Toronto vacation - travel
Oh, how I wish I were still in Toronto!
We arrived in TO on Sunday eve. We took an Amtrak train there. Now...I'd heard about issues at the border and had expected some delays. Figure customs people have to go to each person on the entire train...yeah...it's gonna take a while. We were prepared with reading materials, puzzle books, and Old Time Radio shows on O's iPod. The train was delayed 1.5 hours because of track work between Syracuse and Rochester. Well...whaddya gonna do? After the train arrived, we sat toward the back and got settled in.
Not having travelled by train in many, many years (I think I was in 6th grade or so...), we didn't realize that the paper tags sticking up near seats meant that someone had already claimed that spot and was probably elsewhere on the train. Oops. Thankfully, a very nice passenger let us know before we got TOO settled. We ended up by the emergency exit and had a nice ride. O grabbed a veggie burger for lunch. I wasn't hungry.
Then...customs. Oh boy. It was a good thing we were prepared. We crossed the Niagara River gorge (beautiful, by the way!) and the train sat at the border for over 1.5 hours. By the time we got moving, we were a little anxious, as you also cannot use the toilet while you are waiting for the train to be cleared through customs. After crossing my legs for FAR too long, the train was cleared and I made it to the closet. Ugh...somebody had left a solid surprise in the toilet and it had congealed. Ew ew ew. Plus, the seat was disgustingly wet. Soap + water + paper towels took care of that. And nature took care of the rest of me.
Once my stomach stopped turning, O kindly went to the cafe car for me to grab food. We thought a veggie burger would be good, but lo...the menu changed at customs. No veggie burgers, but they did have an egg salad sammich which I took my luck with. No issues from the sandwich, thank goodness! Egg salad is always dicey. O also very kindly bought me a Guinness, which was the only beer I had on the trip. (More in future installments...) Yay O!
The train to Toronto was non-stop, so we made very good time. We pulled in to Union station and used the facilities, as neither of us wanted to use the train bathroom again. We FINALLY found our way out to the street and I was walking toward the subway stop when O shouted my name. I turned around and saw that she was picking something up from the street. $120. Canadian. Whoa.
Now...I've been in the situation where I've been travelling and lost cash. It's not a fun place to be. We looked around, but there was nobody looking for anything on the ground. I felt uncomfortable taking the cash and using it, but O reminded me that if it went unclaimed at the Lost and Found, it would be split among the ppl there. We resolved to use part of the money in a good way and enjoy the rest. With me still feeling uneasy..., we boarded the subway train and headed to the hotel, arriving around 8:30 PM or so. The rest of the evening was uneventful, as we were too tired for anything.
Soon to come:
Day 1...Gay Day!
Day 2-O's Day
Day 3-Me Day
Travel home...
We arrived in TO on Sunday eve. We took an Amtrak train there. Now...I'd heard about issues at the border and had expected some delays. Figure customs people have to go to each person on the entire train...yeah...it's gonna take a while. We were prepared with reading materials, puzzle books, and Old Time Radio shows on O's iPod. The train was delayed 1.5 hours because of track work between Syracuse and Rochester. Well...whaddya gonna do? After the train arrived, we sat toward the back and got settled in.
Not having travelled by train in many, many years (I think I was in 6th grade or so...), we didn't realize that the paper tags sticking up near seats meant that someone had already claimed that spot and was probably elsewhere on the train. Oops. Thankfully, a very nice passenger let us know before we got TOO settled. We ended up by the emergency exit and had a nice ride. O grabbed a veggie burger for lunch. I wasn't hungry.
Then...customs. Oh boy. It was a good thing we were prepared. We crossed the Niagara River gorge (beautiful, by the way!) and the train sat at the border for over 1.5 hours. By the time we got moving, we were a little anxious, as you also cannot use the toilet while you are waiting for the train to be cleared through customs. After crossing my legs for FAR too long, the train was cleared and I made it to the closet. Ugh...somebody had left a solid surprise in the toilet and it had congealed. Ew ew ew. Plus, the seat was disgustingly wet. Soap + water + paper towels took care of that. And nature took care of the rest of me.
Once my stomach stopped turning, O kindly went to the cafe car for me to grab food. We thought a veggie burger would be good, but lo...the menu changed at customs. No veggie burgers, but they did have an egg salad sammich which I took my luck with. No issues from the sandwich, thank goodness! Egg salad is always dicey. O also very kindly bought me a Guinness, which was the only beer I had on the trip. (More in future installments...) Yay O!
The train to Toronto was non-stop, so we made very good time. We pulled in to Union station and used the facilities, as neither of us wanted to use the train bathroom again. We FINALLY found our way out to the street and I was walking toward the subway stop when O shouted my name. I turned around and saw that she was picking something up from the street. $120. Canadian. Whoa.
Now...I've been in the situation where I've been travelling and lost cash. It's not a fun place to be. We looked around, but there was nobody looking for anything on the ground. I felt uncomfortable taking the cash and using it, but O reminded me that if it went unclaimed at the Lost and Found, it would be split among the ppl there. We resolved to use part of the money in a good way and enjoy the rest. With me still feeling uneasy..., we boarded the subway train and headed to the hotel, arriving around 8:30 PM or so. The rest of the evening was uneventful, as we were too tired for anything.
Soon to come:
Day 1...Gay Day!
Day 2-O's Day
Day 3-Me Day
Travel home...