My day did not involve planes, but it might as well of. I was trying to get to Detroit from Chicago, a trip which is normally about one hour by plane, or 6 hours by car. But it ended up being a nightmare.
Originally, I was supposed to go with my cousin. Then he had to get his car serviced, which will take forever. So, I decided to take the Amtrak train. It was much cheaper for a last minute deal. And why not? It would be relaxing. I could watch some movies on my laptop. I can get home at a decent hour and be able to relax at home. So, I thought.
First train was at 8:30am. I got at the station at a reasonable time, stood in line for 15 minutes, only to find out that the train was canceled because of weather. Oh man. Of course, the only option they gave me was to go the following day, or to take a bus to Detroit. I decided to go back to my sister's place and regroup. While on my way back, my sister got me a train ticket for the 12:15 train. Now, I don't know why I wasn't given that option at the ticket counter.
Ok, so now, I get to the station for the 12:15pm train. Lines are a bit longer. From the monitor, I see that the train is delayed. I don't know why they didn't say canceled for the earlier train. Ok. This time, I tried the self-service kiosk to get my ticket printed. I don't know what I did, but somehow I got my 8:30 ticket printed out and charged to my credit card. ARGH. So, now I stand in line to try to figure out what's going on. Because the line is slow, one Amtrak employee is directing. I basically complained to him about the kiosk and he offered to show me how to actually use it. I felt pretty stupid because there was the right ticket ready to be printed out. Ok...I have two tickets, the first I will deal with later. Time to go to the lounge to wait for the train. It was completely packed full of people. No organization what-so-ever. People for different trains are all scattered. Nothing on the monitors tell which gates are for what trains. So, you have to just listen. One of the funny things that I heard was a train boarding for a train that was for the previous day. And of course, I heard that my train was just going to be late because of mechanical issues with the engine. So, the wait ended up being about 2 hours. Once they announced the boarding, it was just a mob mentality, everyone just gathering to one gate. Again, no organization.
So, at this point we're off. I'm still not sure why this train was running at this time and the earlier one canceled. The weather seems to be much worse. But, I'm not going to complain, yet. At the beginning of the right, they mentioned that the food cab will open in an hour. That's good, because I'm hungry. I didn't eat lunch, and all I had was a bag of chips and a diet coke to my name. So, at least I could get something. Of course, about one hour into it, they announced that they didn't have enough time to stock up, so there's no food service at all for the entire trip. ARGH....another thing to deal with. But what can I do. Maybe I'll get home at a decent time to get some food.
So, I'm watching my movies. At some point, we stopped in Jackson. They announced that they will be passing out sandwiches. That was good, because I was really hungry. But, no drinks. I'm not going to complain right now.
We pull into the Detroit station, which is one stop before mine. Not too much longer. Bam. Train engine is having mechanical failures, and they don't know how long it would be. So, I call my parents who are picking me up. They decide to drive in the freezing rain from the Royal Oak to the Detroit station. So, I get off at this point. Who knows how long it would take to get this going again? So, I'm waiting at the station, my parents are about two miles away according to the gps. I see one of the conductors coming out with all her belongings yelling at another conductor. She's yelling at him, probably pissed about the delays. He's just trying to get her back to her job. She was pretty unprofessional.
The train is going again, but the commitment was already made to wait at the station. So, I get a call. Apparently, the gps has taken my parents to a different part of town, to the wrong place. Driving in Detroit is difficult enough. But with it snowing/raining, dark, having not the best eyesight in the world, the night was going to get longer. Luckily, I had a map at the station to look at, with my iPhone to look up directions. I had to direct my parents to the station. Of course, there were many wrong turns. People at the station were laughing when I kept on saying, "You're going in the wrong direction". It was really amusing. So, they finally showed up at the station at 11:30. At this point, it's late. I take the reigns and drive home. Finally home by 12:30am. A long day, but amusing nonetheless. I guess I can't complain since there are always people in a worse situation.
I'm just glad to be at home
Originally, I was supposed to go with my cousin. Then he had to get his car serviced, which will take forever. So, I decided to take the Amtrak train. It was much cheaper for a last minute deal. And why not? It would be relaxing. I could watch some movies on my laptop. I can get home at a decent hour and be able to relax at home. So, I thought.
First train was at 8:30am. I got at the station at a reasonable time, stood in line for 15 minutes, only to find out that the train was canceled because of weather. Oh man. Of course, the only option they gave me was to go the following day, or to take a bus to Detroit. I decided to go back to my sister's place and regroup. While on my way back, my sister got me a train ticket for the 12:15 train. Now, I don't know why I wasn't given that option at the ticket counter.
Ok, so now, I get to the station for the 12:15pm train. Lines are a bit longer. From the monitor, I see that the train is delayed. I don't know why they didn't say canceled for the earlier train. Ok. This time, I tried the self-service kiosk to get my ticket printed. I don't know what I did, but somehow I got my 8:30 ticket printed out and charged to my credit card. ARGH. So, now I stand in line to try to figure out what's going on. Because the line is slow, one Amtrak employee is directing. I basically complained to him about the kiosk and he offered to show me how to actually use it. I felt pretty stupid because there was the right ticket ready to be printed out. Ok...I have two tickets, the first I will deal with later. Time to go to the lounge to wait for the train. It was completely packed full of people. No organization what-so-ever. People for different trains are all scattered. Nothing on the monitors tell which gates are for what trains. So, you have to just listen. One of the funny things that I heard was a train boarding for a train that was for the previous day. And of course, I heard that my train was just going to be late because of mechanical issues with the engine. So, the wait ended up being about 2 hours. Once they announced the boarding, it was just a mob mentality, everyone just gathering to one gate. Again, no organization.
So, at this point we're off. I'm still not sure why this train was running at this time and the earlier one canceled. The weather seems to be much worse. But, I'm not going to complain, yet. At the beginning of the right, they mentioned that the food cab will open in an hour. That's good, because I'm hungry. I didn't eat lunch, and all I had was a bag of chips and a diet coke to my name. So, at least I could get something. Of course, about one hour into it, they announced that they didn't have enough time to stock up, so there's no food service at all for the entire trip. ARGH....another thing to deal with. But what can I do. Maybe I'll get home at a decent time to get some food.
So, I'm watching my movies. At some point, we stopped in Jackson. They announced that they will be passing out sandwiches. That was good, because I was really hungry. But, no drinks. I'm not going to complain right now.
We pull into the Detroit station, which is one stop before mine. Not too much longer. Bam. Train engine is having mechanical failures, and they don't know how long it would be. So, I call my parents who are picking me up. They decide to drive in the freezing rain from the Royal Oak to the Detroit station. So, I get off at this point. Who knows how long it would take to get this going again? So, I'm waiting at the station, my parents are about two miles away according to the gps. I see one of the conductors coming out with all her belongings yelling at another conductor. She's yelling at him, probably pissed about the delays. He's just trying to get her back to her job. She was pretty unprofessional.
The train is going again, but the commitment was already made to wait at the station. So, I get a call. Apparently, the gps has taken my parents to a different part of town, to the wrong place. Driving in Detroit is difficult enough. But with it snowing/raining, dark, having not the best eyesight in the world, the night was going to get longer. Luckily, I had a map at the station to look at, with my iPhone to look up directions. I had to direct my parents to the station. Of course, there were many wrong turns. People at the station were laughing when I kept on saying, "You're going in the wrong direction". It was really amusing. So, they finally showed up at the station at 11:30. At this point, it's late. I take the reigns and drive home. Finally home by 12:30am. A long day, but amusing nonetheless. I guess I can't complain since there are always people in a worse situation.
I'm just glad to be at home
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