January 03, 2006
West Lafayette >> London
This is the first part of my blogseries (as oppose to miniseries) regarding London/Cardiff trip. The photo shows Lafayette train station where I embarked on an unforgettable adventure.
December 18, 2005
I'll never forget Amtrak. The name caused resonance of panic, anger and resentment. The blue and red emblem make me recoil ever since that nasty incident I experienced with Amtrak service which I'm about to tell now.
My journey began with a 3-hour ride from West Lafayette to Union Station in downtown Chicago. I have 3 alternatives to get to my destination: Greyhound, ExpressAir coach or Amtrak. I chose the latter because it was the cheapest among all choices, and it proved to be reliable last time when Joyce came to Lafayette using the metal locomotive. It came on time. I happily boarded the train and, as it cruised steadily vertically across Indiana, I popped deeply into 'Pride and Prejudice'.
After 2 hours, it suddenly came to a halt in the middle of nowhere. I stirred from the nuances of Longbourn and the Bennetts and looked around, noticing all the other passengers did the same thing too. Maybe it's just a regular halt, I thought. But after half an hour, I sensed that something was amissed. Confronting the ticket collector, I asked him why did the train stopped for so long. He answered, unsatisfactorily, that the train was changing crews. I was bamboozled. Why does a train need crew renewal in the middle of a journey? I went back to my seat.
An hour passed. I was impatient now. The train had not even moved an inch closer to Chicago. I went back to the ticket collector again and demanded an explanation. Mopping his forehead, he said the train had stopped operating and 2 buses had been called to pick us up to Union Station. I was so exasperated to the point that I scolded him. I was so afraid of missing my flight. The buses would come in only 1 hour's time, and by then it would be too late.
Amtrak screwed my holiday!
I called a cab company immediately. It charged $120 to get to Union station, and needed 30 minutes to send a cab to where i was. It's not a solution at all, but I had no other choice. After confirming the cab, I waited. And waited. And waited. My heartbeat and pulse increased every passing minute.
The bus came 1 hour later and the cab was still nowhere to be seen. It's up to the bus afterall. No way I was going to catch my plane now. My last hope was to call studentuniverse and pray hard for 2 things: that there's another flight to London that day; and that i could still change my flight schedule. Thank God there's a direct flight to London that night at 10pm, and there's still a seat left. Paid $50 to secure the seat.
Phew!
But still, I'm pissed that Amtrak screwed everything up. Upon reaching Union Station, I went to its office straight away and complained. And guess what the lady behind the counter told me?
"The train encountered some mechanical problem, and it was delayed. Things like that happen sometimes. There's nothing we can do. It's not like we planned it to happen. I'm so sorry sir. You can call this number (pointing to a leaflet) for customer service. Thank you."
I found out later on that the crew on the train I was on had a strike and abandoned us. What a liar.
After lunch, I walked around the downtown area, snapped some photos, and took the blue line to O'hare International Airport. I checked in 4 hours earlier in fear of losing the flight again. Peter and Boon Chuan called, and they were shock when I broke the news to them. Peter was worried I would be bored that he talked to me for half an hour. Talked to an old lady (heading for Santa Anna, California) for an hour. Read P&P for the rest of the time. Finally boarded the plane to London.
To be continued>>
Posted by peixin at January 3, 2006 08:15 AM
Comments
Hei, C-A-L-M-D-O-W-N, don't lose your cool ! Actually you are soooooo 'LUCKY' to get involved in the first mass transit walkout since 11-day strike in New York in 1980.
Posted by: sigmatau at January 4, 2006 12:05 PM