caravanman
Engineer
Old Bloke on Tour…
It’s been great to be thinking about the plans for my travel.. now it’s even better to be on the move again.
This story is about my trip from Nottingham, England, to New York, and onward travel by Amtrak, the USA long distance train service.
My name is Eddie, I am 54 years of age, and run a small hire business here in Nottingham. Look Here!with the help of excellent staff (I have to say that in case any of them read this..!)
I had been planning a trip in August 2005 to America, but due to business commitments I was forced to cancel that, and decided to go “off season”, as soon as possible after the New Year, and so 4th Jan 2006 found me aboard a B.A. evening flight from Heathrow to Newark, USA, with a 15 day rail pass due for collection at NY Penn station.
This pass is available to overseas visitors and is valid for the main Amtrak network, excluding express Accela and Autotrains, etc.
My pass cost $315 off peak for 15 days, one can get a 30 day pass also, which is even better value per day.
I love travel, and enjoy trying to experience some of the day to day life of places I visit, rather than just being “on holiday”.
Train and bus travel seems to put one in touch more with people, rather than the slightly “insulated” feeling of travel by private car.
Over the years, I have become aware that I leave packing and such essentials all to the last minute… I can’t say why, I just know that I do.
I did manage to get some $ the day before, but I was still sorting out my clothes and packing etc 30 minutes before I left the house.
I was lucky to catch the local bus into town without delay, and called into a snack bar for a sandwich to eat on the train down to London…the catering on British trains is nothing to boast about, although Amtrak is going down in quality too.
Train to London St Pancras, and bought a tube ticket out to the airport. I bought the ticket from the mainline office, and think I would have got it a couple of £ cheaper if I bought it at London Underground. Tube travel is quite expensive for single journeys, it cost about £6 to get out to the airport, having only cost a bargain £8 to get from Nottingham all the way to London.. Ho Hum!
I was lucky to get an aircraft bulkhead seat, being 6’ 2” , I like a bit of legroom. Travelling companions were a bit morose, although the lady sitting to one side of me asked to eat my unwanted bread roll, and waved me goodbye at the end… so much for the romance of travel!
I am a bit slow in the technology dept, and had just bought my first mp3 player the day before.. I was sad to find out mid-flight that I had only managed to transfer 3 CD’s onto it, rather than all I had tried to.. I became quite word perfect by the end of the 2 weeks holiday!
Arriving late into Newark airport, I had decided to stay at an airport hotel, which worked well, as I was now feeling tired, it being about 3am in the UK, and well past my bed time!
To be continued..
It’s been great to be thinking about the plans for my travel.. now it’s even better to be on the move again.
This story is about my trip from Nottingham, England, to New York, and onward travel by Amtrak, the USA long distance train service.
My name is Eddie, I am 54 years of age, and run a small hire business here in Nottingham. Look Here!with the help of excellent staff (I have to say that in case any of them read this..!)
I had been planning a trip in August 2005 to America, but due to business commitments I was forced to cancel that, and decided to go “off season”, as soon as possible after the New Year, and so 4th Jan 2006 found me aboard a B.A. evening flight from Heathrow to Newark, USA, with a 15 day rail pass due for collection at NY Penn station.
This pass is available to overseas visitors and is valid for the main Amtrak network, excluding express Accela and Autotrains, etc.
My pass cost $315 off peak for 15 days, one can get a 30 day pass also, which is even better value per day.
I love travel, and enjoy trying to experience some of the day to day life of places I visit, rather than just being “on holiday”.
Train and bus travel seems to put one in touch more with people, rather than the slightly “insulated” feeling of travel by private car.
Over the years, I have become aware that I leave packing and such essentials all to the last minute… I can’t say why, I just know that I do.
I did manage to get some $ the day before, but I was still sorting out my clothes and packing etc 30 minutes before I left the house.
I was lucky to catch the local bus into town without delay, and called into a snack bar for a sandwich to eat on the train down to London…the catering on British trains is nothing to boast about, although Amtrak is going down in quality too.
Train to London St Pancras, and bought a tube ticket out to the airport. I bought the ticket from the mainline office, and think I would have got it a couple of £ cheaper if I bought it at London Underground. Tube travel is quite expensive for single journeys, it cost about £6 to get out to the airport, having only cost a bargain £8 to get from Nottingham all the way to London.. Ho Hum!
I was lucky to get an aircraft bulkhead seat, being 6’ 2” , I like a bit of legroom. Travelling companions were a bit morose, although the lady sitting to one side of me asked to eat my unwanted bread roll, and waved me goodbye at the end… so much for the romance of travel!
I am a bit slow in the technology dept, and had just bought my first mp3 player the day before.. I was sad to find out mid-flight that I had only managed to transfer 3 CD’s onto it, rather than all I had tried to.. I became quite word perfect by the end of the 2 weeks holiday!
Arriving late into Newark airport, I had decided to stay at an airport hotel, which worked well, as I was now feeling tired, it being about 3am in the UK, and well past my bed time!
To be continued..
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