I have reached the conclusion that no one in my family can ride the train and/or subway uneventfully.  No matter where we’re going, how simple and direct the route, or what time of day or week we set out to travel, something always goes wrong.  

Something.  

Always.

Greetings, Ladies and Gentlemen!  It’s time for another installment of your favorite mini-thriller: Driving On L.I. – Adventures in Transit.  Just when you think you’ve seen it all, someone, somewhere, decides to go and do something so spectacularly dumb that you simply can’t believe your eyes.

My family and I recently made a trip to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. One train ride, 87 subway stops (give or take), one shuttle bus ride, an hour-long wait on a five-mile-long line in Battery Park, and one swaying ferry ride later – we arrived. 

It was about 3 p.m. We had taken a 10:04 a.m. train.

Let me begin by saying that I have been to several concerts at the Jones Beach Theatre – probably about three or four over the course of my concert-going life. As a rule, we try to make a point of arriving about a half-hour or so prior to show time. Of course, between the opening acts and the “fashionably late” arrival of most artists, if the show kicks off within an hour of the scheduled time, it's a rarity. Still, it pays to beat the rush. There's the security checkpoints, the climb to the nosebleeds, and the effort to find a halfway decent parking space to consider.  

Ah yes...the parking space.