Counterintuitive directions

[dr_whom]

When you sail from the eastern end of the Panama Canal to the western end, you emerge in the Atlantic Ocean.

If you leave downtown Detroit, Michigan going due south, you enter Canada.

If you leave downtown Ottawa, Ontario going due west, you enter Québec.

Any other good ones?

Comments

[qnmark.livejournal.com]

If you leave any point of Manhattan due north, you'll enter Jersey.

Also, depending on what you take as the border between Northern and Central/Southern Italy, you could go due north from a Northern city and end up in the south. If it's the provincial border between Liguria/Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany/Marche, then if you leave La Spezia and go north, you'll end up in Tuscany.

[lowellboyslash.livejournal.com]

There are parts of Laredo, TX from which you could travel north to enter Mexico (because of the position of the Rio Bravo).

I believe there's a ferry near Vancouver which both departs from and arrives in Canada, but sails through the United States.

No matter which direction you travel leaving Vatican City, you'll be in Italy.

[dr_whom]

I didn't know that about Laredo; nice one! The Vancouver ferry one seems very likely; there's a town in Washington whose only land border is with British Columbia and can be reached from the rest of the US only by boat or air.

The Vatican one is a little cheap, though. :)

[qnmark.livejournal.com]

If we're counting exclaves*, then the border between the Netherlands and Belgium has an exclave within an exclave.

*Which I don't think Point Roberts is, technically, because water, but still.

[lowellboyslash.livejournal.com]

Your mom's Vatican is a little cheap.

[lord-codfish.livejournal.com]

My favorite version of this phenomenon is in Ireland. From almost anywhere in County Donegal, if you head due south, you enter Northern Ireland.

Speaking of exclaves, I feel like Oecusse District deserves a mention here - a part of East Timor that's in the western half of the island (and therefore west of a good bit of Indonesian West Timor).

Not really the same, but the northernmost station on Line 3 of the Guangzhou Metro is called Airport South.

[qnmark.livejournal.com]

Well, the Northern line in London has the southernmost Underground stations.

Also, because South Station points south and North Station points north, South Station is the northernmost station on the Northeast Corridor and North Station is the southernmost station on the Downeaster.

Also also, back when Yemen was divided, its northernmost parts were in South Yemen.

[http://users.livejournal.com/-mycroft-holmes/]

I always have to remind myself that going Down East in Maine means traveling north...

[novalis.livejournal.com]

If you travel due west from parts of Chile, you end up in Argentina before hitting any other country (having circumnavigated the globe).

[dr_whom]

Nice.

Also, I think if you travel due west from some very small parts of Chile, you end up back at Chile again, entering the Strait of Magellan and thus missing Argentina entirely.

[dr_whom]

There's also various things like, the geographical center of Boston is due south of the South End, which is due west of South Boston….

[qnmark.livejournal.com]

It depends on whether you go along the rhumb line or the great circle!

/nitpick