Unfiltered Story #28339

(A while ago, whe we had cell phones but before every phone had GPS instructions, my friend and I were driving out to visit a mutual friend who recently moved to western PA, in the outskirts of Pittsburgh. She gave us directions, the first few were “Get on this major road, get to the NJ turnpike, get to the Pennsylvania turnpike, take that all the way down to the [City and town] exit,” then finally street by street. Sorry in advance for not remembering the numbers. She also said it should take about three hours.)

Me: Are you sure about that? That is a LONG haul.

Her: Oh, yeah, I made the trip in just over three.

Our friend: We’re driving through half of New Jersey and most of Pennsylvania, are you SURE three hours sounds right?

Her: YES, that’s how long it took me!

(Well, the day of the trip comes, We leave a bit before noon; at 4:30 we call her up.)

Us: So, we’re only at exit [whichever #], I thought you said it would be three hours?

Her: What!? That’s at least an hour and a half away!

Me: … Hey, [friend], I just remembered, didn’t you say when you moved out here you had spent the night before at your mom’s house in east PA, not from up in north Jersey?

Her: …. Woops?

(So the “three hour” trip was more like “six hours.” We finally get to the exit, pull off the big road, and immediately see a problem, so we call back.)

Me: Okay, so we just got off exit # like you said, but we’re in the middle of a residential area, there’s no sign of [landmarks], and “the first left” is NOT the road you said.

Her: Wait, you got off at exit [I think it was 3]!? You were supposed to go to the NEXT one, at exit 2!

Me: Wait, there are TWO EXITS that list the SAME TOWNS, and we hit the WRONG ONE FIRST!? Why didn’t you just give us numbers!? You grew up in New Jersey, you should know to always use the highway exit numbers!!!

(Thankfully she at least knew where we were, and could give us directions to a mid-point where we met up for dinner then followed her home. Total drive time: seven and a half hours. Then we went back to her place, met her boyfriend who was “wanting to meet her old friends,” only to catch him casting irritated looks at the two guys who were “just friends but still spent seven hours driving here.” Needless to say, we kept in touch by phone and email, but never drove back out there again.)