It Appoaches

My last trip, to Boston, was relative simple for both planning and execution. No hotels were involved as my travel was overnight. Locating a hotel withing walking distance or on transit lines, can make such trip hard and expensive. My trip to Newark, NJ and than to watch is a matter of where to spend the night. The only hotels near train stations are expensive. When you get to the less expensive hotels they are either on the highway far from transportation or they are the no tell motel variety. They can be in dangerous neighborhoods or not very good accommodations. So, choosing a hotel that is reasonable but convenient to trains, becomes difficult. That is if you are arriving by train or plane.

Thank goodness for the internet. We have reviews of hotel and other things online. They have to taken with a grain of salt, however. The review may come from a year or two ago and does not reflect a remodel, a change in staff, or change in community. Than there is personal bias. I might not like that northern BBQ being raised on eastern NC BBQ. I won't even go near western NC BBQ, for instance. Than there is one bad experience among all the very good ones. If something is bad, I complain, right. If it is satisfactory or better, I generally will not mention it. True for most people but I generally will compliment (I also tease and joke a lot, but that another story).

I keep revising the itinerary. These changes are to make things more compact or more interesting or more reasonable. My current plan is to see New Jersey commuter rail, three light rail lines, Long Island and Staten Island railroads, and two air trains. This will be done in two days, separated by a visit to my sister's. Both to plan and to have notes to follow, I have laid out the trip in detail. I will take full schedules for watching, because this is only a guide.

For instance, I set aside an hour watching at Harrison PATH station in Newark,NJ. In that hour there would be 20 PATH trains, 14 New Jersey Transit commuter trains, 2 Amtrak Acellas, and 1 Northeast Regional. However, I might get tired or frustrated of so many trains that I might reduce that stay to 30 or 40 minutes. Having the full schedule of that and future watching, will make it easier to adjust. Than, again, I might be running late or want more time watching a particular service.