RSSAsk Daily: How Was Your Thanksgiving?
Nov 28
Travel Holiday, Thanksgiving, Turkey Comments Off
Question: How was your Thanksgiving?
Answer: This year we decided to be different and drive down to New York to have TG dinner with the family. We left at 9 a.m. and there were some slow downs along the way but we made pretty good time all things considered until we actually got to New York. On 95, we hit a rough spot, but the worst was one block away from the Holland Tunnel, trying to turn left on to Canal Street. It took us about 3 hours to get to Canal St and about three hours from that point to get to the tunnel four blocks away.
Why do I bring this up? Well that pretty much was Thanksgiving. No football, no snacks, no booze. Just sitting behind the wheel of my car, thinking about my carbon footprint and wondering if it might be faster just to swim to Jersey City. Fortunately, we had stopped in Connecticut to stretch, eat and gas up before sitting in the marathon traffic jam.
Rather than just letting the natural flow of traffic lights do their business, New York City drivers learn to jockey for pole position and assume that any space on the road is where their car fits. I’ve seen it before. A New Yorker will simply come into your lane and expect you to get out of the way (or not, that’s what insurance is for, I guess). I like my car a lot more without dents, thank you.
Driving in New York City is nothing new to me. But it never ceases to amaze me how New York drivers have developed a sense of entitlement on the road and then don’t realize that driving like that just ties things up worse for everyone. We were in the far left lane, so less affected overall by the drivers who were cutting over into the turn lane, or cutting across traffic just trying to get somewhere else. But the flip side of being in that lane was being essentially at the mercy of traffic with nowhere to go but forward at the pace set by other drivers. There was no traffic inside the tunnel, it was just the act of getting to the mouth of the tunnel that took us that long.
The evening arrived and it was a fairly traditional TG dinner for my family. Some booze, some snacks, mostly the usual turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes. Maybe next year I’ll host.
