A Day Zero Project goal of P.J.’s has been completed!
Goal completed: Travel by train
Date completed: October 26, 2014
Number: 37
Description: I love trains. I always have been fascinated by them, so traveling by them is a really cool thing. Basically, I just wanted to travel by train somewhere.
On the way home.
Why I wanted to do it: There’s something about traveling by train. This goal was on my first Day Zero Project, and I completed it then as well. One day, I’d love to travel around the country for 2-3 weeks, all by train. I’d pinpoint a few places where I’d want to hop off for a day or so, take some photos, geocache, maybe catch a game … and then roll on. That’s actually a blog post I have cooking in my head — and have for a long time — plotting a route and looking at each place I’d like to hop off the train. I wouldn’t plan on doing it in major cities, most likely, rather in the smaller towns so I could investigate some. This was all about being able to travel via train, though, and I accomplished it.
How I did it: I had to head down to New York City for a work conference and I know how much it costs to park in the city, and also how hard it is to find parking. In the end, it would be much easier to drive to a semi-local Amtrak station and take the train into the city. I went to the station in Rhinecliff for this. The trip is an easy one as the drive takes me about an hour or so. Once there, one is greeted by an old-school train station that has the feel of years gone by. I always like to snap some photos and put them up on my Instagram, which I did. I waited outside for a bit before the train pulled up. Being a Sunday, there were a few people on the train already. I found an aisle seat (my preference) and settled in for the two-hour ride. We arrived without issues. After a good day in NYC, I headed home On this trip, I had the row to myself and slept for most of the trip home. It was at that point when I was coming down with something (so much so that I took a sick day from work a couple days later), so an easy snooze on the way home was good. The train experience was good, though it would have been even better if it took me within 10 minutes of home instead of a little more than an hour!
About P.J.’s Day Zero Project: Day Zero is a project where people come up with 101 things to do over 1001 days. I started the project on August 1, 2014 with an anticipated finish date of April 28, 2017. Goals will not be revealed until they are completed. A private list is at the Day Zero website and the list will be made public upon completion of the project. It’s my thoughts that if things are kept private, should I not do them, change or find a way around it, I’d only be cheating myself.
We were visiting some of hubby’s family in Long Island and took the train into NYC. That’s a nice, easy way to visit the city for a day.
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I like it because it makes it so I don’t have to find parking etc. Just hop on the train and hoof it wherever I need to go, or get the subway etc. It’s convenient and easy, for sure.
How cool! It would be cool to take a brew train trip! Hit up some breweries around the country 🙂
Nadine recently posted..Weekend Shenanigans
That would definitely be fun. Mix that in with a few other things and it could be the best way to travel! 🙂
Sounds like a nice easy trip. I’m looking forward to hearing about your cross country trip! The first time I did a big train ride was in the summer before 5th grade!- My aunt took me from Florida to Washington DC via train! I felt so cool and grown up traveling with my aunt without my parents!
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I don’t know if I’ll ever do the cross-country trip, but I’m definitely going to plot it out. And Florida to DC… sounds like it would be so cool. I need to experience the long-distance trip.
I enjoy traveling by train. There have been several weekends when I’ve taken the train into Los Angeles, just to then walk the streets to get photos.
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I do as well, but I’ve never done any longer trips. The trip to NYC is only a couple of hours. I’d like to actually do a distance trip to enjoy the ambiance of a train as more than a commuter train. But it’s definitely good for heading into cities and has always saved me money!
My parents took us on the Santa Fe Super Chief from Los Angeles to Chicago in 1964. Three kids under the age of 6 in a travel car. They were brave souls.
I found out later that my dad tipped the conductor $20 to make sure we got in the dining car first before anyone else did. My dad’s not a big spender at all, but $20 was a ton of money back then, so it must have worked pretty well.
Paul Myers recently posted..Hey Butthead
Hey, sometimes to make sure you get what you need, a little tip to the right people will get things done! Know when to use the tips!