It’s summer time, holiday time, travel time, and time to check your budget, the car’s tires, friends’ travel experiences and the TripAdvisor reviews.
All of the above are true, but should be taken with a grain of salt. Yes, be sure to check your balance and bills due by the end of the month. If you go to a tire dealer, a muffler shop or a place where they offer a free battery check, that’s where the grain of salt should be taken with any advice you are given.
On my first driving trip to California, I stopped for a fill-up at a Route 66 gas station. As the attendant was filling up my tank (yes, an attendant; this was a long time ago), he asked, “You heading west – across the desert?” He was gazing at my car’s tires. Taking out a pocket knife and flicking it open, he was about to twist the pointed tip between the treads of the tire. “If you gonna cross the desert, you sure need a new set of rubber!”
I looked at him and said, “Thanks for your advice, but yesterday wasn’t my fifth birthday.” (later that year I put another 40,000 miles on those tires – yes, miles; that was a long time ago).
There are also some unethical muffler shops and places that offer to check your battery.
Depending on your friends’ travel experiences can be a crapshoot. Prior to my visit to Europe, I asked a supposedly well-travelled acquaintance for some advice. His knee-jerk response was, “Germany: stay away from it. The people are abrupt and rude. The weather is rainy.” I asked for some details about his stay. “We had a two-hour layover in Frankfurt, on our flight from Madrid to London.” At that, I unscrewed the cap of my salt shaker. Later that year I had a delightful one-month stay in Germany.
At the beginning of July, a three-masted cruise vessel came up the Seaway. I was curious about what that type of experience would be like, so I checked out the first two reviews in TripAdvisor. Here are verbatim quotes from the first: “Disappointing… captain is a little weird… kind of boring… no air, no TV…would not recommend this attraction… not a fun, interesting or exciting trip and the crew is just too weird…not worth the time or money.”
And now the second of many reviews in TripAdvisor. “…a very pleasurable experience… rained heavily…but it stopped just in time…saw beautiful rainbows and cloud formations…crew offered info on the ship and surrounding points of interest…my husband and children helped with raising the sails…my parents also joined us…there was something for everyone….seniors too…You could be engaged in conversation or just enjoy the peacefulness…the sunset was truly spectacular.”
Check your tires, research thoroughly and be open to Serendipity. Listen carefully to the old man sitting at the fork in the trail.
