Around the World II

Day 31 - Sat 1 May 2004

Boston

May Day! Up for my final breakfast at the B&B. Took a taxi to South Station, with a very talkative taxi driver from Hati.

First Class

I managed to get a $40 voucher from Amtrak as my train was 2hrs late. That (and the $15 I got before) made the $87 upgrade to first class a no-brainer. Spent the hour before departure in the Amtrak lounge (with free Internet access!).

Well I'm on the train now, and guess what? It stopped at Back Bay! 150mph seems to be the top speed, but it's not exactly smooth. I've just had a very nice duck salad and a red wine (it's only 11:30am!). The rest of the train must be full - they've just made a call to remove all bags from the seats.

I didn't realise that this train went through New York! If I had more time I'd stop but Emerald is waiting! 1st class is the way to travel, I'm so glad I upgraded!

The countryside here has a lot of trees, but the strange thing is that none of them are very large. Did they get zapped by fire, or cut down to build stuff? It's still winter here - no buds or anything.

We're now running down the coast, and the views are amazing - I bet this trip looks good during the autumn. I've moved seat (again) to try to get a better view. As we travel south the trees are starting to bud, and there's even blossom.

Got a great view of New York on the way in across a bridge. Philadelphia is the next stop.

Got chatting to a lady who is an advertising exec. She's off to the Correspondent Ball tonight. She's into climbing, and has done Kilimanjaro, and almost as many countries as I have. Arrived in DC, and was collected by Emerald and David - did a whistle stop tour of downtown DC. Drove past the FBI building, the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, and the Reflecting pool.

Walked past the front of the White House, and saw the Capital Building.