wayman
Engineer
So, this is Amtrak rail travel, AGR calculations, non-Amtrak rail travel, and upcoming member travel, all in one... but the part I'm least certain of is how many AGR I'll wind up with after all of this, so I'm posting it here for anyone who wants to check my math.
Goal #1: I need two more NEC >$50 segments by March 14th to qualify for the B2G1 AGR promotion.
Goal #2: I want to visit a friend in DC, and the weekend of February 27th works for both of us.
So, there's a very easy way to fulfill both goals: just pick PHL-WAS and WAS-PHL regionals that have bumped up to the $63 bucket (from the $44 low bucket). That's exactly what I did for my inauguration trip in January.
But... other seemingly unrelated goals...
Goal #3: Take a trip to Atlantic City sometime soon for a poker tournament.
Goal #4: Ride ACES.
Goal #5: Eventually ride all of Boston, Mass, to Fredricksburg/Manassas, VA, via non-Amtrak (not necessarily in a single trip!). Using non-Amtrak methods to bridge Newark-to-Perryville and Providence/Worcester-to-New London, which is the added challenge, since no non-Amtrak rail options exist for those.
And I think I can accomplish Goals #1-4, and knock out the Sharon Hill-WAS stretch of Goal #5, with only two weekend trips.
Trip #1:
Friday 27 February
SEPTA R2
dep.Sharon Hill 11.51, arr.Wilmington 12.24
"DART connecting service" (on R2 schedule)
dep.Wilmington 12.37, arr.Newark 13.07
Fare: $3.50 (Intermediate Advanced Zone 2 to Zone 5) (would be $4.75 if from PHL, for reference)
DART Bus 65
dep.Newark R2 Station 13.42, arr.Elkton North & High Sts 13.57
Fare: $1.15
C.T. Cruiser "The Bus, Perryville Connection"
dep.Elkton 241 North St (at High St) 14.05, arr.Perryville MARC Station 14.42
Fare: $3.00
MARC Penn Line
dep.Perryville 15.00, arr.WAS 16.42
Fare: $11.00
TOTAL Fare for Sharon Hill-WAS: $18.65, plus a token to get to Sharon Hill
(would be $19.90 plus $4.25 if it was a full PHL-WAS plus Lansdowne-PHL, for reference)
Sunday 1 March
Amtrak NEC Regional 182
dep.WAS 19.20, arr.PHL 21.12
Fare: currently at the $63 bucket ($56.70 with AAA)
Total Trip #1 fare is $75.35 (would've been $113.40 round-trip Amtrak).
That leaves one more NEC >$50 trip to qualify for the B2G1 free round trip, which I can get with...
Trip #2:
Friday 6 March
Amtrak NEC Reg 130
dep.PHL 08.30, arr.NYP 09.59
Fare: currently at $64 bucket ($57.60 with AAA)
ACES 7163
dep.NYP 14.30, arr.ACE 17.16 (note different Atlantic City station code for ACES)
Fare: currently at $44.00 bucket
Jitney Bus to Showboat Casino and back for the 7 PM $65 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament
(I mean, when in Atlantic City... and I was a pro poker player in Vegas for a while....)
Saturday 7 March
New Jersey Transit Atlantic City Line
dep.ACY 01.45 (or 05.45), arr.PHL 03.17 (or 07.24)
Fare: $8.00
Total Trip #2 fare is $109.60 (would be only $16 round-trip by NJT-ACL).
So, Trip #1 + Trip #2 = $184.95.
Alternately, doing PHL-WAS-PHL on Amtrak would cost $113.40 (to qualify for B2G1), and doing the cheapest possible trip on ACES (just to get to ride it) from Philadelphia (NJT to Atlantic City, round-trip to Newark on ACES, NJT back to Philadelphia) costs about $16+$98=$114, for a grand total of about $228 ... so I'm saving about $43 by taking these two trips in this fashion.... I think? Which is roughly the cost of the poker tournament...![Roll Eyes :rolleyes: :rolleyes:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Assuming I book the whole thing with my AGR-MC, booking the NJT-ACL trip "to Paoli" (required, but I don't have to take that leg on the same day), I think Trip #1 and Trip #2 combine for...
114 AGR Rail Points from WAS-PHL ($56.70)
114 AGR Chase AGR-MC Amtrak-Purchase Points
114 AGR AGR 2xMasterCard Promotion Points
116 AGR Rail Points from PHL-NYP ($57.60)
116 AGR Chase AGR-MC Amtrak-Purchase Points
116 AGR AGR 2xMasterCard Promotion Points
88 AGR Chase AGR-MC Amtrak-Purchase Points (ACES $44 fare; but no rail points from this)
100 AGR Rail Points from ACY-PHL
16 AGR Chase AGR-MC Amtrak-Purchase Points (NJT $8 fare)
TOTAL 330 AGR Rail Points, and 564 additional AGR, for a total of 894 AGR.
Plus the 100 AGR Rail Points, and 14 additional AGR, for the PHL-PAO leg that I'll have to purchase with this but will take on a later date.
Plus a free round-trip on the NEC sometime this June, from the AGR B2G1 promotion![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Can somebody double-check that math? :huh: :unsure:
Also, can somebody confirm that taking these two trips makes some small degree of sense ... in addition to being totally nuts? :unsure: :blink:
:lol:
(And with this, I'll have finished WAS-to-Westport, CT, towards Goal #5; also Manassas-to-Alexandria, but not Alexandria-to-WAS unless we count Alexandria/KingSt-Rosslyn-MetroCenter-WAS.)
Goal #1: I need two more NEC >$50 segments by March 14th to qualify for the B2G1 AGR promotion.
Goal #2: I want to visit a friend in DC, and the weekend of February 27th works for both of us.
So, there's a very easy way to fulfill both goals: just pick PHL-WAS and WAS-PHL regionals that have bumped up to the $63 bucket (from the $44 low bucket). That's exactly what I did for my inauguration trip in January.
But... other seemingly unrelated goals...
Goal #3: Take a trip to Atlantic City sometime soon for a poker tournament.
Goal #4: Ride ACES.
Goal #5: Eventually ride all of Boston, Mass, to Fredricksburg/Manassas, VA, via non-Amtrak (not necessarily in a single trip!). Using non-Amtrak methods to bridge Newark-to-Perryville and Providence/Worcester-to-New London, which is the added challenge, since no non-Amtrak rail options exist for those.
And I think I can accomplish Goals #1-4, and knock out the Sharon Hill-WAS stretch of Goal #5, with only two weekend trips.
Trip #1:
Friday 27 February
SEPTA R2
dep.Sharon Hill 11.51, arr.Wilmington 12.24
"DART connecting service" (on R2 schedule)
dep.Wilmington 12.37, arr.Newark 13.07
Fare: $3.50 (Intermediate Advanced Zone 2 to Zone 5) (would be $4.75 if from PHL, for reference)
DART Bus 65
dep.Newark R2 Station 13.42, arr.Elkton North & High Sts 13.57
Fare: $1.15
C.T. Cruiser "The Bus, Perryville Connection"
dep.Elkton 241 North St (at High St) 14.05, arr.Perryville MARC Station 14.42
Fare: $3.00
MARC Penn Line
dep.Perryville 15.00, arr.WAS 16.42
Fare: $11.00
TOTAL Fare for Sharon Hill-WAS: $18.65, plus a token to get to Sharon Hill
(would be $19.90 plus $4.25 if it was a full PHL-WAS plus Lansdowne-PHL, for reference)
Sunday 1 March
Amtrak NEC Regional 182
dep.WAS 19.20, arr.PHL 21.12
Fare: currently at the $63 bucket ($56.70 with AAA)
Total Trip #1 fare is $75.35 (would've been $113.40 round-trip Amtrak).
That leaves one more NEC >$50 trip to qualify for the B2G1 free round trip, which I can get with...
Trip #2:
Friday 6 March
Amtrak NEC Reg 130
dep.PHL 08.30, arr.NYP 09.59
Fare: currently at $64 bucket ($57.60 with AAA)
ACES 7163
dep.NYP 14.30, arr.ACE 17.16 (note different Atlantic City station code for ACES)
Fare: currently at $44.00 bucket
Jitney Bus to Showboat Casino and back for the 7 PM $65 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament
(I mean, when in Atlantic City... and I was a pro poker player in Vegas for a while....)
Saturday 7 March
New Jersey Transit Atlantic City Line
dep.ACY 01.45 (or 05.45), arr.PHL 03.17 (or 07.24)
Fare: $8.00
Total Trip #2 fare is $109.60 (would be only $16 round-trip by NJT-ACL).
So, Trip #1 + Trip #2 = $184.95.
Alternately, doing PHL-WAS-PHL on Amtrak would cost $113.40 (to qualify for B2G1), and doing the cheapest possible trip on ACES (just to get to ride it) from Philadelphia (NJT to Atlantic City, round-trip to Newark on ACES, NJT back to Philadelphia) costs about $16+$98=$114, for a grand total of about $228 ... so I'm saving about $43 by taking these two trips in this fashion.... I think? Which is roughly the cost of the poker tournament...
Assuming I book the whole thing with my AGR-MC, booking the NJT-ACL trip "to Paoli" (required, but I don't have to take that leg on the same day), I think Trip #1 and Trip #2 combine for...
114 AGR Rail Points from WAS-PHL ($56.70)
114 AGR Chase AGR-MC Amtrak-Purchase Points
114 AGR AGR 2xMasterCard Promotion Points
116 AGR Rail Points from PHL-NYP ($57.60)
116 AGR Chase AGR-MC Amtrak-Purchase Points
116 AGR AGR 2xMasterCard Promotion Points
88 AGR Chase AGR-MC Amtrak-Purchase Points (ACES $44 fare; but no rail points from this)
100 AGR Rail Points from ACY-PHL
16 AGR Chase AGR-MC Amtrak-Purchase Points (NJT $8 fare)
TOTAL 330 AGR Rail Points, and 564 additional AGR, for a total of 894 AGR.
Plus the 100 AGR Rail Points, and 14 additional AGR, for the PHL-PAO leg that I'll have to purchase with this but will take on a later date.
Plus a free round-trip on the NEC sometime this June, from the AGR B2G1 promotion
Can somebody double-check that math? :huh: :unsure:
Also, can somebody confirm that taking these two trips makes some small degree of sense ... in addition to being totally nuts? :unsure: :blink:
(And with this, I'll have finished WAS-to-Westport, CT, towards Goal #5; also Manassas-to-Alexandria, but not Alexandria-to-WAS unless we count Alexandria/KingSt-Rosslyn-MetroCenter-WAS.)
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