Travel Haiku

From The Desk of John Fitzgerald:

I-95: Haiku D'ya Get Outta the Passing Lane?

Big rig phobic crawls
Anencephalic serpent
Left lane nemesis

The next bus is...whenever

I've been commuting in one way or another for around 22 years. You'd think it would get boring but you learn something new all the time.

Don't bother. NJ Transit doesn't.

Like tonight, for instance. I was #2 in line for the 8:20 bus. I knew there was an 8:20 bus because of this thing called a f*cking timetable (or just "timetable"). So what I learned tonight is that the NJ Transit timetable is just a list of suggested times. There may be a bus. There may not. The 8:20 never showed up. I went from the front of the 8:20 line to the back of the 8:30 line.

And yet I continue to do this every day.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Weehawken,United States

Getting It From Both Ends

Many of you have seen the series of pictures I've posted from Port Authority lately.  It seems like there's a new excuse for delays every evening.  And when they run out of legitimate excuses, you hear the message that I heard this morning after I arrived:

"Your attention please, your attention please. Please be advised that the Port Authority Bus Terminal is experiencing delays both inbound and outbound due to heavy volume. Thank you for your patience."

This is repeated in Spanish for those so inclined.

Don't think I stood there and transcribed the message as it was announced.  No, this is a prerecorded announcement —one I've heard many times over the past 15 years of commuting from New Jersey. "Due to heavy volume."  So...there are delays because of traffic.  During what rush hour are there no heavy delays?  A lame and unsatisfying excuse.  When you're stuck in traffic, you want to know why.

I took this photo this morning while pressed up against the window of my bus.  These 2 busses are not moving, and not just because this is a still picture.  Imagine hundreds more busses just like these 2.  Not moving.  And coming from 3 different directions, requiring a fairly complicated merge.  It was one thing to be sitting there, but I knew it was bad because the driver put the bus into park.

Penn Station am rush: 7/28/11

I guess I shouldn't complain (even though I will). Crazy storms last night shut down huge chunks of the Long Island Rail Road, so my westbound commuting brethren had their own problems to deal with--like going to Penn Station.  That place is a zoo on good days.

Just another sunny day of commuting in the NY Metro area.

Welcome to "Have A Nice Trip!"

"Have A Nice Trip" is a blog for the crazy, amusing, and sometimes infuriating, things we see around us.  It could be a photo of something you saw.  It could be a poem about the flight attendant.  Or you could vent about the constant traffic in which you always seem to get caught.  Whatever it is, I want this to be a blog filled with stuff from all of you—my usually-amusing friends who make me laugh on a regular basis.  And anyone else with something to add.

If you have anything you want posted on this blog, e-mail it to me at nicetripblog@gmail.com.  Thanks in advance for your stuff and for helping me get this thing started.  I'm looking forward to reading everything.

Michael