I've just returned from a week on the magical island of Nantucket,
where the stunning landscape and superb architecture are only
slightly marred by the fact that everybody there used to dress like
Gilligan and now they all dress like Thirston Howell III.
While my time spent there was relaxing in a Yankee kind of way
-- I spent half my time helping to restore a big, beautiful old
house and the other half braving the raw Atlantic surf -- getting
there was a real wake-up call.
Flying was out of the question. I tried several agents (honest)
and then looked at every cheap-ticket site I know. The lowest
round-trip fare from New York to Nantucket was $2.5 Million.
I then decided that renting a car would be a more romantic idea.
Lots of scenery. Less green. I was only half right. The scenery was
fine. The tab was outrageous. It cost me $180 to drive one-way to
Hyannis and another $20 for the ferry to Nantucket. Literally
highway robbery.
Future columns will examine the car rental business and will
entertain any and all ideas on how to get the people who run it to
rejoin the human race.