Last month, I took my annual MLK weekend trek to New Hampshire for X-country skiing. This involves taking the NEC from BAL to BOS on Thursday morning, renting a car and driving north. On Monday, I return the car and ride Regional #67 to WAS, where I show up at work more or less at the usual time on Tuesday. This year, I tried two new wrinkles to the expedition -- I did Acela first class and I checked my bags ahead.
The trip actually started on Tuesday, when I arrived back at BAL on my usual MARC train, headed to the garage, and took out my skis and a a large roller duffel with boots, snowshoes, and bulky warm clothing. At this point the skis and snowshoes were an act of faith, as there was no snow on the ground in all of New Hampshire, except maybe at the summit of Mt. Washington. I pulled my ticket out of the Quick track and headed for the baggage check. In the past, I've taken this stuff, plus a day pack as carry-on luggage. The duffel is marginally over the carry-on limits, but it fits fine in the end of car racks, the skis are kosher for carry-on or not, depending on the whim of the conductor, but I've never had any problems taking them aboard, and they fit fine in the overhead racks of Amfleet Is, but this trip I was taking the Acela Express, and there's no place to fit skis, expecially my 200 cm X-c models on an Acela Express. Also, I just wanted some relief from hauling around all this stuff. I decided to check the bags on Tuesday, rather than Wednesday, just so I'd be sure that they'd be in Boston on Thursday morning. The only baggage car service to Boston is on #66, the overnight train.
Unlike the baggage room in Boston, where they guys are pretty laid back about unusual requests, the baggage meister in Baltimore was a little put out by my request, and actually discouraged me. Frankly, I got the idea he really didn't want to bother with this, although it's not like any other trains with baggage were arriving or departing at that time. (The Silver meteor had already left.) He was spinning me a line that sometimes #66 leaves NPN without a baggage car,, and in that case, there's no baggage service. However, he checked something on the computer, and said that, indeed, #66 that night (which had already left NPN) had a baggage car in the consist. He still took my cell phone number in case they needed to tell me I was SOL with regard to my bags. I'm not sure what they could have done in that case, excpet maybe finance a shopping spree for me at LL Bean or REI.
I had decided to take the Acela Express because (1) I had a coupon for a first class upgrade, and I was curious to see whether it was worth it, and (2) I wanted to arrive in Boston a little earlier -- Acela #2150 arrives at 11:40 AM versus Regional #170, which arrives at about 12:40 PM, even though they depart Baltimore within 5 minutes of each other. This was because I had a hankering for lobster rolls, and I wanted the extra time for lunch at a place recommended to me near the harbor, but still wanted to join my friends at a reasonable time. As I ended up driving through a snowstorm, I'm glad I got the semi-early start.
Thursday Morning, I arrived at Baltimore Penn Station at about 5:15 AM, and my train was on time. I entered the car, which was empty, and the attendant offered me breakfast. I should have told him to wait, 5:30 is pretty early, but he seemed like he wanted to get me out of the way, so I let him. I had the omelet, which was small, but that was fine with me, as I'm in the middle of a weight loss program, and portion sizes are a big part of why we're all getting fat. The food was served very nicely, similar to the airline meals of yesteryear. I gather I should have tried a lunch or dinner departures, as the fare includes an open bar, but I do have another coupon. The car was pretty empty until we got to New York, which we left at about 7:30 AM, after which First Class was full. The 2X1 club seats are nice, but I think that the 2X1 business class club seats on the Amfleets are more comfortable. Also, it ismy imagination, or does the Acela Express have an unusually rough ride?
Most of the BAL - NYP trip was in the dark, it started getting light as we went over the Hell Gate Bridge, but it was a dreary rainy day, not one for scenery, though there were some nice breakers coming in on a beach on the Sound as we approached New London. We came in about 10 minutes early, to windy rainy weather in the low 40s. In this nastiness, I went over to the baggage room, collected my bags, and headed for the Club Acela. This was a bit of a nuisance to get to, as it's on a mezzanine level, and, with my bags I had to squeeze into an elevator, but it's the nicest club acela/metropolitan lounges I've been in (WAS, NYP, CHI). From the comfort of the lounge, I called Enterprise, and they came by, picked me, and after taking me to their South Boston location for the paperwork, I was on my way in the nast rain (which turned to snow the minute I hit the New Hampshire line.) Don't worry, first I stopped at Yankee Lobster for my lobster roll and a nice cup of clam chowder.
All in all, a nice ride up. In the next post, I'll describe my ride home.
The trip actually started on Tuesday, when I arrived back at BAL on my usual MARC train, headed to the garage, and took out my skis and a a large roller duffel with boots, snowshoes, and bulky warm clothing. At this point the skis and snowshoes were an act of faith, as there was no snow on the ground in all of New Hampshire, except maybe at the summit of Mt. Washington. I pulled my ticket out of the Quick track and headed for the baggage check. In the past, I've taken this stuff, plus a day pack as carry-on luggage. The duffel is marginally over the carry-on limits, but it fits fine in the end of car racks, the skis are kosher for carry-on or not, depending on the whim of the conductor, but I've never had any problems taking them aboard, and they fit fine in the overhead racks of Amfleet Is, but this trip I was taking the Acela Express, and there's no place to fit skis, expecially my 200 cm X-c models on an Acela Express. Also, I just wanted some relief from hauling around all this stuff. I decided to check the bags on Tuesday, rather than Wednesday, just so I'd be sure that they'd be in Boston on Thursday morning. The only baggage car service to Boston is on #66, the overnight train.
Unlike the baggage room in Boston, where they guys are pretty laid back about unusual requests, the baggage meister in Baltimore was a little put out by my request, and actually discouraged me. Frankly, I got the idea he really didn't want to bother with this, although it's not like any other trains with baggage were arriving or departing at that time. (The Silver meteor had already left.) He was spinning me a line that sometimes #66 leaves NPN without a baggage car,, and in that case, there's no baggage service. However, he checked something on the computer, and said that, indeed, #66 that night (which had already left NPN) had a baggage car in the consist. He still took my cell phone number in case they needed to tell me I was SOL with regard to my bags. I'm not sure what they could have done in that case, excpet maybe finance a shopping spree for me at LL Bean or REI.
I had decided to take the Acela Express because (1) I had a coupon for a first class upgrade, and I was curious to see whether it was worth it, and (2) I wanted to arrive in Boston a little earlier -- Acela #2150 arrives at 11:40 AM versus Regional #170, which arrives at about 12:40 PM, even though they depart Baltimore within 5 minutes of each other. This was because I had a hankering for lobster rolls, and I wanted the extra time for lunch at a place recommended to me near the harbor, but still wanted to join my friends at a reasonable time. As I ended up driving through a snowstorm, I'm glad I got the semi-early start.
Thursday Morning, I arrived at Baltimore Penn Station at about 5:15 AM, and my train was on time. I entered the car, which was empty, and the attendant offered me breakfast. I should have told him to wait, 5:30 is pretty early, but he seemed like he wanted to get me out of the way, so I let him. I had the omelet, which was small, but that was fine with me, as I'm in the middle of a weight loss program, and portion sizes are a big part of why we're all getting fat. The food was served very nicely, similar to the airline meals of yesteryear. I gather I should have tried a lunch or dinner departures, as the fare includes an open bar, but I do have another coupon. The car was pretty empty until we got to New York, which we left at about 7:30 AM, after which First Class was full. The 2X1 club seats are nice, but I think that the 2X1 business class club seats on the Amfleets are more comfortable. Also, it ismy imagination, or does the Acela Express have an unusually rough ride?
Most of the BAL - NYP trip was in the dark, it started getting light as we went over the Hell Gate Bridge, but it was a dreary rainy day, not one for scenery, though there were some nice breakers coming in on a beach on the Sound as we approached New London. We came in about 10 minutes early, to windy rainy weather in the low 40s. In this nastiness, I went over to the baggage room, collected my bags, and headed for the Club Acela. This was a bit of a nuisance to get to, as it's on a mezzanine level, and, with my bags I had to squeeze into an elevator, but it's the nicest club acela/metropolitan lounges I've been in (WAS, NYP, CHI). From the comfort of the lounge, I called Enterprise, and they came by, picked me, and after taking me to their South Boston location for the paperwork, I was on my way in the nast rain (which turned to snow the minute I hit the New Hampshire line.) Don't worry, first I stopped at Yankee Lobster for my lobster roll and a nice cup of clam chowder.
All in all, a nice ride up. In the next post, I'll describe my ride home.
