Well, all I can say is that I have a toleration for physical travel and I always try to focus on the end objective. Where is it that I'm going and how badly do I want to reach that goal. The travel in between is just a means to reach my real objective, and if I don't lose sight of the end point, then I can deal with the intermediate, probably saying I can't do much about it, do what I have to do, and keep on moving towards my goal.
What follows is a summary of a recent trip I made, and I chose this trip because it illustrates what can happen to you on such a journey. Bear with me. My trip was a good one because I did reach my destination and I did accomplish most of what I wanted to. A happy ending, sort of.
Well let me begin by telling you my overall itinerary. I traveled to England for one reason and after that event, I traveled to Ireland, which was foremost on my mind (my goal). I'll leave out the parts that are not relevant.
I live in the Reno/Lake Tahoe area, Sparks, Nevada, specifically. To travel almost anywhere you have to learn to use so-called "hub" airports and change planes there to get to your real desitation for the day. In my case, and for the purpose of this travel tale, to get to England, I flew from the Reno airport to DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth), and connected to my overseas flight to London's Gatwick Airport.
The trip didn't begin on a positive note and my Reno/Dallas flight was late getting off the ground. When you're making connections, and you're late, that's an immediate worry. Will I make the connection with not much fime for the connection? Or will I have to talk with an airline employee to see what other flights might get me to my real destination. I have many sad stories about not making a connection, and worse yet, not finding an alternate route for the given flight.
But in this case, I had just enough time to make it to my connection flight's gate, with no spare time. I had planned to have lunch at DFW, visit the currency exchange, and maybe browse at the book store. Scarp all those ideas. With no lunch, I had to wait for food service on the overseas flight. If my connection had been to a domestic flight, a coach seat would offer no food and a first class seat might offer food, if you had a first class ticket. On some domestic flights you can buy a packaged sandwich, which aren't that bad. In my case, my overseas flight had meals for all classes of travel (coach, business and first class).
Ah, but the story doesn't all of a sudden become a happy one because the flight to London was delayed. Well, the good news was, I could visit the rest room and also buy a snack to tide me over. The plane eventually took off. I knew I would be late arriving at London, but I had no time concerns there. When I got there, I would be there, and could proceed to my hotel.
I have been to England many times and I'm quite familiar with driving on the "wrong side" (left side) of the road. My real destination for this arrival day was about 60 miles from the airport and I chose a rental car (hire care, as they call it in the UK). I got my car promptly, adjusted all the mirrors and learned the code to get out of the rental car park. All that went according to expectations. What came as a surprise however was that when you pressed on the brake, that caused the car to accellerate (try that when you tired from the overseas flight and driving on the wrong side of the road). The condition had not occured at the rental car lot but rather some distance away, while driving on the motorway (Interstate, if you will). I thought maybe it was just my big foot covering both peddles (sorry, too simple - it was a real mechanical problem I had to deal with for the week I was in England. Hertz would have sent an emergency road service car after me, but I knew from experience that would take quite a bit of time and delay my travels even longer. There is no Hertz office at my destination, but I though maybe I could solve the sticky peddle problem (no luck there, either).
I accomplished my goals for the England part of my visit and days later I repacked my bags for a continued journey to Ireland. The London/Dublin flight was late, but the only impact on me was a late arrival and being late to check into my Dublin hotel. Well, yes, and no. The plane finally did get off the ground, and I thought I coulc catch a 90 minute nap. Beverage service passed me by multiple time, as though I was invisible and didn't exist. The coffee or coke was really unimportant to me at the time, so I just rolled over and caught the rest of my nap. I just hate being ingored by flight attendants, and having to do something out of the ordinary to get their attention. More on this later.
Arrival at Dublin was normal, I guess. No baggage trolleys to transport my heavy carry-on down a very long corridor. I had my laptop and my camera gear in my carry-on and that alone is about ten pounds. Not easty for a senior citizen of 74 (me) but with a couple of rest stops, I made it to baggage claim and passport control. That went okay, but not Hertz and my next car rental. I got the car okay but the directions to get from the Dublin Airport to Dublin's Gallaghan Hotel were not clear at all. Those direction were so bad that it took the better part of five hours to get settled at my hotel. And during my hotel search, I was amazed at how many local Dublin people had no sense of gegraphy. I gave people the name of my hotel and the neighorhood it is located in and got either no help or very misleading directions.
It was a dark night (that sounds like a Snoopy story lead-in). Anyway, it was a dark night, no storm but other obstacles. Irish road signs are terrible. Small, if they exist, in dark places, difficult to see, and so on. So there I was, traveling with no one that might help as a navigator and dealing with a map and its tiny print, and locals who don't know their way around (either). I finally flagged down a Dublin taxi and ask if he would lead me to my hotel, and I would pay for the ride as though I was a passnger in his cab. To make a long story short, that scheme worked.
The hotel had it's quirks. No valet parking and the hotel's parking garage was two city blocks away. Wonderful. The hotel's lift (elevator) did go to my floor (3) but on that floor there were short flights of steps to get my 50 pound suitcase up and around. I'm tired, it's late, I really haven't had a proper meal, and so on. Chin up, Bob. Toleration, remember? These things will have solutions or just pass. I forgot to mention the hotel's parking garage. It has a gate that must be opened with a mag stripe card. First, you have to learn that they change the code everyday and that could leave you on the wrong side of the gate - tryin to get in, or trying to get out. Have you driving on the wrong side of the road, late at night, and, by the way, a badge reader you can't reach from the driver's side. You have to get out of the car in order to insert the garage badge. Are we having fun yet? Well, thank goodness, my hotel room was neat and tidy and in working order. Until I used the bath tub shower and discovered that the water doesn't drain. Trying to relax, I turned on the TV and that gave me something else to deal with. Increasingly, UK hotels are going with interactive TV and that affects the user friendly (or not) operation of the TV. Just try to change channels. It takes a computer nerd to get through that simple operation. And don't try to memorize what works, because tomorrow's TV will be different. I stayed at Dublin for a couple days and before my actual departure, I studied my maps to determine the best way for me to find the numbered highway leaving the city in my preferred direction. Well, I told you about Irish road signs being small and hard to read (that is, if they're posted in the first place. And as modern as Dublin people may think their city is, it still has a way to go. The notion of one or more freeways terminating near the ciy centre hasn't happened yet. So it meant I had to use city streets, ordinary streets to get to the numbered highway I wanted. Okay, so I could study my maps a devise a route I could use. Except - and this is a big except - there are many one way streets in the old cities of Ireland, and England. My initial exit route failed because the road next to my hotel was one way. And once you make a wrong turn, and you try to get on a correct path, they just don't happen. You spend the next umpteen minutes just trying to undo you navigation error and get pointed back in your desired direction. I'm a pretty experienced driver and can drive instinctively, but city blocks are not always square, so you can find yourself in new neighborhoods easily. On this trip, I learned a lot about Dublin's streets and I can use that knowledge on my next visit, if there ever is one. I should also mention Irish drivers. The Irish folk I met at shops and restaurants were very nice with a good social attitude. Not true for many of them when they get behind the wheel. Impatient, short tempered, cutthroat, loud, inconsiderate, and ...... worse. But, thank goodness, I was the calm one, the tolerant one and tried to make the best of any given situation. I survived, intact. I think the net of it is, be prepared. This isn't home and you'll have to cope with the way things are done in your current location. Weather can be a problem for you. There you are in a strange rental car, in a strange city, surrounded by some number of people who may not be understanding and hospitable. And your car! Check it out early before you get on the road. Where are each of the heater controls? Adjustable mirros? Light switches? Windshield wipers and washers? Hang on to you seat belt but in Ireland cars have their directional signals to the right of the steering wheel and windshield wipers to the left. Try explaning to someone why you always put the wipers on when you want to make a turn? On two of my days in Ireland, the morning road fog was so thick, you could barely see a couple hundred feet in front of you. And of course, the commuter traffic is on your tail wondering why you're not doing 120 as the signs say. Highway signs are in kilometers, not miles. And signs with words on them have the Gallic spelling first and English last. I found highway signs out on the open road better than the same route's signs inside a given city. There are many times you have to drive instinctively, going straight when it seems the logical thing to do or making a turn because many other drivers are doing that. I think I'll close for a while and come back later to do a spell check and simply review my text for readability. This article makes it sound pretty grim but overall it's not. Overseas travel can be lots of fun, lots to see and do, and lots to learn. Don't wait for tomorrow to travel - do it now!