Category: Travel

Departing under the best conditions

September 28, 2010 / / 0 Comments

I was reading a brochure and timetable (yes, we still call them that) about the TGV Lyria high-speed train service from Paris to cities in Switzerland. Someone left it on a counter at work. It’s in French, and I can read about half of it.

The timetable asked that travelers board the train at least two minutes before the departure, “pour assurer les départs TGV Lyria dans les meilleures conditions” (to ensure the train departs in the best conditions).

Two minutes? You only have to find your train 2 minutes before departure time?

Short story: Back in 1998 (I was 14), my mom and I were traveling from Paris to London on the Eurostar (travels under the English Channel). We’re walking down the ramp to the platform and one of the conductors sees us coming. He yells or motions for us to hurry up. We start jogging down the ramp and jump into the nearest car door.

About 45 seconds later, the train leaves.

A Eurostar train at Gard du Nord. Photo by Marcel Marchon.

More about being on-time:

  • 87.8% of TGV Lyria trains were arrived on time in June 2010.
  • 76.% of flights from 24 reporting airlines arrived on time in the same month. (U.S. DOT)

New York City, a dreamland

September 20, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Rather than write a lengthy post here describing my recent trip to New York City (I went in the last weekend of August), I will invite you to peruse my 50 photo gallery. They are in order by date and time taken and fully mapped and described.

I was last in New York City in August 2001, for the MacWorld Conference where I saw Steve Jobs announce the iPod – I got that iPod for Christmas that year. I stayed in Connecticut. The first day, my dad and I drove into the city. The next day we took Metro North from Bridgeport. The only thing I remember doing on that trip is taking the subway from the Javits Center to the Hard Rock Cafe and over to Grand Central Station.

I’ll describe my 2010 trip as a “whirlwind tour.” In three days I rode over 100 miles on a too-small borrowed bike. I met fourteen people. I went up and down the island four times. I wouldn’t shut up at work about it for a week.

The first photo in the set, about the typography of the New York City yellow cab system.

The last photo in the set, about pedestrian craziness in the segregated bike lanes.

Full photo set. The set is sure to grow, so stay tuned to my Flickr photostream or Twitter feed for updates.

Closed for a good cause

September 16, 2010 / / 0 Comments

At least two times per year, parts of Lake Shore Drive, an ugly but seemingly necessary highway on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, close down to auto traffic for athletic and recreational events.

Last Sunday, 20,000 people pounded their feet on the south part of LSD in the Chicago Half Marathon.

Any event where you can see the greatest skyline in the world is bound to be a good one 😉

The last time I know the Drive was closed this year (and since 2002) for Bike The Drive. The whole road is closed for the fundraising event that benefits the Active Transportation Alliance (formerly Chicagoland Bicycle Federation).

Screenshot from a video I took from my bike’s handlebars when I entered the ride from 31st Street and rode to Grant Park for my volunteer shift at the Active Transportation Alliance booth.

It helps to be loud

September 4, 2010 / / 0 Comments

When in New York City, be as loud as possible. You’re going to have to get someone’s attention.

My reflection in the shiny bell while riding through Central Park (on a roadway closed to cars – imagine that!).

The bike I borrowed and rode over 100 miles on in three days during my four day trip to New York City this past weekend came without a bell (it’s required by law). I headed over to a store that sells Dutch bikes (where else?) to buy a pretty and loud bell.

After I installed this $8 beauty on my Trek Something Undersized, I couldn’t stop ringing it. For fun and for warning others.

People getting around this city are insane. I think that’s because there’re so many people going every which way, insanity is the only way to cope.

Looking through photos of other huge (by population) cities around the globe, it seems a similar transportational insanity exists. Think of the thousands of motorcycles and jitneys in Delhi, India, or the 1,000 people who cross this intersection in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan.

Delhi, India, traffic by Chris Brunn.

Pedestrian crossing in Shibuya district of Toky, Japan, by Pasutadoll Pseangsong.