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I always get there early so I can get a seat in the quiet car.
 
^ Not really possible at Penn Station. The train arrives from DC and will remain half full before anyone boarding at NY gets on. It arrives on some usual tracks, but you never know which, so you have to get lucky and hang around the right entrance to beat everyone else. If not, you have to race a stampede of people who can be very aggressive. Then once you're down at the track, it's not always immediately clear where the quiet car even is, unless you want to seek out a conductor and have other good seats be taken by someone else. I usually consider myself lucky to have gotten any seat at all before the train starts moving.

Maybe I've just been doing this wrong?
 
Meh, I was thinking about it from Boston. I don't mind it being noisy or whatever on my way back home because I'm energized from the day anyway and want to eat, read, play games, etc. I usually take a very early Acela train on the way to NYC so I get a good start to the day arriving around 9AM, and that is when I want the peace and quiet.
 
czsz said:
^ Not really possible at Penn Station. The train arrives from DC and will remain half full before anyone boarding at NY gets on. It arrives on some usual tracks, but you never know which, so you have to get lucky and hang around the right entrance to beat everyone else. If not, you have to race a stampede of people who can be very aggressive. Then once you're down at the track, it's not always immediately clear where the quiet car even is, unless you want to seek out a conductor and have other good seats be taken by someone else. I usually consider myself lucky to have gotten any seat at all before the train starts moving.

Maybe I've just been doing this wrong?
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First Class is always either the first car in the trainset, or the last. Next car after that's always the Quiet Car. You can tell which end is First Class by watching for First Class pre-boarding.

First Class and the Quiet Car are also clearly labeled on the exterior of the train at each of their respective doors (darker shade of blue is First Class, the Quiet Car has the Quiet Car symbol), but that's not super helpful if you're wandering inside the train.
 
czsz said:
there's one at around 2:30AM now, but come on...
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My girlfriend and I made a day trip down to NYC last Summer and we enjoyed taking this train back because it took so long (it runs diesel and slow due to night maintenance during these hours). That meant we could just sleep on the train rather than do nothing on the way back only to go to sleep. In the downtime from all the touristy stuff closing (11PMish?) to the departure, we sat and watched the Statue of Liberty as waves hit the seawall and people cast their fishing lines. It was so relaxing. I can't imagine leaving on an earlier train now.

Unfortunately she hates DC, but I'm hoping we can sleep on an overnight train to DC and then sleep on the overnight train back. Half the reason I want to do it is simply to push the limit on day tripping. :rolleyes:
 
czsz said:
I usually consider myself lucky to have gotten any seat at all before the train starts moving.

Maybe I've just been doing this wrong?
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Spend some time inspecting the "Arrival Screen" next time you are there.
 
Matthew said:
Spend some time inspecting the "Arrival Screen" next time you are there.
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Yeah, this is one of the tricks I know. It's always displayed before announced. The problem is, most people riding the Acela are experienced and know the ins and outs too.

Really, Amtrak needs to add a lot more trains to bring down the price, make scheduling more convenient, and not run every single service at capacity.
 
BarbaricManchurian said:
Google Street View got updated, and one of the most fascinating new additions is the old part of Macau. It's simply incredible if you're a fan of well-made/slightly decaying/incredibly vibrant urban spaces.

http://goo.gl/maps/4NMR3

http://goo.gl/maps/1SyOd

http://goo.gl/maps/yutJt

The density is out of this world!
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I want to go to there.

Are they kidding with this?! Unvelievable.
https://maps.google.com/?ll=22.1888...G60-GtXhaYiPZ9iQA&cbp=12,55.21,,0,-20.23&z=19
 
I've been. It's amazing. Too bad most of the territory has been taken over by Las Vegas-style casinos.

One weird thing about Macau: law requires that all signs be partly in Portuguese, but virtually no one actually speaks it.
 
The petitioners say that private car owners are suffering because of the preferential treatment given to public transport.
"Car owners are the creators of wealth. Do you realize that they get exhausted sitting in their cars due to traffic jams and they reach office completely tired? It affects their efficiency. Do you want them to perform less?"
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link
 
"Car owners are the creators of wealth. Do you realize that they get exhausted sitting in their cars due to traffic jams and they reach office completely tired? It affects their efficiency. Do you want them to perform less?"
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That comment summarizes a sentiment shared by a lot of people in India. I've never been somewhere where there's such open contempt for the lower classes.
 
czsz said:
Maybe I've just been doing this wrong?
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Use your ticket to wait in the lounge at NYP, camp out directly in front of the arrivals screen (you need to know your train number). The INSTANT it displays book it for the stairs / escalator under the main board in the concourse, which gets to the stairs to the platforms underneath the main concourse, which are unguarded and do not require ticket checks. You will get to the platform most of the time before the train even pulls in, able to board as soon as everyone NY bound gets off. You can be relaxing in your choice seat about 5-10 minutes before the cattle upstairs come down the escalator.

You're welcome.


czsz said:
The bus is somehow always quiet...
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It's because the bus is such a cramped, miserable, long debacle everyone goes to sleep as fast as possible to get it over with.
 
Yeah, the lower level is the LIRR level, go straight to the platform as soon as its posted on the Arrivals, and you can avoid the idiotic cattle call. Honestly, it usually takes Amtrak 10 minutes after it arrives to actually announce the train, and there's rarely more than a couple other clued-in riders on the platform with me.
 
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