Driving on ice and tips on how not to wreck

by Jamie Rhein on

A few nights ago, I drove one of my daughter’s friends home after a day of cookie baking and watching a movie. It had started to sleet in Columbus before we headed out. We didn’t venture far onto I-71 South when I started to think, big mistake. There were flashing lights on both I-71 and I-70 from car wrecks in each direction.

When I pulled off on our exit ramp and onto the road, there were emergency vehicles and personnel attending to another wreck on the overpass, just a few feet from where I was maneuvering our car. Down the street I could see more flashing lights. A policeman motioned for me to roll down my window. “Be careful,” he said. “Go slow. There are a lot of wrecks out here.”

His words weren’t necessary, but calming somehow. He sounded like a deeper voiced version of my mother. With my children bundled in the backseat and my daughter’s friend in the passenger seat, I wasn’t in a hurry. Adding to the mayhem was not on my agenda.

Despite my careful efforts, I slid all the way across another overpass, although, I didn’t skid. I could feel that the tires weren’t gripping the road at all. “Shit,” I said under my breath, proud that I didn’t say worse.

On the way home, we skidded over another overpass, this time right between a car wreck, seconds after the two cars collided to our left and another car skidded to our right.

“You’re doing fine, Mom,” my daughter said from the backseat, as I said, “Oh, oh, oh, oh,” and tried not to flinch us into our own wreck.

After deciding to avoid the highway and travel the side streets, figuring that if anyone hit us, at least it would be at a slower speed, I took the highway the last mile and a half. It was a mistake. Cars fly on the highway in Ohio in all kinds of weather. It’s mind boggling. Really. We saw one car on the opposite side off the highway slide off the road and head down the embankment. Luckily, it stopped and didn’t flip.

Tonight, it was the same type of weather, although before it became too bad, we were home. With driving conditions treacherous, here are some tips for driving when the roads are slick. They worked for me. I was paying attention and followed them for a change.

Here is what helped me avoid having a wreck:

  • I kept a very large distance between my car and any car in front–at least triple what I normally do. When the wreck happened to my left, this helped me reach a slower speed so I could pass by.
  • Don’t break if you start to feel like you are beginning to hydroplane. Keep calm and keep the wheel straight and steady. I was hydroplaning past that wreck, but kept going.
  • I started to slow down way before I reached an intersection in order to make sure I could stop, almost without braking. To brake, I tapped on them gently several times to avoid any strong movement.
  • The whole time, I kept alert to what was going on around me. This helped me feel like I had control which helped me stay calm. Mind you, I wasn’t totally calm, but it could have been worse.
  • My original plan to avoid busy roads was sound. Avoid highways if you can. I was so sorry that I took the highway for the short distance that I did. I was so happy we only had a few exits to go to more safety.

When we arrived back home, 45 minutes after setting out on our icy adventure, I had a glass of wine and counted my blessings. Next time a friend is over and it’s icy out, we’re not going anywhere. There’s plenty of room for a sleepover.

For more driving on ice tips, including the one on what to do if you do start to skid, check out “How to Drive on Icy Roads” at eHow: How to Do About Everything.

A handy guide to help you wade through airline rules and restrictions

by Jamie Rhein on

While I was packing yesterday for my daughter’s and my trip to Denmark, I asked her if she wanted to take a lightweight shawl to use as a blanket on the airplane.

“Don’t they give you blankets?” she asked.

Maybe. Some airlines charge extra for a blanket and pillow. Jet Blue already does. U.S. Airways is going to start soon.

In another conversation yesterday, this one on the phone, my father told me that he decided against checking a second bag on his Delta flight from Columbus to JFK in New York when he found out that this would cost him $50. On December 5, that fee will go down to $25.

My dad’s plane was an hour late leaving Columbus yesterday, and he said that the JFK connection to Albany was a hassle to navigate. Perhaps, that’s why the extra baggage fees seem unreasonable. Plane travel is anything but heavenly.

Blanket fees, bag fees, reservation fees, carry-on size changes, meals or no meals, drinks or no drinks, working toilet or no working toilet–just kidding on that one–are details that make air travel more confusing than it used to be.

Sure, buy the plane ticket, but don’t think you’re done paying for the cost of getting from here to there. Keep some extra cash on hand because you’re bound to need it for something when you fly.

In this comprehensive article at Smarter Travel, Tim Winship covers 25 policy changes that are coming to various airlines. When trying to find the best deal, knowing an airline’s checked baggage policy, for example, can make a difference as to how pricey a cheap ticket may become.

One point Winship makes is that complaining can work. When United received complaints galore from passengers who were miffed about paying for meals on overseas flights, the airlines dropped that charge.

If there is anything that’s certain, as soon as you learn an airline’s policy, it’s going to change.

Obscure Holiday in the US is a Big Deal in Spain

by Josh Lew on

Try to keep your excitement under control: Columbus Day is coming. While post office employees and history buffs have been waiting, this holiday will pass unnoticed for most people. That is, unless they try to go to the post office or local library, most of which will be closed in memory of Christopher Columbus, first white guy to set foot in the Americas (sorry Leif Ericson, but you didn’t write it down).

But the U.S. is not the only nation that celebrates Columbus Day. So does Spain. Only they don’t call it Columbus Day. It carries the grand title: Dia de la Hispanidad. The day features parades and celebrations of Spanish culture. The Spanish and Portuguese-speaking Americas and Spain’s Iberian kin Portugal get in on the party this year with a celebration of Iberian and American culture called VivAmérica. There are festivals of art and film, concerts and lectures, and little or no mention of the bloody history of the colonization of South and Central America. Most of the festivities will take place in Madrid. The events run until October 12th. Parades also take place in some US cities with large Spanish-speaking populations.

Source

The essence of travel (and life) in simple lines

by Jamie Rhein on

Here is a most charming, animated video from LInebuster that reminds me of what travel can feel like when you’re heading out into the unknown. There is the excitement, the thrill, and the unexpected dips and turns.

The song seems perfect, particularly since my travels through life this week has involved the hurricane caliber winds on Sunday that left much of Columbus, Ohio (and a wide-sweeping range of elsewhere) without electricity. Most fantastic are the enormous trees toppled like twigs. In the past few days, people have gone sight-seeing looking for them, just like they do when they search out Christmas light displays in December. If I would use one word to describe my mood, “startled” comes to mind.

Enjoy whatever ride you are on, even if it’s a doozy.

AirTran Airways to come to Columbus. It’s not Skybus, thankfully.

by Jamie Rhein on

Yesterday’s news brought the welcome breath of new life to Columbus ever since Skybus did us wrong, jilting us like an uncaring, unfeeling lover.

I heard in a radio news broadcast that AirTran Airways will begin flights between Columbus and Atlanta, Fort Myers and Orlando starting November 6. As the news commentator noted, this does not mean there will be a rush on low cost airlines to Columbus. Jet Blue, for example, has been there and done that.

Still, when I think of how Jet Blue used to be here before Skybus RUINED IT, I feel like Kate Winslet, almost frozen to death, floating on that piece of wood after the Titanic sank, hoarsely crying out, “Come back. Come back.”

I’m glad that AirTran has noticed that Columbus is a viable market for folks going to Florida. If you’ve ever been in Columbus, Ohio between January and April, you’ll know why folks are eager to get out of here and head south. The gray skies make this a place to leave if ever the chance arises.

If only AirTran wasn’t bailing out of Newburgh, New York and would make that a Columbus connection as well, I’d be ever so thrilled.

According to this article in the Columbus Dispatch, AirTran has been one of the best managed airlines in the past nine years. Skybus was exactly the OPPOSITE. I’m still stinging from the break-up.