train

Humanity needs a reality check

October 19, 2015

Sometimes, I wonder where humanity has gone.

On Sunday, I took a trip to New York City via Amtrak. I usually go to the nearest station, and take the train into the city because it’s convenient and a lot easier than driving into Manhattan and finding parking at a reasonable rate.

The ride down was uneventful.

The ride back, not so much.

This is well after the incident, but you can see how close it was.

Amtrak announced right away that it was going to be a full train. So people should let others sit etc. Don’t block seats and all that good stuff. Not that people listen, but you know how it is.

Sitting behind me was an elderly couple. Shortly into the trip, the lady went to the bathroom, which was in the front of the car — basically about four or so rows up from me. A few minutes later, the man went up to the door and started knocking on it asking his wife to unlock the door.

I had my headphones on and could still hear him, so I slipped one of my ear buds out to see what was going on.

He had a sound of desperation in his voice. People around me were giggling a little bit about this whole situation. Just as I was about to go up and ask him if he would like me to get a conductor, she unlocked the door and in he went.

A minute or two later, the door opens and he sort of backs out. All of a sudden, there’s a gasp and the lady falls. These are older people, so it’s not like he’s an extremely strong person. A few people rush up to help. Somebody gets a conductor.

But this is where I wonder about humanity.

On one hand, we have the good. There were three nurses on the train who came to help — including the first on the spot who was in a sling.

Kudos to the Amtrak employees who did everything they could to get the needed help and to make sure things went as smooth as possible. I thought the Amtrak people were wonderful and, though muted in our car, you could slightly hear announcements apologizing for the delay but saying there was a medical emergency. Well done all around by Amtrak.

There are those who want to help as much as they can, and that’s a good thing, but also know when to back off when there are true people who can help get things under control.

Then there are those who just need to take a seat.

Two or three people in the rows in front of me needed to feel involved, I think. My thought process is this is probably going to make a great cocktail party story one day on how they helped saved somebody’s life (for the record, it sounds like the lady got dizzy and sweaty. She was conscious and breathing the whole time, from what I could hear) because they had a cold bottle of a sports drink in their bag.

The rest of the time, they hovered around the people actually helping the lady. They chatted and laughed (you can’t make this up).

Meanwhile, not far from me, somebody a row or two back said “I guess we won’t be getting to our stop on time.”

Really?

Then there’s the kid who just didn’t want to get home later than planned. After all, it’s a tough day in the city going to a hockey game. Heaven should forbid we worry about the lady with the medical emergency.

This came when we heard the sirens of the paramedics coming. The person he was with (father? Grandfather? Uncle? I honestly wouldn’t know) told the lad we were looking at about 20-30 minutes. That meant getting back at around 7:15-7:20, instead of like 6:50-6:55. You’d have thought the world would have ended. The kid, probably in his early-to-mid teens, was like “NOW it’s 7:20? …” and something else, but it was a good complaint full of whining, followed by a sigh and putting his head down on the tray in front of him.

Others were walking from the back, oblivious to the whole thing, looking for seats and trying to get to the next train car. We explained what was happening and they’d be like “So I can’t get through?”

My favorite was when they were getting the lady out and this dude came up to use one of the bathrooms. He was drinking his can of Bud Light and wondered if he should go to a different bathroom. Instead he stayed there until he left. Just watching and drinking his beer. Oblivious.

This is humanity now.

Though there were some people who legitimately helped, others were there acting like they could help. Others couldn’t care about one a human being in need over their own plans. Emergencies happen. I hope one day if I am in that situation, somebody like the nurses who helped will be around.

When the gentleman came back to get his luggage, I stood up and pulled them down for him, despite him saying he could get it. There’s no reason for him to worry about those things. That’s the only way I could help, so I stayed seated the whole time with the hopes his wife will be fine.

The medical people were quick and efficient, so that was good. We had about a 20-minute delay, which is no big thing to me.

Humanity is the bigger concern.

Sometimes people need to take a step back and look at situations. Believe me, I know all about frustrations and not liking things to get in my way or mess up my plans. But they happen. And if it’s over a situation like this, just take a step back and realize one day you could be in the same situation. Would you rather they just tossed you out at the next stop, or actually worried/cared enough to make sure they got you the help you needed?

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Day Zero Project: Completed No. 37

February 2, 2015

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.

Seeing the Nation via train

March 26, 2013

I have a goal (or a dream) of traveling the US via the rail on a two or three week jaunt, just to see the country.

I’m a fan of traveling.

Yes, that’s a pretty big blanket statement, but it leads to so much more. I’ve been lucky enough to see some cool places in my lifetime, but the reality is it’s pretty much been on the East Coast. Outside of a trip to Texas in 2007 for a wedding and Nebraska for a job interview in 2003, I’ve basically stayed on my side of the country.

Well, besides that trip to Ireland in 2010.

But in the past year or so, I’ve really been working on something I’d like to do — see the U.S. via train. This is something I should have done soon after getting laid off from my job. I probably could have found a way to afford it. Now? Unless there’s some company out there who would like to pay for it in exchange for stories and photos, it’s probably going to be a while — if ever.

See, this dream travel of mine goes beyond a “Cannonball Run” of crossing the country and back as fast as the trains will take me. No, it would be more of a journey of discovery — both personal and of new places. In recent months, I’ve been plotting what I would do on this trip — photographically, geocaching, possibly disc golf and whatever else — and what kind of cost I’d be looking at.

A trip like this wouldn’t be cheap, that’s for sure. But it also wouldn’t be some sort of massive expense. If done right, this could be one heck of a wild trip. And it’s one I’d like to do, whether solo or not.

I won’t rule out the possibility of this happening. I’m going to keep planning as if I am going to be able to do it. Of course I may have to tweak things slightly over time, but it’s something to have.

And with that in mind, I’m going to share my plans here. This will be covered in a couple of posts as putting all of this together in one post would be a massive undertaking to read it. Therefore, it will be broken up to make it easier to read.

First, allow me to say this. The reality is I’d be hoping to do this as cheap as possible. That means likely no bed cars or anything like that. I’ll snooze in my seat.

The train is coming!

If all was right in the world and I had a little extra money, I’d probably invest in something like an iPad Mini (yes, I like them better than the full-size ones) and a portable hard drive for photos. Outside of that, I wouldn’t be carrying a laptop or anything like that as I’d want to pack as light as possible.

The biggest thing is my camera equipment. I have a backpack camera bag, but I’d still have to figure out where to carry some clothes. My goal would be to not have many clothes. Despite this being a trip of probably three or so weeks, my hope would be to wash clothes every couple of days on stops. So I’d basically probably look for a bigger backpack camera bag that I could have locks on and would carry everything I bring. The only other things I’d want to have would be water, medications and some snacks. I don’t want to be carrying 50 pounds, that’s for sure.

Planning

Amtrak has rail passes for use in the U.S., which would likely help quite a bit. Though I’d want to price out the actual trips first. A 30-day pass, which includes 12 segments is $669. If I read right, each time the train stops is a segment. If that’s so, it might be cheaper just to plot out the trip as one like this will be way more than 12 segments. An 18-segment pass, which is good for 45 days, is $859.

This is what the Amtrak site says about the passes:

For each pass type you are allowed a certain number of travel segments within the travel periods. All travel must be completed within 180 days of purchasing the pass. Pass prices are subject to change and are not guaranteed until actual travel reservations are made.

So, for the sake of these posts, I’m going to probably go with the costs on the individual trains. If this whole trip come to fruition, I’ll probably do more research to see how the passes work and see if it would be more economical to purchase those.

And, to share a little of my planning — I wouldn’t be doing this trip to see all major cities. Maybe a couple, but for the most part, I want to see America. Some of the smaller towns. The different places. Those stops that one might never really do, outside of a crazy trip like this.

So an extended stay in, say, Chicago, wouldn’t be happening. If I’m visiting a place like Chicago, I want more than a one- or two-night stay.

Each of these stops, too, I’ve done some research. I’ve looked for either geocaching, or cool things to photograph, or just a spot that seemed interesting. I’d be looking for neat laces to eat, or a local barber or anything — just to get that experience of the trip. And, maybe meet up with some fellow geocachers or disc golfers and see some other parts of the area.

For those who have done trips with me, you know I’ll plan a lot of things out. And this trip would be no different. It would be based on the following:

Food
Geocaching
Photography
Disc golf
Life experiences

If any of those were met, it’s probably a place I’d like to stop and explore.

And over the next week or two, you’ll get to see this trip I’ve planned. From the route I’d like to take to the places I want to stop — and why — and anything else along the way. I’m even going to include current costs, so I have an idea of what the money situation would look like. Hopefully one day, I’ll be able to look back and use this as a map to this trip.

I hope you enjoy the series!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

30 Minus 2 Days of Writing: Last train (21/28)

February 21, 2013

I never used to be a huge fan of New York City.

I think it’s more of living there than anything. That’s probably more like what I wasn’t a fan of. Growing up in upstate New York, but close enough where getting to the city wasn’t hard, it never truly interested me.

In more recent years, that’s changed.

Depending on which system I take to the city, I might end up in Hoboken and have to take the Path train into the city. It’s not the last train, but the late-night trains can be rather interesting (and packed).

I’m still not sure how much I’d want to live there. If I did, I know the few places I wouldn’t mind being at. But one thing I’ve loved is taking a day trip or two during the year. It’s fun to catch up with friends, walk around, see things and take photos.

It really is a remarkable city.

There is so much to do. It’s the city that never sleeps. Times Square is always a thrill for me, especially at night. I love seeing some other places, like skating at Bryant Park. Or going when it’s the holiday season and seeing the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. There’s always good food, too, even if it’s just a dirty dog on the street.

The beauty of the city, in my eyes, is it’s easy for me to get to and it’s easy for me to get out of there. Even if I drive, it’s only a few hours. But when you drive, there are so many more things to worry about.

The biggest thing is I like to often make it a one-day trip. Head down early in the morning and come back later at night. If you’re driving, it makes for a long day. And if you park on the outskirts of the city, you need to get into and out of the city and watch the schedules and all that good stuff.

Who needs that when you are heading to the city for some fun and whatever else?

More recently, I’ve been taking a train whenever I go down. I drive about an hour to an hour and a half from met and grab a train. It ends up being much cheaper as you can avoid parking in the city. That’s worth the price all alone. The only bad thing is not wanting to carry much, whether when you go into the city or when you are walking around.

If you get the last train, having this up on the seat isn’t always necessary, as I’ve found out.

The days are always fun, too.

But when the day is over, I’ve already purchased my ticket when I am riding Amtrak. It’s the last train, too, as that allows me to milk the amount of time I have in the city. When it’s done, I bid my goodbyes to friends, head into New York’s Penn Station and am off to upstate. It’s usually quite peaceful on the train as there aren’t many people.

One time, I even upgraded to business class. The seats were bigger and more comfortable. And nobody was in the car with me. When we were about 10 minutes from my stop, the lady working the train even came back and lightly shook me to wake me up. Top notch.

I do take the Metro North sometimes, too. That’s not the last train as it runs pretty late. It’s also usually nosier, brighter and less comfortable. But it’s cheaper than Amtrak. And if you are with somebody else, it’s pretty nice in that regard. You can just chat it up.

So I guess it depends what you look for. I think the Amtrak deal is better because it’s more comfy. Plus, it’s closer to home in regard to driving. Therefore, I can be thankful to have a shorter drive. But it’s more expensive.

I like that last train. I’m sure I’ll do it again.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Soundless Sunday: Nov. 11

November 11, 2012

“The only way to be sure of catching a train is to miss the one before it.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Choo, choo!

Soundless Sunday is a weekly feature where I’ll try and feature a favorite quote and a photo that I’ve taken. Enjoy life — it’s the only way to go!