I feel like I just blogged! Oh, wait, I did. I switched with Kim as I was up to my eyeballs last Monday and she was traveling on Friday. I spent the weekend in the Outer Banks, taking care of a few things and missing the huge snow storm that hit Philadelphia and areas slightly south, including my route home through the Delmarva Peninsula.

I waited an extra day, returning on Sunday morning in the hopes that the snow would be cleared from Route 13, which runs through Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. Even waiting 18-20 hours after the storm, there was significant coverage on at least one of the two lanes as I approached within 30 miles of Dover, Delaware.

Traffic was slow and stop-and-go, so I decided to take the less-traveled route and use the totally snow-packed lane. Like the other lane, it had been plowed, but human nature kept drivers in one lane more than the other, so the traveled lane was clear and dry — but choked with trucks, cars and SUVs.

The right lane was packed with one-inch thick snow, but I had a weapon, an Audi A8. All you have to do is Google “Audi in the snow” and there are several YouTube videos showing the Quattro (all-wheel drive) in action.

Well, traveling 40-45 m.p.h. in the snow and passing others in the clear lane saved my travel time and led the way for others to do the same. Delaware, how about a more serious investment in plowing equipment? I know that there was 25 inches and near-blizzard conditions, but when I hit the area, the snow had stopped for at least 24 hours.

On the other hand, it was fun to test out the winter skills of the Audi and, hey — it was born in a cold snow, so it makes sense . . . .

– Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO

It seems to be something one can count on at this time of year: a news story of individuals getting lost and/or stuck in a remote area after relying on their GPS system to navigate their way in unfamiliar territory. I’m guessing part of that may be due to a whole bunch of folks getting a Christmas gift of one of those nifty gadgets, and before they fully understand its shortcomings as well as its benefits, they head out to visit the relatives and then go astray.

Within just a few days of each other around December 25, two local incidents became national news stories, and both centered around GPS navigation systems. In the first, a couple traveling from Portland to Reno became stuck in snow on a remote Forest Service road in the mountains here in Southern Oregon. Their system had directed them onto the unmaintained road from a state highway, and by the time they got stuck, weather had closed in and made calling for help impossible. They were stuck for at least two days before the weather lifted and the same instrument that led them astray was able to send a weak signal containing its coordinates to 911. Luckily, the pair had proper clothing and extra food and water with them and were no worse for the experience.

The second story involved a young couple who had, indeed, just received a GPS system for Christmas. They left the Willamette Valley and headed over the Cascade Range on Christmas Eve to visit family in Eastern Oregon. Jeramie Griffin decided to follow the “shortest route” option the device offered him, which would supposedly cut 40 miles off the route he usually took. After spending a cold and frightening night stuck on a remote, snow-covered road with his girlfriend and their baby daughter, running low on formula and with no survival gear, they filmed a farewell video, thinking they would die before they were found. Luckily, a family member used a similar GPS device that duplicated the route Jeramie used, which led rescuers right to the stranded family less than a day after they were stuck.

Reading of such incidents, one has to wonder: What happened to common sense? Sheriff Tim Evinger, involved in the search for the first couple, said it quite plainly: “If there’s any lesson, it’s to understand what the GPS is telling you and not to follow it blindly.” It reminds me of an episode of The Office, where Michael returns to the office soaking wet after unquestioningly obeying the directions of his GPS system and driving right into a lake. Why take an unknown route in the dead of winter in the mountains, especially when it appears to be unmaintained or off the beaten track?

Law enforcement and travel experts offer sound and logical advice: use a paper map in addition to GPS, keep your gas tank full, check the weather forecast and your cell phone charge, keep a survival kit in the car in winter, configure your system for “highways only” or a similar setting. I note on my good old (free) AAA maps that they include notations for roads that are closed in winter, and one can readily see the entire area and detect which routes are “scenic” (meaning narrow and winding) and which are more heavily traveled. Unfortunately, GPS technology doesn’t contain information about seasonal roads or weather conditions. 

Happily, the two stories I mentioned here ended on a positive note, and the technology that got those folks lost also helped them be found. It doesn’t change the fact that a little common sense (and, maybe, a plain old paper map) would likely have kept both parties and their loved ones from enduring a very scary, uncomfortable experience.

– Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader

Have you ever met anyone who enjoys driving on the New Jersey Turnpike? If you have, I fear that person and myself might not agree on much in life. While I will admit the NJ Turnpike serves an important function — a function I suppose it serves successfully — I quiver any time I know I need to drive on that particular highway.

Anyone reading this blog who is not familiar with the NJ Turnpike, be thankful! In my opinion, that roadway alone gives New Jersey a bad reputation, but I do hear the state is quite beautiful. However, from girlhood through adulthood, the majority of my experiences in the state have been on the turnpike. Those experiences have consisted of wrong exits, lingering stenches from the garbage dumps located between New Jersey and New York and hours of endless traffic (particularly on car trips between New York and Washington, D.C. en route to visit relatives). Needless to say, New Jersey is not my favorite state.

During my time at Global Traveler, I have tended to use NJ Transit when traveling through New Jersey, either to Newark for flights or sales calls or to Trenton, on my way to headquarters in Yardley, Penn. Yesterday, instead of taking the train, I had the use of a car and opted to use it to get from Manhattan to Newark. This is typically a 20-25 minute drive. Getting out of the city was easy enough; I went right on through the Lincoln Tunnel. Then disaster struck. I did my best to follow the signs, but the distances between the signs never allowed me enough time to make my exit. Maybe it is the (sometimes) four to six lanes of traffic you have to traverse if you are unfamiliar with the road signs. So, in the end, a 25-minute trip ended up taking an hour. The return to Manhattan was, thankfully, much smoother, but I still missed my exit to the Lincoln Tunnel. The exit appeared immediately after the sign, so I opted for the Holland Tunnel. New York City never looked so good!

Now, I understand that if I drove more, I would be more familiar with the exits and my mistakes yesterday would be eliminated, but the road could be a bit more user-friendly for newcomers. And the endless hours of traffic and garbage odors will not be going away any time soon. Let’s just say, I thank my lucky stars for accessible trains and planes when traveling up and down the East Coast.

– Alex Young, vice president and associate publisher

This weekend I went on a road trip that two friends and I had been planning since early summer. It was a long one — from Philadelphia to Northeastern University in Boston and then to SUNY New Paltz’s campus in upstate New York. Luckily, I love to drive. The trip should have taken 10 hours or so (should have being the key words here). Instead, I managed to turn it into a 14-hour marathon of illegal u-turns and hopeless confusion.

You see, I normally just plug my destination into my faithful Garmin and rely on her to not only calculate the route and tell me when to turn, but to do so again and again when I miss turn after turn. However, on this trip, I was guided by Google Maps and Mapquest. Between the two sets of directions, I thought I would be able to find my way easily (famous last words!). Alas, at numerous points, the exit numbers failed to appear, or they differed entirely from the ones provided. In a panic, I would call friends and read them the nearest cross streets and have them direct me back on course. This pattern repeated state through state until about 1:30 a.m. when they all fell asleep. Time for self reliance to kick in, right? Happily and surprisingly, it did.

Somewhere on Route 17K in the snowy Catskills of New York, I decided “to hell with technology!” Instead I did something no one my age has attempted … well, ever – I looked at a map. Yes, a real map. And, wonder of wonders, I found my way using it.

This experience led me to wonder if GPS technology and websites that map out routes have killed not only the sense of adventure that comes from road trips, but also our ability to navigate without their aid. Imagine driving to a new place without first printing out directions or without hearing the soothingly familiar “Turn left in 300 feet.” I agree, it’s scary; however, it is also fun. I felt so accomplished when I finally reached my destination because I had found my own way.

When I saw Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are later that day, I felt a bit like Max — like I had an adventure. Unfortunately, the closest thing I found to any Wild Things was some particularly grisly roadkill.

Moral of the story? Turn off your GPS every once in a while and look at a map. I promise you will feel like Magellan or Lewis and Clark – an explorer off to find new lands and new routes. And, if adventure isn’t your thing, do it for practical reasons. Namely, it makes you a more capable person. Using technology as an aid is not a bad thing, but relying on it to the point of forgetting how to do something for yourself doesn’t sound very smart to me.

– Kate Gallagher, advertising and editorial coordinator

When friends or family visit me in NYC and drive in to the city, they park their car in the garage behind my building. Some guests come frequently enough that we have gotten to know the men that work in the garage. It’s primarily a “Hi, how are you?” type of conversation, but in this case the pleasantries are actually meant.

Over the weekend, my mom visited. I went down to the garage with her to pick up the car. One of the young men that works there saw us coming and immediately took out pictures to show us. They were of his family and the brand new house he built for them in his home country of Senegal. The smile on his face showed how proud he was of his new home. My mom and I were happy that he wanted to share the nice stories with us.

I have my family close, and I often take it for granted. We have the ability to communicate and see each other often and with such ease. Seeing the pictures from Senegal also made me think how everyone we interact with in our daily routines has a story. In New York, those stories and backgrounds are usually from somewhere very far away. It’s nice to know that sometimes a simple “Hello” or “How are you?” can lead to an unexpected friendship that connects two very far away places — like Manhattan and Senegal.

-Alex Young, vice president and associate publisher