Travel Karma

After dealing with loud crazy children hopped up on candy on their way or coming back from Disney, loud twenty year olds and people farting non-stop on both legs of my Orlando trip, the travel gods finally were convinced that they have tortured their Job enough.

I got to Penn Station with enough time to get some trashy magazines (e.g., US Weekly and Life & Style), a turkey sandwich (hold the cheese), and a seat on the quiet car. My strategy (see Amtrak) finally worked. I had a reading girl sitting behind me, a reading woman to my side and cranky ladies who shushed people. It was a peaceful, quiet and relaxing ride to New Carrollton. And, there were less fumes in the quiet car - I think really only one incident of fumes!

Unfortunately, M and I missed each other at the station and for some reason, she didn't have reception and I kind of freaked out because there was some drama going on, this lady was crying and there was a police officer and I was worried M had gotten in a car accident or something. But, we found each other and she brought me home and gave me some of her homemade chicken shitake mushroom ginger congee. She is too good to me.

Bag by Dogeared (www.dogeared.com)

Amtrak

Of all the transportation options, I prefer taking Amtrak to visit M. 1) I hate driving: especially long distances, especially when I get pulled over for speeding and especially when there are other dumb fools clogging up the road. 2) I hate the bus: its not dependable, it also gets caught in traffic, really weird people accompanied by their weirder smells are on the bus, the stabbing and beheading thing, and the bus that is dependable doesn't stop at my stop in MD so M would have to drive on to DC to pick me up and drop me off. 3) fly? It'll take longer to get to the airport, go through security, wait, get delayed, get cancelled, land, taxi, get home from the airport.

While it is really expensive and has its share of personalities and fumes, I both look forward to and have anxiety about my train rides. I look forward to them because of the roomy, comfy seats, the 3 hours of reading trashy magazines, articles and whatever book I'm working on, and catching up on my phone calls. I have anxiety about finding the right seat but I've learned a few things along the way.
- Don't sit in front of a guy or a tall woman. Although there is more leg room than on a bus, it seems like they need more leg room and will prevent your chair from reclining. Although, my last trip, there was a girl who propped her knees on the back of my chair.
- Sit near a cranky looking lady, she will most likely shush people. Sure, you can't talk on your phone but you don't really want to hear other people's inane conversations.
- Don't sit near people yapping to each other - especially teenage or college girls. There are so many "oh, my god!" and singing along outloud to the iPod that I can take.
- Sit near someone with headphones on, quietly reading or watching a movie.
- If you don't get a good seat at first, look around at each stop and move until you are perfectly situated.
- Realize that you'll never have the perfect seat so pack ear plugs, your own iPod, food, reading and cell phone charger.

Breathe and repeat, "At least I'm not driving or on the bus. At least I'm not driving or on the bus..."

Maryland

My trip to Maryland usually starts out like this. I'm late from finishing up some projects and booking across town and down to Penn Station. For some reason I've thought that my train was 7:45 PM and I've missed the past 2 trains (next train 9:20 PM, boo). So, M made sure that I was aware that my train is 7:05 PM. When it became 7:05 is beyond me. I'm also realizing that fares have gone up! Curse the rising price of oil! I'm so not excited to get my heating bill this winter. Note on Amtrak: it is the only mode of transportation that has the highest chance of getting to New Carrollton MD (20 min. away from M) within 3 hours. I have gone cheap and ended up on 5-6 hour bus rides that SUCKED. Just because you have a ticket, doesn't mean you've got a seat on that bus. Plus, I'm not about to get stabbed (see "Stabbing and Beheading on Greyhound Bus"). I am paying out the nose for my sanity.

On the train, I like to have a soup (with bread to dip) and 3 trashy magazines (People, US Weekly, Life & Style). Now that I subscribe to People and Forbes, I don't have to pay newsstand prices but oh, I really do need 2 more trashy magazines. Mind you, I do have a ton of books waiting to be read and the Amtrak magazine is pretty darn good so I'll have to suck it up and read those. The good news is that I FINALLY finished When Genius Failed! Look out for my book review post. I read, eat, nap and catch up on phone calls unless I'm in the quiet car (last car on the train) where no phone calls are allowed. Which is fine by me except when people can't read the signs that say it's the quiet car. Luckily, there are people who'll shush others.

I let M know when I get to the BWI stop which is about 6-14 minutes from New Carrollton. I text her excitedly when I see the Red Lobster because that means I'm close! Then, our train arrives and I run down the escalator (wait, no, I'm actually trapped behind people on the escalator), past the homeless people that sleep at the bottom of the escalator and usually, that's where she meets me to usher me quickly past the dreadlock dude (older white guy with 1 big lock in the back) who just wants to say hi to people and I really want to say hi back.

Then off we go. Sometimes M will have food waiting for me. On Friday, we made what I call Bachelor Noodles with chili bamboo shoots. There's these skinny wheat noodles that I cook up, drain, pour in some soy sauce and sesame oil and mix. Then, crack open a jar of bamboo shoots in chili oil. Wala!

M's also been very sweet to make sure we have breakfast items in the house for Saturday morning. We kind of go nuts over breakfast. Eggs, "pannycakes" or biscuits made from whole wheat Insta-bake, center cut bacon, home fries. Yum!

Home Fries

• Night before, bake 1 potato per person (we just nuke them and they sit in the microwave overnight). A neat trick is to take them out after they are done and wipe down the microwave because the steam and the heat loosen any grossness in the microwave. Clean microwave with no chemicals to go into your food!
• Cut potatoes into cubes, rough chop shallots and fresh herbs (we like the poultry mix of rosemary, sage and thyme).
• Lightly coat potatoes in whole wheat flour
• Sweat shallots in canola oil on low heat
• Turn up the heat, put in potatoes and herbs, let sit between stirrings to get a nice crispy coating
• Turn off the heat and season with salt and fresh cracked black pepper