overall, I think I'm lucky
Putting my large story of transportation adventures behind a cut
So to get to the airport from work, I take the path from Hoboken to the Pavonia/Newport station, transfer there for the Journal Square train, take that one all the way to the end, and transfer there for the Newark Penn Station train. Then I switch from the path trains to the heavy rail and take either the NE Corridor Line or the New Jersey Coast Line one stop to the airport, then take the monorail to terminal C.
At least, that was the plan. The heavy rail trains here are pretty poorly documented. The only place I've been able to see where they say what train is what is the overhead screens. They only have overhead screens in the major terminals, and for the smaller stations, they announce some of the trains that stop at the station. But that's ok, I find the proper track and train and get on.
Only apparently it's an express train. So I get an express ride 30 minutes west of where I want to go. But that's ok, I gave myself plenty of time, I'll just get off and go the other direction. Lucky for me, they didn't check tickets on that train, so I wasn't double-charged.
So I re-buy a ticket for the other direction, and wait for the train that should arrive in 4 minutes. This will get me to the airport 1h45m ahead of my flight, but that's still plenty of time.
Then they start announcing train delays and cancellations. I wait there for over an hour when finally a train (with shoulder-to-shoulder standing room only) shows up. I get to the checkin kiosks 30 minutes before my plane is scheduled to take off, and it refuses to check me in.
But! The plane was delayed an hour, and the peeps behind the desk check me in manually. Now I'm waiting by the gate for the airplane to arrive.
So to get to the airport from work, I take the path from Hoboken to the Pavonia/Newport station, transfer there for the Journal Square train, take that one all the way to the end, and transfer there for the Newark Penn Station train. Then I switch from the path trains to the heavy rail and take either the NE Corridor Line or the New Jersey Coast Line one stop to the airport, then take the monorail to terminal C.
At least, that was the plan. The heavy rail trains here are pretty poorly documented. The only place I've been able to see where they say what train is what is the overhead screens. They only have overhead screens in the major terminals, and for the smaller stations, they announce some of the trains that stop at the station. But that's ok, I find the proper track and train and get on.
Only apparently it's an express train. So I get an express ride 30 minutes west of where I want to go. But that's ok, I gave myself plenty of time, I'll just get off and go the other direction. Lucky for me, they didn't check tickets on that train, so I wasn't double-charged.
So I re-buy a ticket for the other direction, and wait for the train that should arrive in 4 minutes. This will get me to the airport 1h45m ahead of my flight, but that's still plenty of time.
Then they start announcing train delays and cancellations. I wait there for over an hour when finally a train (with shoulder-to-shoulder standing room only) shows up. I get to the checkin kiosks 30 minutes before my plane is scheduled to take off, and it refuses to check me in.
But! The plane was delayed an hour, and the peeps behind the desk check me in manually. Now I'm waiting by the gate for the airplane to arrive.