Hannah: Wise Thoughts Upon Planning a Road Trip Out Of Manhattan (And Also On Planning a Career Change)

Several summers ago, I spent a weekend hiking by myself in the Yorkshire Dales. I made friends with a seventy-year-old guy who was staying at the same youth hostel as I was. I asked him advice on walking directions, and we compared notes. At the end of our conversation, we wished each other luck, and I must have looked like I wasn't sure if I could remember the directions he gave me. His face suddenly wrinkled into a grin, and in an almost unintelligible English countryside accent he reassured me:

"The hardest part of any trip is getting owt o'the village!"