Choose Your Own Adventure: Public Transportation

Any photographer I worked with at KFVS would probably say I am bad at directions. To that, I say they never had to take down many instructions from the lovely people of the Heartland when directing us to their location. Usually they went something like this:

 "Okay, do you know where Main Street is in East Twiddle Doo? Okay, well there won't be a sign anyway. So, just head on down the interstate and get off at the first exit there -- you coming down 60? 55? County Road 418? Well, it doesn't matter. Just take the main drag there and you'll come to a drug store on the corner. Not the one with the red sign, the one with the yellow one. Right, next to the unmarked post office, and the police station that still has the fire station sign hanging on it. Right. Make a left there and take that road until it feels like you're making a right. Good. Right. Correct. Right. Okay. Now, you're going to see a barn on the left side of the road, opposite a big orange shed that sorta looks red. Take a right there at at the third cow pasture...the one with the milk cows....right, correct ... oh wait, I've lost the connection....." 

You get the idea. Well -- I may not be good with directions but I sure know how to follow the Underground Map. I've always had this thing for number, color, and word association. Little did I know that would come in very handy during my adventures in London. 

Last week, I figured the only way I was going to get this down was to just get out there and do it. For the purposes of this exploration my game: Choose your Own Adventure: Public Transportation London was put into motion. 

So, armed with my Oyster Card for easy access - I just sat out picking places I wanted to go to and figuring out how to get there....Hyde Park, Notting Hill, Tower Bridge, HMS Belfast, The Imperial War Museum, Tate Modern....and more. 

If I got on the wrong train, I hopped off and turned around until I had it down. (All the while carrying my little book with the map in it -- carefully concealing it as to not be waving a red flag that I had no real idea what I was doing -- I highly recommend this strategy.)  I am now proud to say I almost have the map pretty well memorized. I can trouble shoot with the best of them. 

I even gave up my seat to a fellow American last week who were just delighted to be here visiting Europe for their anniversary. One note, I love to watch tourists on the tube. Many of them remind me of my parents -- carefully studying the map, appearing terrified, and looking to their husbands for help. In some cases, I could tell their husbands didn't have a clue where the train was going -- however, they did not dare as for help, as no self-respecting American man (or any photographer I've ever worked with as a reporters) would. 

And, to my credit -- I can even stand up when the train takes off without falling over. My wonderful photographer Rochelle would remember a few incidents when I feel out of the live truck or off a make-shift levee and thus, would find this hard to believe. (This could be possibly due to the fact I've been wearing my flat boots here, as opposed to my four inch heels.) 

Now, that brings me to the double-decker buses, where yesterday, I almost fell down the stairs as we came to a stop. No matter, I was able to save myself before plunging into a young child, and an elderly woman carrying shopping bags in front of me.

Buses, are a little more confusing because you have to pin down the number to the location they are going and there usually is no handy dandy map involved. That whole opposite side of the street to drive on gets me sometimes too. 

Cabs -- are the best yet -- I like to flag them down with my hot pink passport cover --- they are most helpful, however much more expensive.

Thus, if you ever find yourself in a large city with no clue how to get around - I highly recommend one of my favorite games: Choose Your Own Adventure - Public Transportation. 

Unlike navigating the Heartland -- if you get lost you truly have no one to blame but yourself. 

(** Note: My thanks to the wonderful local people of Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois, and Western Kentucky who tried for years to direct me to their neck of the woods. I can neither confirm nor deny whether we were late or lost solely due to my sense of direction -- or so it would seem, lack there of. :-) )