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It all happened with a friend relocating to LA. Her car needed to be shipped and her husband, a friend and I decided to make a road trip out of it.

2400 Miles, 35 odd hours, 2 nights, 1 speeding ticket a semi-deportation threat later, we arrived.

There are a few things about such a long road trip that we figured.

1) Never have more than 3 people in the car. The reason I say that is you always need a driver and a navigator and some place to relax. More than 3 people would mean that the backseat has to be shared and when a driver gets tired, well you are out of luck.

2) Take your statellite radio with you. OMFG, if not for XM, we would have died. We could have listened to CD’s but there some randomness that we liked and it would have been impossible to get that with a CD, specially when all three of us had different tastes in music.

3) Take lots of water. It is important to not make too many pit stops in a long journey like this one. Take lots of water with you to keep you hydrated and to avoid unnecessary pit stops. There is a side effect to drinking too much water, will updated you on that later.

4) Take a camera (preferably a digital camera). It is cheap, fast and no mess. If the pictures do not turn out good, you can always delete them, but the good pictures will last you a lifetime. We took a picture with the cop when my friend got the ticket, can you beat that ? It captured the mood, the fun and the spirit of our trip.

Ooh BTW I hate, I HATE the Houston Airport. They DO NOT have a Chinese resturant in one of the terminals. How can you not have a Chinese resturant ? How ? And their inter-terminal transportation system was bad. The train stopped at one station and would not move until someone came running from another station and reset the system.

I also know another thing. I am NOT settling down in New Mexico, Arizona or Texas. All three states were pretty and all, but the was no civilization, there was no city, there was nothing after we crossed San Antonio until we got the El Paso.

BTW, always have a printed map handy. I had a GPS system and the freaggin thing did not have El Paso. The city was missing from the GPS system.

More rantings later.

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Doing the following will guarantee that you miss your connecting flight and force you to find alternative means of transportation.

1) Go to the next terminal for a smoke break, even if this means taking two sets of escalators and the train.

2) Assume that your flight is an hour later than it actually is.

3) Find a comfy spot to recharge your laptop, phone and PDA. It is preferred that the spot faces the opposite direction from the gate your flight leaves.

4) Sit in the comfy spot, put on your head phones, listen to some Pink Floyd.

5) Upload pics, add comments to the pics that were taken a day ago.

6) Send an e-mail to all your friends telling them that the pics are up.

7) Reply to their email the minute you get it.

Finally 5 minutes before the flight is supposed to take off, walk to the counter and watch the guy from the airline, look at you as if you were crazy.

Before you do all this, make sure that you have your GPS system with you and the phone numbers of a couple of friends who will help you find other means of transportation.

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A recent post by Konrad West reminded me of a similar experience.

Summer 2004, I was stuck in the city of lights. My connecting flight had left even before we landed and there was nothing we could do, except to go to the hotel and come back the next morning.

There were about 10 of us who were stranded and we were all staying in the same hotel. In a few minutes we hatched a scheme to go out into the town and take a tour. There was one small problem, it was already 6 in the evening and not until later would we find out that the trains in Paris stop running after midnight.

Awesome sights, confusing roads and the company of a couple of old people kept us at a snails pace. By the time we got kicked out of the Eiffel tower and took a train it was already 11:45. With about an hours journey left to get to the hotel, a couple of locals told us that the train would take a different route and that we would be better off taking a cab.

We got off at the station and walked out. There were 3 cabs and there were about 5 people in line. I walked over to one of the cabbies and told him that we might need 2-3 cabs. His English was so much better than my French, if that makes sense. He nodded, exchanged a few hurried words in French to the other cabbies and we were all set to go. Given that I was one of the unofficial leaders of the expedition, I made sure that everyone got in and finally it was my turn. I do not remember names, but there was this guy who spoke Marathi, worked for a software company in India, this girl who had just gotten married and also spoke Marathi and me.

We were lucky, or so I thought, we were in a brand new Mercedes. Honestly, I have been in Chryslers before, but not in a Benz that was a cab. It was exciting, it was weird, and a minute later, things got weirder. The other two cabs had taken off, so our driver floored it.

The next 10 minutes went by like a chase sequence in a movie. Lights whizzed past up, others cars seemed to be standing, tires screeched, words were exchanged in Marathi (and I do not know Marathi) and the tunnels kept coming.

In a Mercedes, doing about 250 Kilometers, in Paris and driving through tunnels. All I could think of was princess Diana. The funny part was that we had no clue if we were being kidnapped or we were actually being driven to our destination.

As fear started setting in, the cab seemed to go faster and faster. And then it happened. There was this huge sign that said Charles De Gaulle; there was a united sigh of relief. We knew we were there and in the next couple of minutes the Merc screeched to a halt in front of our hotel. We were the first to arrive. The other cabs got there in the next couple of minutes.

The one thing I will never forget is the look on everyone’s face. It was pale white, drained out of any blood that they might have had. I instantly knew that I was not alone.

So the next time you take a cab in Paris, hang on for dear life, its seems like its a routine out there.

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KA the Cirque Du Soleil show – AWESOME

TAO Asian Bistro The second most Amazing food I have ever tasted. My mom will forever stand first.

Book a hotel that is not too expensive, trust me you are going to be doing so much more outside your room.

Don’t miss a chance to visit any of the huge casinos. The Venetian is one of them.

Song, Delta’s low cost airline is way better than delta.

Detailed reviews will follow.

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