Yesterday, I took a road trip to NYC — in a U-Haul. It was the first time I’d ever really been in a car in NYC, other than small parts of cabs and a short ride in the 2600 phone van once. Traffic was intense, and constant, and yet once we got into Manhattan, it seemed to follow nicely. Getting from the outskirts of NYC to Manhattan took about 2 hours more than it should have, and in the end, I had only a few minutes to spare in NYC before taking the Acela back to Boston.

A few things I noted:

• The NYC subway is way more complex than the Boston subway, yet if you have a general idea of where you’re going, you’re fine.
• Getting out of the subway and trying to identify a) where I was and 2) where I was heading was something that threw me for a moment, I had to use one of those “You are here” signs
• Amtrak Quik-Ticket machines don’t scan barcodes from smartphones, or at least not my smartphone.
• Acela is awesome — even the food was good, the service was excellent and free booze on a train when you’re heading home after a crazy day is a lot of fun.

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