Hey everyone!
So, after Napa on Sunday, Rachel and I went to see Much Ado About Nothing. I loved it. I highly suggest it. Monday, I slept in one last time and packed up all my stuff. I sat at Rachel's pool for just long enough to burn my legs and my arms, and then we went to Food Truck Monday and headed out to the airport. My plane was scheduled for 10:10 PM, but I got there around 7:45. I was through security and at my gate by 8:02. The flight itself was long and uncomfortable, as flights tend to be, and it was even worse after having traveled in such comfort on the trains. Seriously, if you ever have a choice, go with the train. It's a little longer, but it is so much more comfortable. The seats are bigger, the aisles are bigger, the food is better, it's generally less expensive.
I got into Philadelphia International around 6:40 AM on Tuesday. I was exhausted, as I only slept for about an hour or two on the plane, and it felt like it was 3:40 AM. I was going to take the SEPTA train to the Philadelphia Amtrak station, but the Amtrak didn't leave until 12:40. I eventually found a little lounge to sit in, and I ended up sleeping there for about another hour. The airport people were planning for a literacy event in one of the connector wings (that made no sense) but I got to listen to a constant loop of songs about literacy, like the Reading Rainbow theme. I left around 10:00, because I felt like a vagrant sleeping on a corner.
I got to the train station around 10:30. It was a beautiful station, and they had a lot of options for food and whatnot if I got hungry. My kindle died twice, my phone was at about half battery, and I was feeling pretty tired, so I just kind of sat and stared. Around noon, my train was delayed. When I went to ask, the woman at the counter told me that the train was delayed because of a fire. After some quick phone searches, I found an article about rail cars catching fire somewhere between Lancaster and Harrisburg, so all PA trains were delayed until they figured out what to do. I started coming up with contingency plans: I could go down to Wilmington and beg a couch off a friend, I could try to get a train to Washington DC and then go up to Pittsburgh from there, I could maybe make it all the way back home to Dover.
Luckily, as I was making plans and kind-hearted souls were calling to say they'd come get me (Thanks, Marg!), Amtrak was making their own plans. When I went to the front desk to ask about a train to DC, the very cranky woman told me that they were going to train us over to Lancaster and then bus us to Harrisburg, at which point we would get back on a train and continue our journey. There were some people who were really angry about the delay, there were many who had no idea why there was a delay, and then there were a few of us (me and two other my-age girls I met) who were just kind of going with it. We got off from Philadelphia barely delayed at all, and I was able to sleep for about an hour on the train--really sleep, as opposed to what I had been doing on the plane and in the airport. The people on the train didn't know why we were getting off, so I let them know what was happening. Once again, there were some grumbles.
At the Lancaster station, we were told that it would be about a half-hour wait for the buses. We all spread out, and I saw the local news show up and get video of us all standing around and then leave. Two buses showed up about 20 minutes after we got to the station, full of people from Harrisburg. Most of the people swarmed toward the buses, and of course there wasn't enough room. In the end, we needed four buses to get to Harrisburg. I got on the 3rd, so I only had to wait about forty-five minutes. While I was waiting, I met two other young girls; one was headed for Johnstown, and the other was headed for Ohio. I had seen the first at the Philly station, asking questions when I was. The other girl and I got into talking, and I found out that she was an English Ed major at Kent state, coming home from New York. We all joked about how the people were swarming the buses when it was clear there wasn't enough room for everyone.
There was a guy next to me on the bus who was talking nonstop to his seat mate. He was a younger guy, and he had just turned pro in golf, and he was training over to Pittsburgh to pick up his girlfriend. He talked constantly, but he and his seat mate were very friendly with each other, unlike everyone else. We all said hello to each other when we sat down, but that was pretty much it. When we were almost to the Harrisburg station, the driver asked if anyone had a smartphone and could look up directions, because his GPS took us to the wrong place. I had been following along with my Google maps, so I was already to go, and yelled out directions for the last few miles or so. The old lady next to me wanted to know how I had gotten the directions so fast, and another wanted to know if I had used "an app" or something else. They were cute.
We finally got to the station, and finally got on our train. I grabbed a window seat, texted the 'rents that we were leaving soon, and went to sleep. This train didn't have wifi, so I wasn't able to watch Avengers on my computer when I woke up. Man, what an inconvenience.
I got home around 10:30 on Tuesday night. Sadie jumped all over the place, and ran around in circles, and then jumped in my lap and licked my face, and then did it all again. I couldn't fall asleep until about 2:00 AM, so I spent most of Wednesday sleeping, not getting up until noon thirty! Last night was more of the same, although this morning I got up around 8:45 and dozed on the couch while we all watched Wimbledon. Tonight, I go to see the Blumers.
So I'm home! It wouldn't have been a trip without some sort of crazy happenings on the train, and while it ended up being a long travel day (just a little over 24 hours of actually traveling) I am very glad to be home.
Thanks for following me, guys! I'll see you all soon!
:) Bethie
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Monday, July 1, 2013
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