Back home ... sorta

The flight was mostly uneventful. There were several pockets of turbulence, but nothing that made me uncomfortable. There were a LOT of babies on board and it clearly made THEM uncomfortable.

I mostly watched documentaries on the flight. I also watched a terrific HBO Billy Crystal show called 700 Sundays. I think I slept for about 30 minutes total -- which is fairly good for me. Both my backup battery and the USB connection worked in my seat so I was able to keep my phone on the whole time, too, so reading was easy. The landing was surprisingly soft considering the bad weather. They announced that it was snowing and about 14 degrees. I asked the flight attendant if I could keep my blanket from the trip if I promised to mail it back. She said that they normally throw it away so I was welcome to it. (Wow! They throw it away? I always imagined some industrial laundry somewhere. They throw it away!)

There was a young Ghanaian woman with a little baby across the aisle from me. Her baby was so cute and chubby. As she was getting off the plane she was trying to strap the baby to her back and carry all of her things, but the baby wasn't comfortable and was fussing. I grabbed her carry-on bag so at least she would have one less thing to deal with. She thanked me and I marched off of the plane. I stopped after I got off of the jetway because I wanted to make sure that I had my phone and that's when I realized that the young mama wasn't behind me anymore. The fellow that had been behind her saw the look on my face and told me that she went back to get her jacket.

I waited for a short while before she reappeared looking relieved. We walked together on the looooong walk to customs and immigration occasionally chatting together while the baby slept comfortably on her back. When we got to immigration we had to separate into Citizens and non-Citizens so I gave her her bag back.

I got to use my Global Entry pass for the first time. It's amazingly simple. Instead of waiting in line for an agent I walked up to a kiosk and answered a bunch of questions. It took my picture and my fingerprints and printed a "receipt" for me.

I proceeded to the baggage claim wondering if my bag would be included. The luggage was coming out very slowly because of the bad weather. I kept my eyes out for the young mama so that I could offer her more help. Eventually my bag did come down the chute and all seemed to be fine. I stayed around looking for the young mama as long as I could and then decided that I had better just get going. Getting through customs was even easier with the Global Entry. There was no line, I just handed the fellow my receipt and my passport and I was done. Well worth the investment in getting the Global Entry.

Ok, I made it to the US, NOW what do I do? I had no coat! I had left it in the car for David to bring to the airport when I got back! So here I was Saturday 105 degrees (40 C) with no electricity (no fan, no AC) to now Sunday 14 degrees (-10C) with no coat (no hat, no gloves, no boots.)


I was caught loitering again as I was trying to connect to my company's travel agent's website to look for flights to Baltimore. So I moved on and found a seat next to a very cold window. I pulled out the two sweaters that I had packed and put my haute couture Delta blanket over them. I literally couldn't find a single direct flight from JFK to Baltimore. The website suggested lots of train routes so that gave me an idea. I could take a train home to Boston or I could take a train to Baltimore. Google maps confirmed that the trip to the train station shouldn't be too difficult. After speaking with David I realized that getting to Boston would have been only half the battle. GETTING me from the train station would have been really difficult for him. There was already over 10 NEW inches of snow on top of what we already had. Besides, I need to come to Baltimore at the end of the week anyway to help my mom with her cataract surgery so I might as well just head that direction especially since Boston is expecting yet another snow storm in a few days.

So I took the Airtrain to Jamaica Queens, misinterpreted the instructions for the next step and took the E train to 34th street and then found Penn Station. The only time I was really suffering from the cold was when I was walking around the Jamaica station trying to figure out which line I was supposed to take. Once I was on the subway, I didn't really have any more serious issues with the cold.

One of the first sights in Penn Station was this beautiful shop.

But as I was just about to walk over the threshold I heard the announcement that the 9:05 Northeastern Regional heading to Baltimore was now boarding. Oooohhh. I tore myself away and went to ticketing. I realized that the line was probably too long to make it to my train so I went to a kiosk and easily bought my ticket and raced down to the train.

I was able to find a good seat that was far from the doors. A nice young man put my suitcase up above and said, "Cheers!" An Asian woman sat next to me and immediately started sneezing and coughing while talking to (I assume) her husband and son in the seats behind us. After I realized that we hadn't left yet and the departure time had passed, I started to think I should switch seats -- with so little sleep and increased risk from not wearing enough I felt particularly vulnerable to getting sick.

A short time later, the conductor came over the loudspeakers saying that there was a problem with one of the cars and we were going to be a bit delayed but that the club car was not in service yet. A short time later they announced that the car would be coming out of service. I really didn't mind because I was warm and relaxed now. After about 15 more minutes they explained that it would be a little bit longer and if the folks traveling to Trenton or Philly wanted to switch trains they could go to track 5 instead. So the train emptied out quite a bit and my sick seatmate moved to the aisle seat across from her husband. (Whew!)

A woman a few rows ahead had apparently called the Amtrak number and was complaining loudly about how ridiculous this was and what kind of compensation were we going to get? It seems she was told that she could buy a ticket for the Accela (high speed rail) but that she wouldn't be able to just pay the difference in price. She would have to buy the Accela ticket and apply for a refund for her Northeast Regional ticket. She was NOT happy with that answer. After we were 45 minutes delayed she complained that we had been there for well over an hour. The announcements that repeated the same message only seemed to make her more angry. "They just said that! Why are they repeating themselves?!"

Finally 90 minutes late we were off. I wanted to nap and I also wanted to contact everyone I knew and let them know that I was back. I settled on working on my blog. I had forgotten how pleasant train travel has gotten. The seats are wide and comfortable, there are working electric outlets by every seat now, there's plenty of leg room and free wifi. I should travel this way more often.

I made my way to the cafe and realized the reason I was so hungry is because I hadn't eaten since 4AM on the plane. The food on the train was ridiculously expensive, but surprisingly good. I got a ham and cheddar sandwich on a pretzel bun. The trip was faster than I remembered. I never did manage to nap, but was very glad to hear when they announced that we were pulling into Baltimore Penn Station.

My brother David was already waiting for me with a coat in hand at the station. I noticed that they hadn't received much snow at all in the storm -- I would guess an inch or so. The house and the hugs were warm and I felt very relieved. The only things I needed now were COFFEE and rest. I allowed myself to have coffee, but I knew that if I was going to be able to manage with the jet lag I had to push myself to stay up until at least dark. I did manage to do that.

So that was the end of my latest African adventure. Check back for the next installment -- whenever that will be.