Margit’s Note: How Are You Getting There?

By Margit Detweiler

(Photo Credit: Helen Jane Hearn)

“Down below the street can you dig the steady beat it’s the subway. Subway!”

There’s this groovy Sesame Street musical bit with muppets-as-straphangers that still plays in my head, some 40 odd years later, as I venture underground. There’s still a whiff (and I do mean a whiff) of novelty to the journey.

Most days I loathe the commute, but on some special days — when someone’s not manspreading into my business or I haven’t entered a car where a kindly human has left a package of smell — I get a seat, pop out my Kindle and it’s actually quite pleasant.

But let’s be honest: more often I feel annoyed, I’m wedged in someone’s armpit and am just trying to find a wall to lean on so I don’t get kicked by the kid doing a backflip next to my head.

What time is it? Showtime folks, showtime.

As New Yorkers, we love to discuss our routes and travel methods. I could take the F train, but then do I have to change at West 4^th? Maybe a Taxi. An Uber? Drive? Hell no. I could bike it. Or I could just walk. Fresh air and all.

This week we’re less about the route and more about the journey. Our stories take place on all manner of vehicles — planes, trains and automobiles and even a trip that happens with 5 people stuffed in a parked car.

Our commuters:

• Philadelphia/ Rosemary Darigo would rather scorch the earth than ride the bus
• L.A./ Neil Kramer spends quality time in an underground garage with 5 friends in a Honda Civic
• Connecticut/ Diane Di Costanzo is a girl in a flannel suit on the 6:34 a.m.
• Seattle/ Cheryl Botchick transforms into a car person
• New York/ Rachel Weingarten finds a crafty commute
• Vancouver/ Rumnique Nannar experiences the painful nostalgia of flying
• Global/ I ask four architects to share their vision for a sustainable commute and city worldwide as part of the U.N. #GlobalGoals

Enjoy the ride,

Margit

Originally Published September 15, 2015. Updated April 4, 2021.