February 21, 2011

Audio Books Aren't Just for the Blind... They Are for the 401

Like most Torontonians, I came from elsewhere.   If you are like me, you head back east to visit friends and family on a regular basis. But you dread that 401…especially on a long weekend right?  Sure you can fly Porter or take VIA but in the summer it’s difficult to justify the added expense.   
During the Da Vinci Code craze I bought the audio (abridged) version.  We drove to Ottawa and by the time we reached our destination we couldn’t leave the car.  We actually stayed in a parking lot to finish a section of the CD.  The 4.5 hour drive flew by! The drive home was the same even though we were both disappointed with the ending.
We tried to reproduce the feeling with Stuart McLean stories. They were entertaining but it wasn’t the same as a crime/mystery thriller where you’re just itching to find out more.  We went back to music after a few stories.
On our last trip to Winterlude we listened to Echo Park.  It was an Audio pack I bought way back when there was a store on Bay St that specialized in these things. Unfortunately I think it’s now a Subway’s? Tim Horton’s?   Echo Park is a great audio book for the road.  We are on disk 5 of 9 and we’re wondering how soon we can get going somewhere so we can find out what happened.
Next time you head out to the 401, try an audio book. Start after the big apple when traffic calms down and pretty soon you’ll arrive at your destination in a great mood.

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