Smart transfers July 15, 2006
Posted by dorigo in personal, travel.trackback
July and August are dangerous months in Italy, You make a mistake in planning your vacations, or just a trip to a meeting, and you get dire punishment - in the form of several hours spent on the wheel, pondering on your idiocy together with ten thousand more drivers, tidily lined up along a dumb route.
The fact is, there are times when you just cannot escape. No matter how smart you are - or think you are - the force of the central limit theorem will pull your space-time coordinates towards a traffic jam or ten-mile queue.
Take me as an example. I know all the basics. I consult web sites for webcams on critical traffic points, stay tuned on traffic broadcasts, get informed about special events. All useless. I want to rent a place on the beach for my family for a month ? Ok, then I have to take it from a Saturday to another Saturday. Can I arrive one day later ? No, lest you run the risk of losing the apartment and get charged for a week. Can I leave one day earlier ? No, not a chance, my keys and the remote of the air conditioning have to be delivered back to the travel agent from 10 to 12 of the Saturday when we leave.
All this to say that, no matter how well I knew, I was trapped. I did leave today at 10.15 from Cavallino, with family and bags packed in my car. And I did, dramatically as I knew I would, get in a huge line of cars moving away from their vacation place.
Oh well… One has to take this with a bit of humor. Yeah. Not easy, with Ilaria screaming in the back seat, asking for a stop to use the restrooms, or for a drink, when no bar is in sight and you are driving at a billionth of c.
Anyway, we did get home before 1PM. Everything was in perfect order, but of course we had no fun bringing our luggage back home through 800 meters from parking to home.
I think I need a vacation to recover from my family’s vacation…
Haha.. good one.. I like it when you explain such things with physics - but can you ‘briefly’ tell me how the central limit theorem applies to what you wrote?
I saw your other post - - great bag for the mirror! I assume then that you cannot leave it in its cell and carry everything like a wheelbarrow - Obsession telescope style? [so you do only 1 trip]
Hi Alex,
the central limit theorem shows that the sum of many random variables will behave with a normal distribution (a gaussian). In the case of many people planning their travel time and route in a smart way, trying to be smarter will be of no use, since on average your result will be no better than one obtained by random choice… Ok, it is a bit of a stretch!
And yes, in Venice transportation makes it difficult to use a wheelbarrow of the kind obsession publicizes.
cheers,
T.