I ventured "home" this weekend for Mark and Maya's wedding.
For the record, I could have been boring and flown from Reagan to Columbus non-stop, round-trip.
The following is a detailed account of my adventure.
Saturday, June 23
I began my travels on the #35 bus at 5:34am. I boarded at 22nd & Pennsylvania and got off at 1st & Independence, but not before having a pleasant conversation with the bus driver. This woman commutes from Baltimore to drive the DC bus on the 2am-noon shift. Talk about dedication!
I walked past the Capitol, Supreme Court, Russell, and Dirksen on my way to Union Station. The early morning light cast the most beautiful glow on the buildings, and I could hear birds singing. The peace was a radical departure from the area's usual hustle and bustle.
I arrived at Union Station and entered the line for train 126, WAS->BOS. This was my first time riding AMTRAK, and of course, I had no idea what to do. I eventually found my way to the coach-class car for passengers getting off at BWI and took a seat.
Fast forward a half hour: I barely heard the conductor announce that we were at BWI. A kind man reasserted my assumption that we were at my stop, and I followed him off the train. We chatted while waiting for the airport shuttle; he was in the Navy and headed to visit his parents in Providence, RI. Interestingly enough, three of this man's siblings went to Kenyon College in Gambier, just down the road from Denison University and my final destination, Granville.
The airport actually was already quite busy, but I had been smart and printed my boarding pass at work. I got through security in 10 minutes and contemplated catching an earlier flight. The BWI->ORD flight before mine was full, however, and I wouldn't have had enough time to leave the airport during my layover anyway.
I started to talk with a female soldier roughly my age headed back from Afghanistan. She had served as a carpenter in the Army, which she joined on account of friendly competition with her brother. I asked her how things were over there, and she replied that she generally felt safe. She and her Army friends were making the most of their 12-month tour of duty, doing their work and having a good time whenever possible. Unfortunately, my new friend had a little too much fun and was now five months pregnant. She felt absolutely terrible about leaving her comrades behind for a cushy desk job at an Army base in Seattle, but such is the military life.
I boarded the plane and ended up sitting next to a business communications professor from Johns Hopkins. She was traveling to Chicago with her husband; he would be attending a conference while she was free to explore the city. I told her that I was totally jealous.
We touched down at ORD, and I waited about an hour to take off for Columbus. The flight was uneventful, and the next thing I knew I was in Jim's arms :)
The two of us walked out of the terminal, and there was our chauffeur JOHN BEAR! The three of us left the airport, grabbed food at Arby's and Chipotle, and headed to Blacklick to visit my family friends Erin, Mike, and Emily.
Erin was my babysitter in elementary school. She was also the first love of RJ's life. We kept in touch after we were too old for a babysitter and even went to her college graduation at Bowling Green. Emily was born a year and a half ago, and I got to meet her for the first time last August. Here's a photo of me, Erin, and Emily (Erin's husband Mike had left to play golf):
After our visit, the boys and I headed to the Holiday Inn. We hung out for a few before getting dressed and going to the wedding, which was held at Bryn Du Mansion:
(I stole this shot of Maya and Mark from Brad's Facebook photos. Thanks Mr. Farnsworth!)
The receiving line was really long; this led to silly photo time with my favorites. For some reason, John and I look very cute in these photos while Jim and Neal look very peeved:
Jim and James then started to joke around:
James finally calmed down for two photos, one with Jim and one with Steph:
But now that James was serious, Jim had to be silly:
I also got a photo with Brad:
We finally went through the receiving line and into the reception. There was a huge lull between dinner and cake, so Jim, John, Neal, and I threw some frisbee:
We eventually went back to the reception, where more silliness ensued:
We left the wedding shortly after Mark and Maya did. Jim, James, Steph, and I hit up a nearby Ruby Tuesday's for burgers and beer to conclude a fun night.
Saturday spending total: $9.34 (bus fare, tea, and a Chipotle burrito)
Sunday, June 24
Jim, James, Steph, and I left the hotel far too early at 8am. Steph had a 10:15 flight to catch, and she and James were the only way that Jim and I could get back to the airport. (Try $130 for a cab...)
Jim and I wanted to find something fun to do in Columbus before our 4pm flights. The welcome center at the airport was dark and empty, and the visitors kiosks were totally unhelpful. Our only option to leave the airport (beside a taxi, which we decided against for getting-back purposes) was the James Road bus.
The James Road bus cut through the Columbus ghetto and dropped us off at an obscure mall known as Eastland. (We did have the most kind bus driver on the way there; she couldn't get over how smart and how cute Jim and I were.) Eastland technically didn't open until noon; we were stuck wandering around Macy's (which opened earlier) for a good half hour. We continued to walk the mall's various corridors and hit the occasional store before getting lunch at Panda Express.
We took the James Road bus back to the airport, where I discovered that Delta had moved my gate to the completely opposite side of the airport from Jim's. Boo. We had planned not to go through security until 3, but the line exploded at 2:30. This prompted Jim to get in line and ended Jim-and-Sarah together time :(
There was no line whatsoever at the other end of the airport where I had to go through security. I did the usual drill, placing my belt, watch, and shoes in a bin and putting my backpack on the conveyor belt. I made it through fine and was about to grab my backpack when a TSA worker snapped it from right in front of me. She unzippered the main compartment, rifled through ALL of my stuff, and informed me that my "full-size iron" was a threat to national security. She continued to state that I had to ditch my brand-new iron or go back and check my backpack RIGHT NOW.
I was NOT happy. I stated to her in my most business-like manner that my backpack, with iron, had made it through security just fine at BWI. I pleaded that she should let me carry it on, seeing that it was barely a "full-size iron" anyway. No luck. Being the cheapo that I am, I grabbed everything essential, reluctantly checked my backpack, and went through security a second time.
Just then, Jim called me with the news that both of our flights had been delayed.
ARRRGH. GRRRR. ASDF. Welcome to Air Travel in America, 2007 style.
Jim's 4:10 departure had been rolled back to 5:00, and he was now in danger of missing his connecting flight. Meanwhile, my flight had a puny 15 minute excuse of a delay. I would still be able to make my 8pm train.
My flight then became further delayed, to 4:50. Now I was getting pissed.
All of a sudden at 4:15, we were allowed to board our plane. It appeared as if the Gods had smiled on us and we would be on time, or close to it, after all.
I was just about to get comfy in my seat when the flight attendant announced that we needed to deboard the plane. We had been bumped from our gate at JFK, and rumor had it that we were now not allowed to leave Columbus until 6.
Great! Fabulous! Yayyyyyy! Did I mention I was LIVID?
I also realized at this point that I left my train ticket in my backpack. DUH SAR. There was no way I would be making my 8pm train, and I wanted to make sure that AMTRAK wouldn't screw me over. I eventually found the customer service number via 411 and got everything squared away.
We boarded the plane for real at 4:45 and were in the air around 5:00. The pilot hauled ass, and we were in New York City before 6:30. We were earlier than anticipated at Kennedy and ended up doing circles over the ocean. (I did get to see the Empire State Building out of my window along with all of the other skyscrapers in Manhattan. Totally cool!)
We landed at 6:40. And sat. And sat. And sat.
A HUGE Air France plane was blocking our little Embraer from its gate. Thanks Air France.
I got off the plane at 7:00 and miraculously grabbed my backpack at the baggage claim five minutes later. I caught the AirTrain right outside my terminal and rode it to Jamaica, where I transferred to the Long Island Railroad (LIRR):
The 8:18 train to Penn Station positioned me for the 9:05 NYC->WAS Amtrak train. I arrived at Penn Station, and had absolutely NO idea where to go. Every sign I saw directed me to the New York or New Jersey subways; I didn't see an AMTRAK sign anywhere.
I hurriedly asked random store owners and security guards for direction. I made it to the AMTRAK portion of Penn Station at 8:45.
My heart sank upon seeing the customer service line. There was no way I would get to an agent before the 9:05 train left without me. The next train to DC wouldn't leave New York until 11:05, and all I wanted was to GO HOME.
Recalling that AMTRAK has a fairly liberal refund/cancellation policy, I called AMTRAK customer service on the phone and presented an innovative solution:
If I bought a ticket for the 9:05 train at the self-ticketing kiosk NOW, could I get my ticket for the 8:00 train refunded/exchanged/whatever later?
The answer was yes, and I soon had a ticket home in hand.
Two small disappointments included the fact that I had to take the regional train (not the super cool, super speedy Acela Express) and that since coach-class was sold out, I had to buy a business-class ticket. Outside of costing more, the latter actually was quite pleasurable:
The train ride home was calm and quiet. I got to see downtown Philadelphia and Baltimore from my window; the skylines of both cities were just lovely lit up against the night sky. I also got to add New Jersey and Delaware to my "States-I-Have-Been-In" list. (Stepping foot in counts, riding in a car or train counts, flying over in a plane does not. I have now been in 22 states, and I find it interesting that Indiana is NOT one of them. How can I have been to every state around its perimeter, but not the Hoosier State itself?)
One perk of having a business-class seat is getting to sit in the first car of the train. This is particularly valuable when the train comes to a stop and you're racing all of your fellow passengers to the taxi stand. (The Metro stops running at midnight on Sunday.)
I was fifth in line and got a taxi within seconds. The cabbie actually knew where Foggy Bottom was (be still my heart!); I walked through the door of Guthridge, completely exhausted, at precisely 1:00am.
What a weekend; what an adventure!
Sunday spending total: $295.00 (hotel room, iced tea, bus fare, AirTrain fare, LIRR fare, AMTRAK ticket, and taxi fare)
