Last night, en route to my friend Martin’s house in Herzliya, I feared for a minute that we might have gotten lost. Fortunately, Martin (who grew up in Texas like me) gave us outstanding directions, as clear and accurate as any I’ve gotten since I’ve been here.
From an old entry…
Israelis seem to give directions in a very specific manner which must include the following five things:
1) They first look off in the general direction of the destination, deep in thought, despite the fact that they probably live in this neighborhood and should have no problem telling you where you’re going.
2) They say the word “yashar” (straight) no less than 457 times while doing the “keep going” motion with their arm, before ending it with “ad ha sof” (until the end).
3) They do not give you a single street name.
4) They do not tell you how to get where you need to go, causing you to ask someone else one block later.
5) Repeat steps 1-4.
If the directions don’t include these five things, you’ve just spoken with a foreigner.
I wish there existed a reliable site comparable to Google or Yahoo maps for directions but I don’t think they compare (and they don’t like my Mac either.)
Now…for the Google glitch, try this:
1) Go to Google.com
2) Click on ‘Maps,’ then ‘Get directions’ just under the search bar.
3) Type in ‘New York, NY’ as your starting point and ‘Paris, France’ as your destination. Once it computes your directions, scroll down to No. 23.
I think I’ll just fly, thank you.
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