Lost in Brooklyn

Did you ever get into an Uber or a taxi and have no idea where you were?

Today, after sleeping too late because I was up for a few hours during the night (worrying about the state of the universe), I had a late start getting into the city. I called an Uber because I was bringing my cat Mister to Manhattan to drop him off at my daughter’s apartment for cat-sitting. Mister would not do well on the railroad and subway, my usual modes of transportation.

I watched where the Uber driver was going for a while, making his way to the Southern State Parkway. I had brought a notebook to write notes in for a blog post knowing I’d be out late tonight. I began writing down lots of ideas and got happily immersed in my thoughts and writing stuff down. What a great way to pass the hour ride, I thought.

When I came to, or rather when I finally looked out the window, I saw we were on Eastern Parkway. Is that Brooklyn, I wondered. We were in lots of traffic. Then we were on Atlantic Avenue, in tons of traffic. Again, I wondered why we were in Brooklyn. There is no way this should have happened. My ETA was 45 minutes later than it initially said. I shared my ride with my daughter.

“Where are we?” I asked the driver who barely spoke any English. “Are we getting on a highway soon? How are we getting to Manhattan?”  His answer was inaudible and unclear.

Eventually we got to the Brooklyn Bridge and then had a entire tour of New York City on the FDR. 

Luckily, Mister slept through the whole two-hour ordeal.