Ask for Directions Twice

I arrived in Chicago today. The bus that brought me here was two hours late (this is what I’ve come to expect from just about any mode of transportation). It was interesting to watch the community the waiting riders created. The way we all became chummy and kept an eye on each other’s stuff and shared information with each other about when the bus was due gathered through emails and phone calls. I think mild and ultimately inconsequential hardship like this reveals the best in people. We all want to pull together and get through this, especially when there is a larger figure, such as Megabus, to focus our ire on.

I slept through most of the trip and got off in Chicago armed with directions copied from Google Maps the night before. (How much do I love the “public transit” option? A whole lot.) I started to doubt said directions about six blocks in though, as the duffel bag I was wearing like a backpack and the backpack I was wearing like a shoulder bag felt heavier and heavier. So I asked someone which way S. Wells St. was. (It wasn’t like I had any non-tourist cred to hold on to. See the aforementioned duffel and backpack.) He told me S. Wells was in two blocks, and feeling encouraged I trooped along, looking everywhere for a sign of the ‘L,’ with none to be found.

Three blocks later I saw an older woman sitting on a bus bench reading a book, with these three signs to mark her as a potentially friendly party (using public transit, reading, and being of the female persuasion–I spent the past month in a female only space, I’m still clinging to it a little bit) I decided I should ask again where exactly S. Wells was. It was good I did, because Google Maps had decided my point of origin was a block further up than it actually was, so I should have turned right instead of left, and because the party did turn out to be quite friendly indeed. She threw terminology at me that I only understood blocks later, like “The Loop,” but she conveyed enough information that I felt confidant, as well as sheepish, walking back up the ten blocks I’d traversed needlessly.

The day got better from there. I made ice cream for the first time in my life and played Banagrams. (My best word: zeppelin.)

This is something I’ll have to remember though: never hesitate to ask for directions twice. People have a need to be helpful and/or look like they know the answer (I know I certainly do) and sometimes that leads to earnest misinformation.