Having just completed the long journey from New York City to Berkeley, California, in a car, I can tell you that road trips are difficult. You see a lot, you do a lot, you are stuck in a space that is four feet by four feet for hours at a time. Some of it is mind-blowingly beautiful, some of it isn’t. Some of it is interesting and quirky, some of it isn’t. Sometimes you love the person you are with, sometimes you don’t. The truth is, road trips test the mettle of relationships. Any relationship – family, best friends, lovers, coworkers. You cannot be in a car with someone for that long and not get to know things about them that you never would have otherwise. Like the fact that refried beans give them gas. Or that they really, really like taking pictures, which requires you to pull over the car. In light of this, I’ve decided to try to compile a list of do’s and don’ts to help others who might be considering a summer road trip of their own.
1. DO decide ahead of time what the stereo rules are. For example, you might decide that the person driving is in charge of the radio selection or that you share time 50/50. Do not leave this until you are sitting in the car listening to banjo music for a six-hour stretch.
2. DO decide ahead of time how much you will drive. Are you sharing it equally? Is it a rental car, so everyone can get a go? Or is it someone’s baby, which means that you are far less likely to have a turn at the wheel? And when (and if) you do, you will be nervous the entire time that you will somehow be responsible for a scratch (or worse). I drove less on this trip, but it wasn’t my car. This made both of us happier.
3. DO negotiate pit stops. Maybe the person/s you are with do not want to see the famous Corn Palace. Do not assume that everyone else is as interested in checking out the “largest ball of yarn on earth”. However, be aware that if you make someone stop at the ‘1800s town’, you might have to go on the ‘old mine’ tour. It’s a give and take.
4. DO NOT eat five times a day at scary fast-food restaurants and highway dives. Also DO NOT eat everything that you think you want. I promise you that the rules of basic caloric intake still apply on a road trip. If you do not follow this rule, you will end up approximately 5 pounds heavier per/1000 miles.
5. DO NOT play “Do you know what is wrong with you?” in the car. Ever. I guarantee that for every bad thing you discover about your driving partner/s, he/she/they have discovered at least one about you.
6. DO NOT have outrageous expectations. Plan on being disappointed at least some of the time. The truth is, Mount Rushmore is neat, but kind of boring. The Midwest is flat and the desert is only exciting for about 20 minutes, give or take. DO leave room to get excited about the things you discover along the way that you didn’t count on. It turns out that the 1800s town was actually pretty cool.
7. DO spend more money on a good hotel room. A good, clean bed is worth the extra $20. Trust me on this one and look up bed bugs on wikipedia.
8. DO plan on spending more money than you thought. You never calculate the beef jerky you buy at the rest stop, the $25 entrance fee to Yellowstone, or the $20 mug you buy to commemorate your experience.
9. DO NOT go anywhere without having GPS, two maps and a book of Holiday Inn locations. You never know where you’ll end up.
10. DO maintain a zen approach to everything. It helps to mumble “I’m zen” to yourself as you bring your hands together in Angeli Mudra. As a suggestion, do this at least once after every comment that starts with, “Well, I’d rather . . . .”
11. DO bring sunscreen, a hat, and have a bottle of water in the car. Also, it helps to have a cup you can pee into in an emergency. When you see the sign that says, “Next rest stop 118 miles”, you can rest easy.
12. DON’T pack too much. You’ll be happier when lugging your shit into and out of the car every night. You probably don’t need those ‘dress shoes’ anyway.
13. DO try to remember you’re not perfect. Neither are any of the people in the car with you. On a long car trip, you’d probably want to shove Jesus, Ghandi and your grandmother out of the moving vehicle anyway.
These simple tips should help you to muster through any road trip. However, please note that these rules do not apply to traveling with children and/or teenagers. For that, you’re on your own and I wish you Godspeed.
Hong Kong is rainy this time of year. . . .
17 06 2008Well, I’m back from Hong Kong. After living there for nearly 3 years, you would think that I would be able to remember what the weather is like in summer. Luckily, I packed an umbrella, because we definitely needed it. It rained everyday. Actually, rained is a pleasant way of putting it for some of the days. At one point, we encountered a “black rain” day. Basically, this means run inside and stay there, and don’t come out until we tell you to. The rain was so bad that it made news headlines for days afterward, with dramatic pictures and roads completely washed away. It turns out that the Midwest is not the only place being drenched. (Though Hong Kong is mostly prepared for this in a way that the poor farmers simply cannot be.)
In the next few days, I’ll be retelling and reliving my trip in snippets on this site, with accompanying pictures.
In a stroke of luck, I managed to be in Hong Kong when an outbreak of bird flu was occurring. Thus, I got a firsthand experience and access to things that I wouldn’t have dreamed of back in Berkeley. This will help my dissertation project as well as my thinking through the issue of public health, prevention, and the cultural significance of disease surveillance. What fascinated me the most was that no one local seemed all that worried. People still purchased fresh chickens, people still went to the markets, and life went on as normal. Only with a lot of dead chickens in one market in Sham Shui Po.
Stay tuned for more. . . .
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