Day 7 - Train Ride to New York

The alarm went off at 5:45

Last night was a night of sensible choices so although tired, we were none the worse for partying

After a quick breakfast of croissants- with me going for the traditional strawberry jam and Joss going for peanut butter and jam (smelled as bad as it sounds) we were off to the station with the world’s chattiest taxi driver

The station was quite picturesque 

Unfortunately we were told that due to the rail works meaning that we end up in Grand central rather than Penn central, all business class had been cancelled for the summer

Boo

But we’d get a refund

Yay

But it wouldn’t be much

Boo

We were told to go down a huge walkway and find gate 20

There was no gate 20

Then Joss found a lift that said 20, but that couldn’t be it could it?

While Joss waited for the lift I looked round the corner and when I looked back, she’d disappeared

Surely she wouldn’t have gone without me

She’s got the tickets

I walked around for about 3 minutes completely bemused until I saw her waving at the end of a queue at gate 16

They’d got it wrong, she explained

Then a lady walked down the line and asked for any business class passengers

Yes, I said

And we were escorted to the front of the queue

It’s the nearest experience I’ve had to turning left on a plane

Sure, we ended up on the same train, but still

To be fair even not in business, the train was lovely

And I started to take some nice pictures

Then at Niagara New York, we were told to get off the train with all our bags to go through customs before going back in there same train

Sounds easy, until I heard the guard say that if you have ANY problems getting in, the train wasn’t waiting

As part of the process you have to submit your fingerprints and both Joss and I said afterwards that we actually felt guilty doing it!!

But safely through and time for lunch on the train

I walked to the buffet carriage to be told that not only was it not open until the announcement, that I shouldn’t have opened he secured door either

Oops

When it was announced, I begged Joss not to make me go back to the 3 foot 6 scary woman who’d told me off, but she was having none of it

We had buffalo chicken and blue cheese wraps with the wraps being an unusual orange colour 

No doubt what the star was though

Every now and then I managed to get a good pic of the scenery but in fairness we were going so fast my catlike reflexes weren’t quick enough

Just take it from me, there were some nice views

Our moment of genius was having more wine

We talked we drank we ate we laughed

Then we were very very tired

We had to switch at Albany and after that he last couple of hours were difficult to keep our eyes open

Let’s just say I was far more successful, but am too much a gentleman to post the proof...

Then, we were here at Grand Central

We’ve already noticed how New Yorkers differ from Canadians

As we asked where the cabs were, we got a disinterested point at the door

In Toronto, we’d have been escorted over

After joining a taxi line, which you would never guess was a line for a taxi ( we had to be “told”) a taxi turned up and I showed myself as the real petrol head male, by not being able to open the boot, I mean trunk

He lost brownie points, however, as he didn’t know where the New Yorker hotel was and I had to type it into his google maps

We checked in and needed some food

There’s a 24 hour diner attached to the hotel and I had a steak sandwich while Joss had, and I quote, “the best spaghetti bolognaise she’s ever had on a night”

Praise indeed

Tired but happy diner shot

We finally bought some water from over the road and hit the hay

New York isn’t going to know what’s hit it, but not tonight, we’re a bit tired ...