Amtrakification (part 1)

Having never had the pleasure of riding the wide-open rails across the lovely United States, Bryce and I thought it would be lovely to experience the thrill of a train journey. We eagerly booked our tickets (in fact, we both bought a set and had to cancel one later) and waited for the day to arrive.

After a lovely day of distraction at the Museum of Modern Art, we suddenly realized that the time for our departure was drawing near. Hurriedly, we scrambled back to the hotel amid the heaviest subway traffic we'd seen to that point, retrieved our baggages and our laptopses, and ran to the 1 train, en route to Penn Station. We buffeted complete strangers with our larger-than-average luggage, and then we were off, booking up the ramp to the underbelly of Madison Square Garden, where Penn Station resides.

Signage was oddly missing, but we found our way to the Amtrak kiosk and printed off our tickets. Whew, no sweat. We found our train on the departure board and hung out, waiting to board. Then, we checked the board again - nothing. Our oversized luggage began to call to us, and we knew that we'd need to check it soon to have any chance of making the train. Approaching the baggage check counter, we learned two important facts: our regional train to Boston was not in possession of a baggage car, and it was 4 hours late. The kindly baggage handler informed us that we could leave our bags with him, so we did, and went to eat lunch.

After dinner, we came back to check on the status of our train. Customer service informed us that everyone else scheduled for that train had been bumped to an alternate train some five minutes after we went to lunch, and that baggage handling had led us astray. Swearing at the god of train schedules, we investigated alternatives. At first, it seemed possible that we could take the 7:00 PM. Yay! A 20-minute wait in line yielded the information that this train was full, and our next option was either the 3 AM red-eye, or our long-delayed train that might or might not make a stop in Penn Station, and, following that, might or might not take on passengers and might or might not continue through to Boston. Armed with this uncertainty, we camped for awhile longer. During that time, water poured through the ceiling of the waiting area, and we were forced to evacuate to another part of the station.

But the fun was just beginning...