Did I Mention I Hate Cars?

[melannen]

I left school today at about 3:00 after spending a few hours in the library.

I got back to the apartment at *7:00*.

I am never, ever, ever, ever commuting in Northern Virginia again. Ever. Especially not in a stickshift. If I end up here again I'm figuring out some way to take the bus. Or hitchhiking. Or flying. Or *walking* - it'd almost have been as fast to take the W&Od trail again. Honestly.

(It's interesting how you say those three words - "commuting" and "Northern Virginia" - to anyone inside the Beltway, and they get this really distinctive expression on their face, part pity and part fear.)

Comments

[moodywho.livejournal.com]

Argh! As a fellow stick-shift commuter in the Baltimore-Washington area, I feel your pain. I have a sympathetic car-headache now.

[melannen.livejournal.com]

There is nothing worse than stop-and-go traffic in a stickshift. We *hates* it, precious, yes we does. (I got in the automatic this morning and practically panicked when I couldn't find the clutch, though.)

[zodiaccat.livejournal.com]

So flying came to mind before walking, did it? You're not some superhero's secret identity, are you?

[melannen.livejournal.com]

:p I was mostly thinking of the fact that both the starting and ending cities actually have their own dinky airports within a mile of my destinations.

[zodiaccat.livejournal.com]

Wait... you hate horrible traffic, but you'd brave airport parking? o.O?

[melannen.livejournal.com]

Itsy-bitsy dinky airports that can't fit anything bigger than a Cessna don't generally have horrible parking! That I know of, anyway.

[zodiaccat.livejournal.com]

Never mind, I was thinking of a different airport. :)

[antiscian.livejournal.com]

*distinctive expression on my face, part pity and part fear*

My condolences!

[melannen.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I hope it's all over now.

[pinkpolarity.livejournal.com]

Yes, this would be why, when someone told me that one problem with Pittsburgh is "too much traffic", I laughed till I had tears running down my face. You don't know from traffic until you've tried to commute around here. (Although MD is just as bad! And at least NoVA doesn't have ten thousand traffic circles or one-way streets like DC does.)

Do I want to ask where around here you were driving?

[melannen.livejournal.com]

MD has bad places (and possibly I just know roads there better!) but as long as you know what to avoid (and there are generally alternate routes, if you're gong more than a few miles) it doesn't suck *quite* that bad.

I was doing Rt. 7 between Tyson's Corner and Leesburg. (I understand that they keep it that bad on purpose, in order to get people to take the toll road, but it's not like the toll road's exactly a walk in the park either.)