Vacation Travel

You might have noticed the blog was a big empty this past week.  I had a lovely and much needed vacation up to Boston.  I did make some notes, however, on some craziness I saw while traveling to and fro.  

First of all was the drive up through NC to the airport in Raleigh.  Headed up I-95, which I do quite frequently, I was inundated with my least favorite driving foible - those asshats that ride your ass in the left hand lane, only to zip around you and then nail their breaks because there is no where to go.  See that car in front of me?  That's why I wasn't going faster moron.  It's called a "following distance."  Sadly, I think this is only rarely taught anymore.  People seem to think that if there is any space between you and the car in front of you, then you are not going fast enough.  No, I'm speeding.  I just want to have room in case I need to stop suddenly, so that I don't total my car.  You might want to review that lesson. 

Secondly, I abhor flying.  I absolutely am frightened by it.  I don't like taking off, being up in the air, and landing is hell.  The worst landing I've ever had was at Boston's Logan airport. Nothing against Boston, and we didn't all die in a burning, floating mess, but the landing strip is short and surrounded by water.  We had to break so hard.  I was sure we were going to land in the water and then that we were going to die in a fiery ball at the end of the runway.  However, we made it.  Yay!  I'm still alive.  Otherwise the flights were uneventful, though full of stress for me.  I couldn't sleep before either flight, so of course felt horrible on both. Was glad to be back on the ground.

Though ground travel is not always the best either.  The third point of note I made while traveling was the insanity of traveling around Boston by cab.  Boston is not the easiest city to navigate, but damn the cabbies don't help much.  I give them much props for driving through that craziness, but can they do it without attempting to kill me and others on the way?  And what is with the use of the horn in Boston?  I swear people drive with one hand on the horn there, and boy do they lay on it.  And often for no good reason.  Example - standing outside of Cheers I see a lady go by on a bicycle.  She had lights and was biking according to the rules and all, but this asshat in an SUV pulls up behind her and lays into the horn.  I echo the lady on the bike.  "Seriously?"  What was the point in that, when he could have just pulled around?

Now I am back home, back to the local asshat drivers. 

Like the lady that almost ran me over in the crosswalk on the way to McDonald's today.  I pressed the cross button and patiently waited to cross.  I never jaywalk there, as cars have a tendency to just breeze right through that intersection.  Once the light said it was ok to cross, I began to cross noting that the traffic light was red.  That didn't matter to the lady in the van though that just breezed right through that red light.  I swear it must be the light that is ignored the most in our county.  That crossing remains dangerous as long as people think that the light is a suggestion only.  

What a welcome home.