely refused to work!
We tried everything.... restarting... gently tapping it... but it seemed to be firm on its decision... 'No satellite reception'..F**k....
Sometime I feel these human made instruments have whimps of their own....

I was driving carefully ensuring not to hit anybody.... even though all my 4 friends trying yo help me.... it lead to nothing but chaos... Imagine getting expert advice in each direction at the same time.... I don't blame my friends; they were trying best to help me out....

The only thing I was most concerned was to avoid entering any one way road from the other side.... you can easily imagine what could have been outcome of making such mistake

I don't remmember how many times I was breaking traffic rules.... but as told earlier; there were no rules but only one... save yourself

One of my friend was really understanding the situation very well and was coodinating and filtering the ideas from others before it reached me.... making me feel a bit relieved..

We were looking at maps and traffic boards... trying to relate

I just wanted to somehow find out a way to I-95... as I knew once we were at I-95 we were good to go...

The only thing running in mind at that point of time was to make to airport somehow before time... I didn't wanted to end the trip in sour note...

Forgot to mention ... some of my friend were really hungary... but the spin over had made everyone forget about it...

It was stressful.

I remmember one particular turn.... I was required to take a right turn but at every right turn things were becoming so difficult that I wasn't able to turn right.... It took me atleast 4-5 missed right turns to finally turn right

Nobody was keeping a watch at time... we should have taken a smart decision at this point to drop the JFK guys since we were finding it really tough to exit from New york...

We went ahead ...

We were close to exit New york.. there was an important decision to make ....
Moving on a straight road; we were to decide on a turn - left or right ... we knew one of these turns will take us out of the city while the other would take us back into crazy city...
We knew for sure if this turns out to be a wrong choice; we were never going to make it...

Here is the logic we put....if we made a left turn we reach sea so a right turn should take us away from city...

More of it in next post :)

Driving in New york

Hey all!

Just thought of sharing a personal experience of driving in New york.
To introduce myself; I am new to driving yet as everyone like to introduce myself as decent driver.

We in a group of 5 friends decided to go to New york driving from our Hotel in New Jersey.
Plan was to park the car in the outskirts of the city and pick it up while returning.

Everything was going good.
We had fed some address into GPS and were following it religiously.

Until a turn... and I gasped.. I was on time square... unplanned... unprepared....
No wonder I was greeted with honks.... can't say how many.... there were definetly lot other things to think over...
For a few moments I was a bit tense and then immediately fully alert. Life of 4 other people was dependent on my senses.

Everyone should know that driving in Time sqare has no rules... you make the rule if you are able to come out of it... you break the rule if you get trapped.

Pedestrians care a damn for vehicles on road.... I myself had relished the privelege of breaking rules when walking... it was only now that I was on the other side of the show

Luckly I made it to the parking without hitting anyone.
Hold on this is just the start!

Tough part started during our return jouney. One of my friend had to be dropped to Liberty International airport, Newark (EWR) while two other friends were to be dropped to John F kennedy airport (JFK).
If you were sincere during your geography classes you must have got a picture of how things were laid out. New york at center, to its one side EWR and to its other side JFK.

There was a gap of around 1 hour between the flights. I wanted to drop the JFK guys and then go ahead and drop the EWR guy. But after having discussion we decided the other way.
It was a wrong decision and by the time we realized; it was too late.

We started to leave New york at 3:30; flight at EWR was at 6:00 and flight at JFK at 7:20.
It was good to start with ... and no one ever thought of us not making it.

But as soon as we started we ran into a terrible problem... GPS stopped working ... no satellite reception... we were trapped in unknown streets... and I was on driver seat...

more on next post :)

How to make trip happier?

A quite simple topic however as life we at times forget to make trip as lively as it can be.
There are some simple things which can help make our trip happier.

Before going for a trip always ask yourself a simple question.
“Why am I going to this trip?”

If you don't find a good reason; don't go for it.

At the very start I would suggest not to go for trip with people you find it difficult to adjust.

What I feel; purpose of any trip is to hang out with friends. Travel / Eat / laugh.

Explore trill of new places.
At the same time it is a time to get to know each other. Seldom do we understand that it’s more of company than of places.

When in a group of 4-5 people one realizes how much different each one is from the other and so are the ideas.

It is difficult yet great experience trying to understand each person’s opinion.
For this you should at least be a good listener. A good listner brings unity in team.

Sometime it becomes difficult to move as a team.

At that point someone needs to compromise a little. However I assure you; later someday you feel good about it.
After all this is what being friends is all about.

There will be times when some wrong decisions will be made.

It may be that even it may result in some unnecessary expense.
However it is not the time to say “I had told you…”

At that time a sensible and friendly approach is to come forward and say ‘Its ok buddy… let’s try out something else”
Remember once we are discussing something we may have ideas per individual but once we have agreed and decided to go for an idea. It is no longer the idea of individual; it is the idea of team.

So if the idea doesn’t work; it is your very own team that lose and not the individual who put forth the idea.

Don't be always after very logical and calculated approach. Man! You are not writing mathematics exam! Other people may feel very uncomfortsble being with you.

Better approach is to keep moving... keep enjoying.

(I never mean to go insane).

At a trip always be considerate about the language you use. Try to use common language that can be understood by everybody.
I know when having fun there is a natural tendency to start using mother tongue but it is all about maturity. This applies even to the songs that you play in a trip.
Give it a thought from the other person perspective.

Try to eat at reasturants where everyone can find something good.

Take initiative in coming forward and handling team things. Let not everything fall on one person's shoulder. If not atleast thank and appreciate your friend who is doing it. The word 'thank you' has all its magic.

In trips while having fun we normally pull legs of one - another. At that time you need to take it sportingly. Don't think too much over comments. There is a saying "Nobody can insult you without your permission".

We definetly need to keep looking for no one being left alone at any time during the trip. Trip is about going together. Waiting for a friend for a few minutes while he completes his coffee / snap, makes a big difference.

While we are making a choice of place (where all to go) often few are left behined whom we even forget to ask"Hey! where would you like to go?"

This question reflects how much you care for your friends feelings.

Remmember a simple thing as calling a friend for snap can bring smile on the face of your friend.
Golden rule: "Trip in a group is more about 'We' and not 'me'."

Everyone who goes in trip wants to return back happy. I don't want you to come back with thoughts like "Why did I went for the trip?"
Hope next time you return from a trip you have only good feelings to carry forward.

Laugh... Laugh and Laugh to your heart at trip :)