Compare and Contrast

For this entry, I decided to compare and contrast traveling by car and traveling by plane. I have done both numerous times, mostly to Michigan, where I have a lot of family, and back. While both an airplane and a car will get you there somewhat on time, the traveling processes are extremely different. For example, when you leave. When you are flying, there's a plane to catch. If you show up less than an hour early, you won't catch your plane because of the insane security measures. You have to leave your house about three hours before the time your plane departs. This allows an hour and a half to get to the airport, an hour to get through customs, and then half an hour to go to the bathroom, eat, and get organized before boarding the plane. However, it never works out that nicely. Usually, we get to the airport about a half an hour late, because a) we don't leave the house on time, b) traffic, and c) we couldn't find a parking space. Therefore, security still takes an hour, and we're running to our gate to get there in time so we can get on the plane before it leaves.

On the other hand, driving allows for a slightly more relaxed schedule. Sometimes. Of course, there's still a set time that we have to leave by or else the hotel won't hold our room because we'll get there too late. But we leave late anyway. Then it's a mad dash out to the car and packing up the last of your stuff and trying to pack it in tight enough so that there's still room for you fit into you seat and shove a grocery bag full of junk food next to you so you're set until the first bathroom stop. But of course driving takes forever. The drive to Michigan is about sixteen hours. We do it over two days, spending the night somewhere in New York. I think last time it was Utica. By the time we actually get to Detroit, all of my electrical appliances are dead, my brother is asleep, and will most likely throw-up as soon as he wakes up, and we've been listening to the same two CD's over and over for the past day and a half.


The plane ride takes only two-and-a-half hours at the longest. While my brother will still throw-up as soon as we land, it won't stink up the car, and I won't hear it from across the aisle, and there will be no possibility of it getting on me. Also, the battery won't die on my ipod or my laptop in only two hours. The flight attendants also give you free soda, even though those little bags of pretzels now cost five bucks or something ridiculous. However, flying definitely has it's downsides. When I took my first flight I was under a year old. There were no problems until we got to my grandparents' house. I woke up in the middle of the night screaming my head off for no reason that my parents could see. They called a doctor, and finally figured it out; my ears were popping. The other annoying thing about flying is the danger of flying. Even though I've been on tons of planes, there's always that moment at takeoff when I think, "What if the plane crashes??!!!" The fact that your fate is basically in someone else's hands until you land is always scary to me. And another thing about going on airplanes: what is up with the bathrooms? Really, do they have to be that small? It's just a little weird with the sliding door and everything. I guess bathrooms on car rides aren't so great either.

Bathrooms on the road really are disgusting. First of all, how does a floor even get that wet? Are the toilets leaking, or something? We stopped at a Burger King once where the women's room was like a giant puddle. That's just gross. Also, how does toilet paper get all over a toilet? I look in the stalls at some of these places, and they look like the trees in one of those old teen movies where the kids TP a house on Halloween. Why would anybody do that? The most disgusting thing though, is when a bathroom smells. Last weekend, we drove to New Jersey, and stopped at a bathroom that smelled. It's gross. I don't understand why the janitor can't just spray some Febreeze or something. And another thing? Those hand dryer things are supposed to blow hot air on to your hands right? Well, this one didn't. It blew cold air, and it was freezing that day. The only place on the road that seems to have decent bathrooms is oddly enough, Dunkin Donuts. Weird, huh? One positive thing though--the bathrooms at airports are usually pretty clean.

So, although flying and driving get you to the same place, there are many benefits and drawbacks of each. I guess it's up to you, but either way, fasten your seatbelts--it's going to be a bumpy night!

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