Secrets of Traveling Revealed!- Part Two
Long Beach, CA
Knowing the secrets of navigation is a must for an enjoyable road trip. And here they are:
1. You can't go wrong with a good set of directions. I check with a person who knows the area I'm traveling to AND look up directions on a mapping website. The locals tend to know things like which route to take to avoid having your car searched or when the mapping site is giving you bad directions. But with the mapping site, you can get a really nice step-by-step set of instructions complete with exit numbers, distances, which lane to stay in, turn-by-turn maps, etc... So it is nice to check both your local buddies and the mapping sites. Still, sometimes you actually can go wrong even if you have a good set of directions. For example, maybe you are both driving and navigating andstanding in for both Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson in the most brilliant and passionate version of Love Shack ever sung on I-5 doing other important things, and you miss your turn. And you're not sure how long ago that happened. Your directions only tell you the right way to get where you're going- not how to get out of a mess once you've gone the wrong way.
2. If your directions should fail you, fall back on your maps. They're a sure thing. Seriously, what could be more authoritative than a nice big fat book of maps? I am sad to say that I've misplaced my wonderous book of California maps on which I've depended for many, many years. Fortunately, I have my backup United States Atlas which contains local maps of major cities. This has also come in handy from time to time when there's an accident on a major freeway somewhere not in California- while stopped in traffic I can sometimes find a bailout route.
3. If the maps don't get the job done, pay attention to the signs. Signs don't lie. And they are usually more current than your maps, especially if your maps are in paper format. Of course, when you're flying along the highway at 55-75 mph, it can be hard to process all those signs. There's one sign somewhere between Tucson and Seattle that has a somewhat intricate chart on it indicating the appropriate speed for semis given their weight and number of axles or something like that. I've never yet managed to read the entire sign because it's just too much information to process at the speed I'm traveling. And when you're in the city, there are a LOT of signs to process even though you only need information from a couple of them. So...
4. When the signs make no sense, use your homing instincts and basic geographical knowledge. Your inner voice won't steer you wrong. I was once on a business trip sharing a rental car with my pig-headed, know-it-all boss. He was driving north up the Pacific Coast Highway away from our hotel. I was officially the navigator and told him he was going the wrong way. He insisted he was right, so I said "It's a nice evening for a long drive. Let me know when you've figured out you're wrong and I'll get us back home." Maybe 15 minutes later when absolutely nothing was familiar, he finally broke. I don't think he actually said he was wrong. He just said something like, "Why do you think we're going north?" "The water is on the left," I replied. It is generally accepted that the Pacific Ocean is west of California, so if the water is consistently on your left then that direction is highly likely to be west. Using the simple mnemonic "Never Eat Shredded Wheat" while mentally rotating clockwise, I was able to determine that if west was to the left then straight ahead must be north, and we had already agreed that our hotel was south of the restaurant we were returning from. He didn't say anything else- he just turned the car around so we were going south. But what if you have no inner voice steering you anywhere?
5. Call for backup! There's not much handier than a friendly voice on the phone especially if they happen to have their fingers tapping away on their computer to figure out what's going on. They have access to several different mapping sites, traffic and construction information, websites for hotels, etc... Tons of stuff that you don't have in the car with you. Don't be shy about asking for help.
So in summary, nothing's a sure thing. Be flexible, leave yourself more than enough time to get where you're going, and have multiple options for finding your way. Redundancy really improves your chances of getting somewhere without a lot of trauma.
Knowing the secrets of navigation is a must for an enjoyable road trip. And here they are:
1. You can't go wrong with a good set of directions. I check with a person who knows the area I'm traveling to AND look up directions on a mapping website. The locals tend to know things like which route to take to avoid having your car searched or when the mapping site is giving you bad directions. But with the mapping site, you can get a really nice step-by-step set of instructions complete with exit numbers, distances, which lane to stay in, turn-by-turn maps, etc... So it is nice to check both your local buddies and the mapping sites. Still, sometimes you actually can go wrong even if you have a good set of directions. For example, maybe you are both driving and navigating and
2. If your directions should fail you, fall back on your maps. They're a sure thing. Seriously, what could be more authoritative than a nice big fat book of maps? I am sad to say that I've misplaced my wonderous book of California maps on which I've depended for many, many years. Fortunately, I have my backup United States Atlas which contains local maps of major cities. This has also come in handy from time to time when there's an accident on a major freeway somewhere not in California- while stopped in traffic I can sometimes find a bailout route.
3. If the maps don't get the job done, pay attention to the signs. Signs don't lie. And they are usually more current than your maps, especially if your maps are in paper format. Of course, when you're flying along the highway at 55-75 mph, it can be hard to process all those signs. There's one sign somewhere between Tucson and Seattle that has a somewhat intricate chart on it indicating the appropriate speed for semis given their weight and number of axles or something like that. I've never yet managed to read the entire sign because it's just too much information to process at the speed I'm traveling. And when you're in the city, there are a LOT of signs to process even though you only need information from a couple of them. So...
4. When the signs make no sense, use your homing instincts and basic geographical knowledge. Your inner voice won't steer you wrong. I was once on a business trip sharing a rental car with my pig-headed, know-it-all boss. He was driving north up the Pacific Coast Highway away from our hotel. I was officially the navigator and told him he was going the wrong way. He insisted he was right, so I said "It's a nice evening for a long drive. Let me know when you've figured out you're wrong and I'll get us back home." Maybe 15 minutes later when absolutely nothing was familiar, he finally broke. I don't think he actually said he was wrong. He just said something like, "Why do you think we're going north?" "The water is on the left," I replied. It is generally accepted that the Pacific Ocean is west of California, so if the water is consistently on your left then that direction is highly likely to be west. Using the simple mnemonic "Never Eat Shredded Wheat" while mentally rotating clockwise, I was able to determine that if west was to the left then straight ahead must be north, and we had already agreed that our hotel was south of the restaurant we were returning from. He didn't say anything else- he just turned the car around so we were going south. But what if you have no inner voice steering you anywhere?
5. Call for backup! There's not much handier than a friendly voice on the phone especially if they happen to have their fingers tapping away on their computer to figure out what's going on. They have access to several different mapping sites, traffic and construction information, websites for hotels, etc... Tons of stuff that you don't have in the car with you. Don't be shy about asking for help.
So in summary, nothing's a sure thing. Be flexible, leave yourself more than enough time to get where you're going, and have multiple options for finding your way. Redundancy really improves your chances of getting somewhere without a lot of trauma.
Labels: travel
posted by Kirsten | 1/24/2006 08:48:00 PM
7 Comments:
Yuh huh... very good advice. Now tell me how that works in Seattle, because I haven't a clue. I had the maps, I had the directions, and I still got so lost that my eyeballs were bulging out of their sockets from the sheer frustration. Then, magically, I would make a completely arbitrary turn and find myself right where I needed to be.
This happened to me not once, but three times and I still don't know how or why. But I love Seattle anyway.
Well, it's good that you have that homing instinct, because that's how I do most of my Seattle navigation, too. :-)
Here's what little I learned about driving in Seattle the first time I went there alone:
1. If you are driving down a street which appears to have three lanes going each direction, do not be tricked into driving in the right hand lane even if it is delineated with a dashed white line like the other lanes. This is actually a parking lane and you may find yourself rudely introduced to non-moving vehicles and stuck going nowhere until you find a break in traffic.
2. Sometimes it is hard to tell at intersections where the streets are not at right angles to one another which signs are pointed at your street and which are pointed at the other street. To figure out which signs you are supposed to follow, look at the lights directly below the sign; if you can't see any of the lights, then the sign above that set of lights is not for you.
3. And also keep in mind, particularly near Green Lake, that the roomy right hand lane which nobody is using for no apparent reason may actually be a really nice bike lane. Don't drive in it if that's what it is.
In addition to that, I've also since figured out:
4. If you have a luxuriously wide lane that is divided only by a crack in the pavement and no lines, treat the crack as the dividing line between "lanes". Everyone else will. This happens, for example, on Queen Anne.
5. For any given number, there may be several different streets of that number. The compass direction part of the street name is important. There's a big difference between 5th Avenue, 5th Avenue NW, and 5th Avenue NE.
6. I've found it much easier to get around by always crossing the water at the Fremont Bridge or I-5 and then finding everything from there. I always get screwed up with the other bridge.
I know there are at least a couple other Puget Soundians around here- any of you have any advice? You locals will probably be way more helpful than me.
DO NOT trust that there will be a sign where you need to turn. Seattle is apparently undergoing some kind of long-standing signage drought. A good thing to know (and to tell others when giving directions) is a street or two BEFORE they need to turn (e.g. Pine is the next street after Pike).
Additionally, stay off 3rd Avenue downtown during rush hour. There actually are signs indicating it's for buses only during the commute hours (bus tunnel closure), but the cops are just loving the revenue from violators, and hang out at nearly every block. If you accidently find yourself on 3rd, you're allowed to go one block and turn right to get back off it ASAP.
And last - be sure to plan around parking as well. In addition to a lack of signage, we're also apparently demolishing every parking lot and garage we can. In just a year and a half here, I can count 6 lots that have either been lost, or are scheduled to be lost soon.
Thanks for the advice, I'm printing off a copy of these comments and putting them in my "next visit to Seattle" file.
I noticed that signage drought... I also noticed that many of the remaining parking lots are viciously tiny. Next time I plan to rent something other than a minivan.
Can I ask another question? Does the Bridge Troll actually exist, or is it just a cruel joke you people play on tourists? I swear I kept following directions to the letter, but I never managed to make that magical arbitrary turn that got me there.
The troll does exist! I had a lot of trouble finding it, too. That is because the Fremont Troll is not, as many sources suggest, under the Fremont Bridge. Go look under the north end of the Aurora Bridge. I'll find the link to my pictures of it when I get home.
Yes, the Troll is real. Go north across the Fremont Bridge and take a right on N 35th St. or N 36th St. From either one you'll be able locate the Troll hiding under the Aurora Avenue bridge.
More directions to print off for my next Seattle trip. Thanks you two!
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