Seeing as I was posting things about fire in the one of the emergency cord board
Two stories to do with trips to Canada and the US.


First one was in May 2003 when my friend and me decided it was a really good idea to time two weeks holiday staying with my Dad in Pennsylvania to coincide with the last two Pg. 99 shows, and the two Darkest Hour album launch shows in Richmond, DC and Baltimore (side note - it might look like a easy driving distance on a map, but US maps are bigger than UK maps. Don't plan to drive Allentown to Richmond and back each night. [side note 2 - don't go for the cheaper hire car without unlimited mileage if you're planning to drive 700 plus miles a day]). Seeing as we were looking for the cheapest flight we could, ended up flying with Air India.

The flight out wasn't actually that bad - plenty of room as it was half full and veggie Indian food that didn't taste half bad after being re-heated. Admittedly, the fact the arm rests still had ash trays in, but with screws holding them shut was kind of disconcerting. The flight back was the horrible one. Food this time around was bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad veggie indian food. Flight is also full, apparently half full of kids as well. And it's a red eye flight. Screaming children, toilets starting to look like a dirty protest about an hour into the flight, strange smells, and to top it all off - the guy sitting next to my mate starts cutting his toenails.

Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping.

Not good.


Second one was less terrible, but just stupefyingly dull, and actually made me wish for British trains. Getting the Amtrak from Toronto to New York, a journey that is meant to take 13 hours and 5 minutes - leaving at 8:30am and getting in at 9:35pm. 450 miles, 13 hours. So yeah, a slow train service to start with any way. Americans don't seem to understand the concept of trains being a relatively quick way to travel, and convenient to compete with the car. Oh no, an average speed of about 35 miles an hour is perfectly okay.

Late leaving to start with, and then we get to the Canadian/American border. And sit there.
And sit there.
And sit there.
And sit there.
And after about 45 minutes they let all foreign nationals know that they have to get off the train and go to the Border Post. Where about 10 of us sit.
And sit.
And sit.
And sit.
And sit.
Takes about 45 minutes to get through the four groups of people that were there. Unfortunately, we now seem to have missed our slot in the train system, so we're stuck behind a goods train. Goods trains run even slower than the 'fast' passenger services. Didn't actually get an announcement about this, just figured out we were running seriously behind schedule when I noticed we were getting to towns a few hours behind the time on the timetable. Find the guard, ask what's going on, find out about the goods train and that we 'might' get into New York around 1am.

I'm meant to be getting a connecting train out to Pennsylvania at about 10pm. That's the last train that goes where I need to go, so I ask what the train company's going to be able to do about it. The guard's response (and I'm paraphrasing here) was "What the fuck do you expect if you travel by train - to get places on time? You can do what the hell you like when we get to New York."

Finally made it to New York about 1:30am, and managed to sort a lift with the last few minutes of battery in my phone. 25mph odd on average.

So yeah, don't take the Amtrak if you actually need to get anywhere on time - apparently they don't really do that.
(MattWPBS, Tue 3 Jun 2008, 16:56, 3 replies)

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Yes, unfortunately in the US Amtrak owns almost none of the rails that its trains travel on. And as they're leasing the use of the rail from the freight companies, they are considered the lowest priority.
My philosophy, though, is that the only way for it to improve is to support it. So there I was last night at the Amtrak station, waiting to pick up my wife, when I should have been home asleep...
(chase, Tue 3 Jun 2008, 18:22, closed)

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"So yeah, don't take the Amtrak if you actually need to get anywhere on time"

But if you don't have to be anywhere on time, DO take Amtrak. I took several Amtrak trains when I visited the USA. While not very punctual, I met many interesting people, saw lots of scenery and had a great time on-board.
( mistaspakkaman and the inedible shifting caterpillars, Tue 3 Jun 2008, 22:10, closed)

No rush...
Oh god yes, if you're NOT in a rush, take it. And if you can get it cheap - upgrade to first class on long journeys. Definitely worth it. Free soft drinks.
(MattWPBS, Tue 3 Jun 2008, 23:32, closed)