Most expensive joyride ever

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MARC Rider

Robber Baron
AU Supporting Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2011
Messages
6,122
Location
Baltimore. MD
I'm sitting in the Met Lounge in Philly, having ridden up from Baltimore on my way to Washington. Not exactly the most direct routing, but I'm trying to earn enough TQP to make Select Plus this year, and I'm about 1500 points short. This little jaunt should give me 1000 of those, as I did what I said I would never do and paid cash for Acela First Class.

My appointment in Washington is 2 PM. I left Baltimore at 9:24 on Acela 2106, final Destination New York. Lots of Activity at Baltimore at 9 - 930 in the morning. A couple of MARC trains, one powered by a MARC Charger, the other by an Amtrak ACS 64. The Silver Meteor, with two v2 sleeper came in about an hour late, and they were announcing the Cardinal to Chicago when my train came in.

The first class car on 2106 was close to 100% full, with only a few empty seats, and loaded with business types tapping on their laptops or tapping on their phones. I haven't heard this much business buzzword talk since 2019. Makes me happy I'm retired and don't have to put up wit it anymore. And they say that Covid would end business travel as we knew it. Not exactly.

I had already had breakfast, so I just had a cup of coffee and the. coffee cake, which was pretty good.

They're now calling 2153, my ride to DC, so I'm now on the platform waiting for it to come in. More to1 come.
 
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2153 came in on time and arrived in Washington on time. Unlike my ride north, where I had an aisle seat and a seatmate, I had a nice single seat with a window to myself, despite the fact that I didn't book the ticket until about 30 minutes before train time. I had lunch on my way south; the menu seemed to be the same as it was during my trip last August. Otherwise it was a pretty uneventful trip. The only weird thing for me was staying in the train when we got to Baltimore.

I was going to a picnic along the Georgetown waterfront. Due to one of the most self-defeating acts of NIMBY-ism in history, the Washington Metro does not run through Georgetown, a busy commercial and residential neighborhood that would benefit greatly from having a Metro stop. Instead, I had to take the Circulator Bus from Union Station, a direct ride, but 40 minutes in stop and go traffic. Both Google Maps and the Circulator website claim that the route runs down K street from Washington Circle, under the Whitehurst Freeway, and turns right on Wisconsin Avenue right at the waterfront. Well, due to construction, that is apparently not the case, as the bus runs up Pennsylvania Avenue to M street, and then turned up Wisconsin Avenue. I had to walk several blocks down Wisconsin Avenue to get back to M street and then walk down a steep hill to get to the waterfront. I was a nice day, so it wasn't a problem, but why can't bus operators update their web sites in a timely manner?

I left the picnic at about 5 PM and didn't get back home in Baltimore until almost 8 PM. First, I had to walk back to Wisconsin and M Sts. Then I had to wait for the bus, which was apparently slowed down by the very heavy traffic. The "real-time" indicator on the Circulator bus website must have been following buses in a parallel universe, because the actual arrival of the bus I finally rode bore no relation to what was being displayed on my phone. I think I waited for 15 minutes, despite the fact that they say the headway is 10 minutes. Then another 40 minute ride through heavy traffic along K Street and Massachusetts Avenues, plus a couple of route doglegs that added several extra stoplights to the total trip.

As I was approaching Union Station, I thought I'd better see what trains were available. It was about 6:40, and lo and behold, there was an Acela at 6:55. The next train was the Palmetto (always a crapshoot as far as whether it would be delayed by CSX), and then the current Night Owl equivalent, the last train of the night. Back in pre-Covid times there were a few more trains than these at this hour, so I gritted my teeth and prepared to book the Acela. I waited until we stopped at First Street, the stop outside Union Station, got off, crossed Massachusetts Ave, and then started booking the Acela. The fare was reasonable, so, I can't believe I did this, I booked First Class for a Washington-Baltimore trip on the Aclea. To be fair, I paid less than I have paid at times for a coach ticket on the Northeast Regional in years past during peak periods. Part of the reason I decided to book first class was because it was Car 1, which is the closest car to the gate, and I was really cutting this close, as I entered the station at about 6:45. However, I had no problem making the train, and I had a nice window seat and a seat pair by myself for my short journey. The attendant gave me a bowl of nuts, and I ordered a bourbon on the rocks, but didn't bother with dinner, which was a good idea, as they really didn't start getting serious about serving meals until we were almost at BWI. The conductor came by after we left BWI and saw me with my Maryland flag face mask and said, "I know where you're going, the stop is in 11 minutes," even before he scanned my ticket. But what was weird, was that I wasn't the only oddball riding Acela First Class between Washington and Baltimore, there was another person who got off with me.

We got to Baltimore on time, I went to the garage, got my car, and drove home. All in all, a nice trip, even if greatly overpriced for the ride. However, I think I'm closing in on qualifying for Select Plus for next year, which is worth it to me. The thought of having to spend a whole year waiting for trains in the general waiting area in Washington (especially), New York, Philadelphia, or Boston (oooh, really uncomfortable looking seats) was enough to goad me into this seemingly frivolous purchase.
 
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MARC Rider said:
The first class car on 2106 was close to 100% full, with only a few empty seats, and loaded with business types tapping on their laptops or tapping on their phones. I haven't heard this much business buzzword talk since 2019. Makes me happy I'm retired and don't have to put up wit it anymore. And they say that Covid would end business travel as we knew it. Not exactly.
Click to expand...
I saw Jim Cramer on 'Mad Money' interview Ed Bastian, the CEO of Delta Airlines recently. Jim questioned him whether Zoom and similar, would end business travel as it once was.. Ed disagreed, and said that it was making a strong comeback, and that he advised companies they had better resume sending salesmen to visit prospects and clients, because "their competitor is already doing so"....
 
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