Day Trip to Philly

[user 1215]

Well, a pretty non-eventful trip to Philadelphia and back from DC today. Northbound was perfect. I had two club access passes and went to the lounge just long enough to grab a coffee. Didn't get my pass taken as the attendant was getting her own breakfast and just left the door open. Probably there less than 10 minutes.

Pretty full train, but family sat together. Very nice.

I'm currently on 135 southbound. It is pretty packed. Turns out folks here are as bad as they are in California in giving up the seat accommodating their man or lady purse. The four of us are close. Got three together and I'm two rows up. Train is about 25 minutes late. Seems to have started with congestion from train 92 getting out of the gate late in NYP.

Philly was nice. Beautiful station. Wife was exhausted early. Used Acela club pass and hung out in there for three hours. Only complaint was that we were LAST to the platform.

Otherwise a great trip and back.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Nice day trip! Question: did y'all use the elevator from the lounge to reach the platform?

Usually the attendant sends you down in the elevator before the thundering herd comes down the stairs from the waiting hall!

 

[user 1215]

We did take the elevator, but after the masses already arrived.

Lounge snacks are way better in the AM!

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

I am glad you had a good trip. That was a long day, though--no wonder your wife was exhausted! I hope you and your family will have a chance to come back up to Philly and spend more than one day--you can get some surprisingly good hotel deals in the off-season, even in Center City (unless the flower show or dog show is going on).

If you do come back, try the redcaps to take you down to the train. You can even leave your luggage with them, then hang out in the lounge if you want, then just go back to the redcap area by the time they give you. They always take people down to the train before the gate opens for the regular line.

Finally, I am so sorry you ran into such rude people on the trip back. Between New York and DC, Amtrak has become a sort of glorified commuter rail with some of the self-centered crowd on it. North of New York, the Regionals take on a whole different character--people are more relaxed and friendly.

 

[user 1215]

Alright - first time at a real computer since the trip!

Mystic: Perhaps my exhausted state of mind was overemotional. But, to a degree justifiable. Honestly, it doesn't matter if you are first down the steps or last. Mostly full train gets there about when everyone is on the platform. Redcap, kindergarten line, Club Acela really makes no difference. Everyone boards through 6 sets of doors at the same time.

Which makes me wonder why they even need to line everyone up at the top of the escalator to begin with. The platforms at Philly are much more spacious than NYP.

On a busy day, a family of four just won't sit together boarding in Philly. Some folks moved around to accommodate us (without telling us - ie: moved to another seat saying nothing rather than "Here, let me let your family sit together". And you wonder if they will return. I was rather put out by just about everyone sitting in a single seat doing just about everything they could to make the other seat look occupied. From sitting in the aisle with their stuff at the window, bags on the other seat, or just simply sitting across both. At one point, I got frustrated and told the conductor how hard it was for me to find seats remotely close to each other and he said "Trust me, I'm working on it." Never saw him again.

Something that I learned (was probably told this but forgot) was that with a same day Amtrak ticket, you can ride the regional rail and not have to ride the streetcars/subways. As much as I wanted to ride everything that rolled on steel, all I got in was a round trip to Market and back to 30th. Sigh.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

VentureForth:

First and most important, I am glad you and your family got back safely (if tired)!

Going down with the redcap at PHL gives me a window between when a lot of people get off there and the new crowd comes down the steps, so I can usually find a seat. But that's traveling by myself--I can see that it would be almost impossible for four people to find a seat together.

What those rude people need is a dose of a no-nonsense SEPTA conductor--I got on SEPTA once at TRE with my suitcase, and I had barely stepped onto the train before the conductor came through. She gave me (the most harmless-looking person imaginable) a look that said "Don't mess with me!" and said "We're going to be full--get that suitcase up on the rack!"

Many of us up here really are polite and considerate (or try to be), but the other type is more noticeable. I love going south--as soon as I get into Virginia, everyone is so polite, and it is so refreshing.

The Amtrak ticket will allow you to take regional rail to Suburban or Market East, and actually that round trip to Market shows you some nice things--the art museum and the outside of 30th Street, plus a river, so you didn't do badly for one short regional rail trip!