Well...well...well. I have had the pleasure of my commute to Queens for about a month now. It is one of the longest parts of my day. All in all I spend about 4 hrs and 40 minutes a day on public transportation. I feel as if I'm somehow becoming an expert at this commuting business. So I decided that I'm going to try and write more about my experiences because believe me... I see some very entertaining things!
To start with I'll share with you my morning commute. I'm going to leave some details out because I don't really want a scary person to read this and know my every move.
I start my day out at 5:30 a.m. For my readers in Utah... that is 3:30! Yep... about the time you're getting home from your wild night at the club... I'm waking up. This is probably the hardest part for me because I really have a hard time getting to bed before midnight. You do the math. Now depending on my ability to get my butt out of bed depends on my transportation to the train station. A couple months ago my fabulous boyfriend bought me an adorable little bike. I love my bike so much! It is a beautiful red and white vintage style Schwinn cruiser. On mornings where I'm ready to leave the house early I am able to ride my bike to the train station. But lets be honest... now that the excitement of my job has worn off a little... I'm staying longer and longer in bed and am barely pulling in to the station before the train takes off!
I have the first part of my commute down pact. I know exactly where I need to stand in order to be right at the entrance to the train. This fact always makes me smile. I can't help but watch the other commuters with a little social curiosity. Most of them run to the front of the train in hopes of getting a seat. I wait near the back and walk on easily. Its funny how years of "running to the front cause no one is there" has trained everyone to go to the front and to leave the rest of the train almost empty. I don't plan on telling them this any time soon.
Once arriving at Secaucus (yes it is pronounced SEA-COCK-US) I'll wait for the laugh... ok anyway... this is where it starts to get really funny for me. At the Secaucus station (still laughing?) there tends to be this huge blob of people all fighting their way to get on this escalator. However, I made a discovery within the first week that if I stray from the crowd... I have my own private escalator just around a corner from the blob. In fact.. the blob watches me go down the escalator but because they are very silly... they don't realize that they can save themselves from the blob by joining me on my private escalator. This makes me laugh every day. I have this funny feeling like I've outsmarted all of the blob. It is a great start to my day.
It never ceases to amaze me how rude people will be on public transportation. People spread out and occupy three seats just because they don't want anyone to sit by them. As you can imagine the train going in to NYC is quite full... so I am forced to push my way on to the train and almost demand that someone move their bag off of a seat so that I may sit. This train is quick in to Penn Station.
From Penn I begin my subway fun. The subway is an incredible source of entertainment. I have seen things such as 8' tall Asians... cross dressing men, a woman with a huge doll in a stroller and a half naked homeless man with his bum sticking out. Luckily I'm able to drowned out the ranting "Christians" and the lunatics with the sweet music of my ipod, but I can't cover the smell or do anything about the insanity in front of me. I take my ride all the way out to Queens.
The ride to Queens is very ethnic. I'm usually the only white woman on the train and I am able to get a glimpse at what it would be like to visit China, India and Mexico. Hopefully on my way to Queens I don't contract the Swine flu... but if I do you'll understand why.
All in all I don't mind my commute. I've been able to read about 2 books a week and really get to listen to my ipod. I'm definitely amused with the commute thus far and I plan on making more posts about it as well as bringing in some pictures to the mix.
The worst part of it all is the pushing and shoving and the damn people that stand on the left side of the escalator instead of walk. I actually had my first push just the other day and I quickly found the New Yorker inside of me and told the guy off. I have to admit I was a little surprised at myself... but the guy was an ass and deserved to be told off.
Until next time happy commuting. What are your commuting nightmares?
1 comment:
Holy cow, Jess, that is INSANE! My commute is 25 minutes each way and for me that is 15 minutes too long. I'm glad that you're able to find humor in the situation. This is a great topic, I can't wait to hear more. Also, I'd love to hear your reading list so post that too. (I just took a sleeping pill, so I'm not sure how this comment is going to come through. )
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