Travelling in the United States never ceases to amaze me. Driving distances, how we get there and what is considered normal.
We didn’t have a lot of time to plan or pack a recent trip to the States. We ended up throwing things into the suitcases we thought we might need. One of the last things we packed was our portable GPS. Maps are good, but GPS is cooler. Our GPS only had a map of Europe so we bought one of the States online. Then, when we tried to program it into our device it balked. We ended up buying a new GPS to fit the download but that’s the way things always seem to happen. A map would have been cheaper.
Now we had a new GPS and had to learn how it worked. Certainly it couldn’t be that different or more difficult than the one we had. We found out somewhat later that Google also has a GPS so all you really need is a smart phone and the right connection. But we had our new GPS, so that was what we used.
Getting to my Sister’s
After we landed I had a little bit of time on my hands so I took out our new gadget and programmed my sister’s address. Then we were off before I could test or play with it much more. It was dark by the time we started driving to our destination and I was tired. Somehow new gadgets, nights and sleep deprivation don’t go well together. Not really the best conditions but you go with what you have, at least it wasn’t raining, not much anyway.
The first thing we realized was the GPS voice was still talking to us in German. No real problem there, we understood her. The next discrepancy was the distance setting was in kilometers and not miles. Annoying, but nothing like a little math to keep you awake. 1.6 Kilometers equals a mile. Okay, how many miles is 3 km?
Another problem was that we were dealing with a new device and when it said take the next exit exactly how far away was it? In the car our conversation went something like this: “You have to turn right.” “Here or the exit a half a mile away? HERE??” “I’m not sure, wait (not something you should say while driving on a highway)”. Just as we pass the exit I see it is the one we should have taken. Too late. We ended up taking the toll road and going the long way to my sister’s. We got there, which is what mattered.
Getting to my Aunt’s
The next time we used our new gadget the stars were aligned correctly, or so we thought. The destination was my aunts’ in Georgia about 9 hours away. My sister was coming with us, so I changed the language to English and made other changes, like the miles. It’s amazing what I am capable of when I’m not tired. I set the GPS to my aunts’ address and we were off.
Everything went without a hitch and we arrived at the street but couldn’t find the house number. We called my aunts and find out there is a huge difference between “drive” and “street”. They didn’t live on Peach Drive but Peach Street. Our GPS had taken us to the address I had chosen: Peach Drive. When you start to type in the device the address’ show up alphabetically. I had typed in Peach and Peach Drive popped up, which I chose. I had (wrongly) assumed it was correct. All I had to do was scroll down a bit and I would have seen it. But I didn’t. We got to my aunts’ 20 minutes later than planned.
I’ve talked about this before and smiled when some friends drove to the wrong town in Italy. Well, well. It can happen to anyone! At least we were in the right State and town, it could have been lots worse. GPS just adds spice to your life.
Distances
Everyone knows that America is big and so there is a different feeling for distances and normalcy. My brother-in-law drives 1 ½ hours to work (one way) every day. If the traffic is heavy it can easily be 2 hours. I guess when everyone does it, it doesn’t seem so strange. To travel that long in Switzerland you would have to live in Berne and work in Zurich. It can happen but then I think most people would take the train. At least that way they could read a newspaper, look at their i-phone or sleep during the journey and not fight traffic. Or, they might move to the area. Quite honestly, I know of very few Swiss who travel that kind of distance to go to work. It happens, but not as often as in the States. It’s the exception, not the rule.
Of course when your travelling distance is so long your whole concept of time and distance changes. It doesn’t matter if you go grocery shopping 1 to 1 ½ hours away. My sister and her family do, that’s normal. We went grocery shopping like that several times while we were there.
I must be getting really lazy. My concept of close has changed. A smaller grocery store we frequent in Switzerland is less than one kilometer away. A larger grocery store is almost 2 kilometers away. I wouldn’t even come close to the same travelling time if I would walk (which I don’t). Okay, okay, I’m lazy!
I guess you can get so used to some things that you have trouble readjusting back to normal. Then again, what is normal?
-
-