Joshua's Thoughts

as i write this, i’m riding along an acela train at 150 mph down the east coast headed towards penn. station, nyc. ah yes. this is the life. first class. free breakfast. free internet. electrical access for my laptop.

but getting to this comfy radiohead-nirvana required some quick learning and slight anxiety (from not knowing what to expect). here’s some helpful information for those who will be riding a long-distance train for the first time.

parking

i left from station RTE on rt. 128 in westwood, ma. when you exit, take your first left and go straight. park in the first big parking lot on your left just after the first light. the signs aren’t exactly explicit about whether or not mbta or amtrak have different parking or the same.

you won’t need to pay up front. just get a ticket, park, and head towards the back of the garage – which also happens to be the entrance to the station.

don’t stress out about getting cash beforehand for parking and make sure your tank has enough gas to get to the station. you wouldn’t want your gas light to come on just as you leave the house as mine did.

**Update **
the cost for parking for 1 night was $20.

getting your ticket

as i said above, you should head to the back of the parking garage to enter to the train station. as soon as you go in, you’ll see the ticket counter to your left.

give them your confirmation name and/or last name so that they can find your ticket. they’ll check your id and issue you your paper tickets. i left at 7:30 am and there were not very many people in line. just one actually.

getting to the right track

nothing on the ticket indicates which “track” you should go to and i couldn’t really tell if the RTE station had more than one track – so, i just went to track #1. that worked.

knowing where to stand (how to board)

once i got on the track, i had no idea where to stand. this wasn’t the mbta where you can sit anywhere. did i have an assigned seat? did i need to show my ticket to anyone? would there be a place to put my stuff?

i ended up asking a nice old lady to point me in the direction, but basically it works like this: the train from boston to nyc will arrive from your left and leave to your right. first class is all the way to the left at the back of the train. the rest of the trains are business class.

board anywhere in the right class of car. the car will say on it which class it is. when you go in, you’ll see closets to put large luggage in. sit anywhere. i chose a seat at a small table with another guy who had his laptop out. in fact, he’s sitting in front of me right now drinking his coffee and looking angry.

just like on an airplane, there is room up top to put more luggage.

settling in

once you’ve found your seat, if you have a laptop, take it out with the accessories. throw everything else up top. plugs will be on bottom edge of the wall near where you sit. music is mandatory. i highly recommend scarface – no tears as an alternative to coffee.

what to do with your ticket

on the back of every seat is a little strap for you to stick your ticket in. i had no idea i needed to do this. i just saw everyone else doing it so i followed (that’s very not like me btw, but anyways).

turns out, a man will come buy and rip most of your ticket in half and leave your stub in the strap.

getting to your destination

enjoy your relatively smooth trip. you’ll hear someone come on the overhead speaker and state where we’re about to arrive. don’t worry – the sound comes in clear, unlike most mbta trains.

well, it looks like i just entered connecticut. it won’t be long before i’m at penn. station stumbling around nyc to find my hotel and the conference location. i’ll save that for another post.

good luck first time train riders.