h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

America is BIG. REALLY BIG. In fact it's so mind-bogglingly BIG that..... I remember hiring a car when I was staying with friends in LA several years ago. I bought myself a Mand Mcnally road atlas and decided that on the first day's drive I wanted to go from here to here. So, about 6 hours and 400 miles into the trip I found that I was only slightly more than halfway there! I actually ended up doing practically the whole damn trip anyway because I couldn't find a motel room in the town I decided to aim for (Williams) , and had to go on to another (Flagstaff), with a 100 mile detour because there was another town (Grand Canyon Village) I wanted to stay at which also turned up 'No Vacancy' signs everywhere . LA to Flagstaff in a day. Not a bad little 600 mile jaunt really When I got there (11pm, having set off at 11am.... , I stopped at the first motel I found (a national chain) and took the only room they had left, which was a double and which cost me about twice what I'd paid for rooms when I drove around California the previous week, and also about twice what I paid at other little motels on the rest of that trip (including the Tombstone Motel ). When I picked up the car from the rental office there was 2,000 miles on the clock. It read almost 6,000 when I took it back a week later . America is BIG.

It's that all right! That's why I find it funny to read the researchers complaining about coming "all the way" to London for a meet-up!

Well y'know Shea, Britain might be smaller than the US, but it's a hell of a lot more difficult to get around, what with the screwed up railway system (a pox on you Thatcher and your bloody privatisation. These views are those of the researcher and do not neccessarily reflect those of the BBC), and the bloody traffic jams everywhere . F'rinstance. I used to make a journey from north and east London to Heathrow (about 30 miles) several times a week for a shipping agent - if I made the journey at 7am on a Saturday it would take me around 40 minutes. During the middle of the day, about an hour or so. But during the rush hour.... we're talking up to two hours. If ever I had to do a job out of London (I had my own little delivery business btw), it would usually take me at least as long to get through London as it would to travel about 100 miles on the open road. Sheesh. And there are people in Austin who complain about the traffic! I heard someone moan a few weeks ago that Friday afternoon traffic is so bad now, it lasts from 4pm until 7pm. Awwww, there there. The Friday evening rush hour began in London at about 2pm.... 10 years ago, and it hasn't ended yet!

I've stopped even taking the bridges to go upstate because it takes so long to maneuver, and that isn't even *in* the City! There's a ferry that takes about as long as driving, but it's so much more relaxed, and you get around all the "City traffic". I try not to drive in the City. My sister calls me the Queen of Public Transportation!

Hey Gosho, I stayed in Williams, Arizona one time while visiting the Grand Canyon. I was lucky, I got the last room in the city, so I know what you mean about having trouble finding rooms.

And if you don't like traffic stay away from Houston. Not too many places in the U. S. with worse traffic except for Noo Yawk and L.A.

What time of the year was that TJ? I was there in mid-late March, so I really didn't think that it would have been so busy. So I can say that I've been to The Grand Canyon, but never seen it Same thing with Niagara Falls - it was midnight when we drove through Niagara on the way to Detroit, but I'm sure I heard the roar of the Falls in the distance And I know what you mean about Houston - I had to drive there to pick up all the stuff I shipped over from Britain. The traffic is worse for sure, but I don't think that the Houston drivers are any worse than those in Austin - it's a bloody zoo out there on the streets of the capital of Texas.... and everyone says how different it was 10 years ago, before people like Dell and Compaq attracted all the yuppies and their SUV's. I'm told that people used to drive in a much more civilised way, nobody used to cut people up, drive fast, run red lights, and it only took 15 minutes to get from 45th St to Oltorf. I've never driven in New York, but I have in LA, and I find the drivers here much more crazy. I've yet to drive in Paris or Rome though

I visited England/Scotland 16 years ago. We got a great package deal - airfare, a voucher book good for 400 hotels, motels and inns in England, Scotland and Wales, and a rental car. I remember the woman telling us that it was difficult to drive in London, and maybe we wanted to wait to pick up the car until we knew we weren't going to be in London any more. I asked if it was worse than driving in New York. She just looked at me, smiled sheepishly, and said "Never mind".

I have to admit though, since moving further out on the Island, into Suffolk, there's a lot less traffic, and it's mostly highway driving. Now when I have to drive into Nassau, I can't stand it! Too many cars! I'm turning into an ole' country girl ...

I have to figure that once you get to know the roads a bit, driving in New York has to be easier than driving in London. For one thing, you don't have the grid system in London - all of London is like NYC below Greenwich Avenue. For another, the roads are nowhere near as wide as even the cross streets, and they can go from three lanes to one without so much as an excuse me. Very few streets in London are one way, even though most of them would benefit enormously from it because there just isn't enough room for two cars to pass each other in opposite directions because the entire road is only 3 1/2 cars wide, and there are parked cars lining both sides of the street from one end to the other. That's precisely the reason why I wouldn't move anyone to or from Belsize Park, West Hampstead, large parts of Crouch End, Kilburn.... you get the picture. During the last 10 years or so, local highways authorities have taken to either putting in width restrictions across many streets - usually 7'0", but sometimes 6'6" - or blocking them off altogether at one end, which is a real pain cos most of the closures aren't marked on the A-Z, and it's a real pain to try and reverse a 3 1/2 ton van out of a tiny little side street (it's a lot of fun though, hurtling toward a 7'0" width restriction in a 6'10" wide van, with a passenger who is convinced that we're not going to make it, and whizzing through at 35mph with one hand on the wheel and looking out the window ). And then there's the M25. Depending on how you look at it, it's either the world's longest, or the world's fastest car park.

You wanna help me move, Gosho?

Gosho, I was at the Grand Canyon in August, '99. Beautiful place, have to go back sometime. And if you've only driven past Niagara Falls without stopping then you need to go back. It is quite an impressive place.

Shea - Where are you moving to?

One day I *will* visit those two places in the daylight . You're moving house Shea? Sure thing, I'll help. Let me just get on to Uhaul and hire a truck.... how many flights of stairs up did you say you are?

I was only kidding ... in my opinion "move" is a four-letter word, and I do it as little as possible! And after the last move, I'm not sure if my brothers/in law are still speaking to me, so I'm hiring professionals! I know it costs more, but your family will still talk to you afterwards ...

With any luck my next move will be to a "permanent" resisdence, either my very own place, or the nursing home ... whichever comes first!

I've done sooooooooooo many removals for people who tried to "do it themselves" last time, and told me all sorts of horror stories about stuff getting broken, still moving at midnight having started the job 14 hours earlier, and yeah, falling out with friends or family members who helped. Unless you can get all your belongings into two suitcases and three boxes, or you move every 6 months and have it down pat, always get a pro to help out

Last time it was 3 vans ... 3 cars ... and I still wasn't done ... I think I have too many books ...

*Everyone* has too many books Shea, trust me on that one . Not many people have too many LP's any more though, and my back says thank the lord for the compact disc

I still have 3 boxes of LPs ... I haven't touched them since I moved here almost 4 years ago ... my record player is broken ... but I can't part with them ... I think my problem is that I can't part with anything!

I think there really is something about vinyl... if you're over a certain age anyway. I have a couple of boxes of LP's... prolly about 100 in all, but I couldn't part with them either, and especially I couldn't part with my singles. Even though I've played most of them to death, they might actually be worth some decent monetary value, although the sentimental value to me is much more. I have, for instance, the first singles by The Cure, OMD, UB40, and a few others, but I could never part with them. The first LP I ever bought was Deep Purple in Rock, and I don't have it any more . I don't have the first single I ever bought either, but I still have the second, even though me and my sister totally buggered it up

i still have lp's, and i haven't had a turntable in about ten years. and i don't know about driving in l.a., but the last time i drove in texas wasn't too bad. not as bad as chicago! if i ever make it to new york i'll probably become a firm believer in public transport also. unfortunately st. louis' public transport system leaves much to be desired.
as for driving in st. louis (even tho none of you asked ) i've been told there are four seasons in st. louis (and it's true):

almost summer
summer
still summer
*construction*

'nuff said

Don't get me started on construction!

I didn't even think of my 45s ... I used to buy a few a week in order to make tapes with my favorite songs on them ... Gosho, you're the expert ... am I a closet millionaire or what? How about all those original Beatles LPs?

You have original Beatles LP's? Well, if that's the case, it depends obviously on their condition. Don't forget, those things were made in the multi-millions, and unless there's anything special about them, like being a limited issue with some kind of different artwork or extra tracks or an insert, they're prolly not worth as much as you might hope, even if they're *really* original, like from when they were first released But what do I know