Day 1(12/23/05) Pittsburgh, PA -->Orlando, FL
Alright... i figured out that i shld put my memories into words before i forgot them completely... it's a wonderful trip overall and it was much cheaper as compared to my previous winter break trip to New York city... so, it's twice as fun for half the price...(don't ask me how i measure the degree of fun... but i felt like this holiday was better than the last...)
so, on the 22nd night, at 6.30pm, i started walking from my dorm to the Amtrak train station to catch a bus to Toledo, OH, and from there, I'm to take a train to Pittsburgh, PA... so, i left the virtually empty dorm and walked for about 20 minutes to the train station. There, I collected my ticket from the window, and waited for the bus. At 7.50pm, I boared the bus, and the bus left at 8pm... (just a 10 minutes later than scheduled...)... and reasonably, I reached the Toledo, OH Amtrak station systematically late at 10pm... no big deal, since my train supposedly to reach here at 10.45pm, a 45 minutes wait is nothing much... I settled down my bag... met one of my seniors there at the train station... he was going to Cleveland, OH...
And then... the big surprised came... the train was delayed for more than 3 hours, and it won't be reaching until 1.45am... wow wow wow... now, this was something... 3 hours more to kill... so, i started scrolling down my phonebook and calling my friends... i didn't call home becoz i'd called home twice in the last 24 hours... calling them for the third time will definitely ending up in awkward silence... so, i called my friends at Seattle, and also another bunch at California... so, i too called my friends at Pittsburgh, who were expecting me at 4am, to tell them that i'll give them a call when i reached there... so, they don't have to wake up early in the morning... and to go to the empty train station... and waited hours for me...
then, i met up with a group of Singaporeans from U of Michigan, where I know one of them, Tommy, and he introduced my to 4 others... they were heading to New York, and from there, taking a flight to Peru... cool...
i met a few other people, a freshman from India heading to New Jersey, another grad student, heading home, where we watched a couple of Star wars fighting scenes from his laptop, and another Junior, heading home too... I learned a new card game, German bridge... which requires 7 players... i'll teach u next time...
and i managed to read a few chapters of my newest read... No Logo by Naomi Klein... pretty interesting so far...
at about 12am, we got updates from the counter attendant, saying that the train was delayed further, and shld be arriving at 3.15am... woah... that's a 4 and a half hour delayed... so, a few games of German bridge... and a couple more chapters later.... at 3.45am, the train arrived... I bid goodbye with others who were taking a different train, and wished them a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and also bon voyage...and the train left the station at 4am... the time i scheduled to arrive... so, the train was delayed altogether for a good 5 hours and 15 minutes... bravo...
so, i was on the train... a bit hungry... and too tired... but i couldn't sleep... do u ever have the trouble of sleeping after not sleeping at certain hour? i do... after 3am, i can never fall asleep... well, at least, i can never sleep well... so, i ended up reading, at least attempted to read, and only managed to sleep at 6.30am... woke up at 8.30am... as i was reaching Pittsburgh, i gave my friend a call, telling them that i'll be reaching there shortly... and also, i brushed up a little, well, it was a long ride... and ouch, my back was aching... so, i reached the Pittsburgh Amtrak station at a little over 9am, and my friends(Tze Chang, Teck Hua and Hong Tuck) got there shortly after i reached...
the weather was pretty good... not too cold, a bit sunny, kinda windy... and Pittsburgh was a really nice city... i think i could fall in love with this place... had breakfast at McD on the way to my friends' dorm... pretty nice place... it's a nice apartment... no complains...
reached there at about 10.30am... online to chat a bit... wanted to sleep but couldn't... was tired... played Mario Smash on Gamecube for a while... was pretty crazy as we were equally bad... and then, packed a bit, had a buffet lunch, and went back to the apartment later... at about 5pm, we left for the Pittsburgh International Airport... a pretty huge airport... and there's wireless there... chatted a bit, and boarded the plane at 7.45pm... and the flight wasn't too bad...
reached Orlando airport, the first major difference is there was palm tree at the airport... welcome to sunny Florida... woohoo... but, the weather was kinda cold... wat the heck, i didn't paid few hundred bucks for nothing... the weather better get warmer... lol...
to a taxi to our hotel, Comfort Inn at Buena Vista drive... cost us $47+tipping... about $53... not too bad...saw a lot of greens on both sides of the road on the way... checked in at reached our room at about 11pm... dead tired... went out to hunt for food after throwing down our luggage in the room...
saw a couple of fastfood restaurants, and also some quick bites... and we decided on Burger King... got back to our hotel at about midnight.... after taking a quick shower... we called it a day... waking up early tomorrow to catch the shuttle bus to Disney MGM-studios...
nite... wat a day...
so, on the 22nd night, at 6.30pm, i started walking from my dorm to the Amtrak train station to catch a bus to Toledo, OH, and from there, I'm to take a train to Pittsburgh, PA... so, i left the virtually empty dorm and walked for about 20 minutes to the train station. There, I collected my ticket from the window, and waited for the bus. At 7.50pm, I boared the bus, and the bus left at 8pm... (just a 10 minutes later than scheduled...)... and reasonably, I reached the Toledo, OH Amtrak station systematically late at 10pm... no big deal, since my train supposedly to reach here at 10.45pm, a 45 minutes wait is nothing much... I settled down my bag... met one of my seniors there at the train station... he was going to Cleveland, OH...
And then... the big surprised came... the train was delayed for more than 3 hours, and it won't be reaching until 1.45am... wow wow wow... now, this was something... 3 hours more to kill... so, i started scrolling down my phonebook and calling my friends... i didn't call home becoz i'd called home twice in the last 24 hours... calling them for the third time will definitely ending up in awkward silence... so, i called my friends at Seattle, and also another bunch at California... so, i too called my friends at Pittsburgh, who were expecting me at 4am, to tell them that i'll give them a call when i reached there... so, they don't have to wake up early in the morning... and to go to the empty train station... and waited hours for me...
then, i met up with a group of Singaporeans from U of Michigan, where I know one of them, Tommy, and he introduced my to 4 others... they were heading to New York, and from there, taking a flight to Peru... cool...
i met a few other people, a freshman from India heading to New Jersey, another grad student, heading home, where we watched a couple of Star wars fighting scenes from his laptop, and another Junior, heading home too... I learned a new card game, German bridge... which requires 7 players... i'll teach u next time...
and i managed to read a few chapters of my newest read... No Logo by Naomi Klein... pretty interesting so far...
at about 12am, we got updates from the counter attendant, saying that the train was delayed further, and shld be arriving at 3.15am... woah... that's a 4 and a half hour delayed... so, a few games of German bridge... and a couple more chapters later.... at 3.45am, the train arrived... I bid goodbye with others who were taking a different train, and wished them a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and also bon voyage...and the train left the station at 4am... the time i scheduled to arrive... so, the train was delayed altogether for a good 5 hours and 15 minutes... bravo...
so, i was on the train... a bit hungry... and too tired... but i couldn't sleep... do u ever have the trouble of sleeping after not sleeping at certain hour? i do... after 3am, i can never fall asleep... well, at least, i can never sleep well... so, i ended up reading, at least attempted to read, and only managed to sleep at 6.30am... woke up at 8.30am... as i was reaching Pittsburgh, i gave my friend a call, telling them that i'll be reaching there shortly... and also, i brushed up a little, well, it was a long ride... and ouch, my back was aching... so, i reached the Pittsburgh Amtrak station at a little over 9am, and my friends(Tze Chang, Teck Hua and Hong Tuck) got there shortly after i reached...
the weather was pretty good... not too cold, a bit sunny, kinda windy... and Pittsburgh was a really nice city... i think i could fall in love with this place... had breakfast at McD on the way to my friends' dorm... pretty nice place... it's a nice apartment... no complains...
reached there at about 10.30am... online to chat a bit... wanted to sleep but couldn't... was tired... played Mario Smash on Gamecube for a while... was pretty crazy as we were equally bad... and then, packed a bit, had a buffet lunch, and went back to the apartment later... at about 5pm, we left for the Pittsburgh International Airport... a pretty huge airport... and there's wireless there... chatted a bit, and boarded the plane at 7.45pm... and the flight wasn't too bad...
reached Orlando airport, the first major difference is there was palm tree at the airport... welcome to sunny Florida... woohoo... but, the weather was kinda cold... wat the heck, i didn't paid few hundred bucks for nothing... the weather better get warmer... lol...
to a taxi to our hotel, Comfort Inn at Buena Vista drive... cost us $47+tipping... about $53... not too bad...saw a lot of greens on both sides of the road on the way... checked in at reached our room at about 11pm... dead tired... went out to hunt for food after throwing down our luggage in the room...
saw a couple of fastfood restaurants, and also some quick bites... and we decided on Burger King... got back to our hotel at about midnight.... after taking a quick shower... we called it a day... waking up early tomorrow to catch the shuttle bus to Disney MGM-studios...
nite... wat a day...
posted by Voon Seng at 4:55 PM
3 Comments:
5 hours only ar? You should get a taste of Britain's world class train service.. Haha!
hihi,
actually there were 5 other singaporeans and german bridge can be played by 5-8 people too if u wan
it was nice meeting ya @ e train station.
cheers,
MC
true... i can't count... wat was i thinking...
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