Up to Beantown

Hello all! If you can’t tell from the title, it’s going to a Boston recap kind of post. So if you’re not a fan of Boston or recaps, please feel free to move along.

The plan on Friday was to wake up early which shouldn’t have been a problem since I’ve been working up at 6am with no problem at all. But of course the day I have a train to catch, I decide to start using the snooze button like it’s no ones business. I never hit the snooze button since it’s one of my biggest pet peeves ever. I don’t get the concept of setting an alarm if you’re just going to hit the snooze button over and over again. I would rather wake up, bitch about waking up so early and get on with my days but yeah, the day didn’t start out well. Neyal drove me over to the Metro and gave me specific instructions on what to do. I’m not sure why I was so nervous about riding it alone but she assured me I would be fine since the mentally challenged do it all on their own every day. I’ve been on there before with others but I guess when going at it solo with a time restraint, I wanted to make sure everything would be right. I was surprised at how easy it was. The only issue as always was sketchy people on there which odds are, there will always be a few bad apples. This girl was sitting across from me and just kept staring at me. It was very creepy, when I was look over to the side, so would she. When I would look down, so would she. I wasn’t sure if we were playing the whole don’t bat your eyelashes game but I was relieved when the Union Station stop finally came up.

All I had to do was go up the escalator and I was there. They have a bunch of self serve kiosks just like the airport so it was easy to get my ticket and go.

Leave it to me to sniff the aroma of Starbucks in the air. The line was absolutely out of control as expected however I thought it was pretty efficient of them to have someone going to each person in line, getting their order and then telling the baristas via headset. I thought I would go up to the cashier, grab my coffee and go since there eight or nine people in front of me. But I got up there and my drip coffee wasn’t ready and I got my sandwich and the cheese was melted to the bag, it wasn’t a good way to start the morning. Add that to some creeper hitting on me while charging my phone and I was ready to get on that train.

Well, Matilda was ready as well. She was excited for her first trip to New England.

All aboard!

Matilda was the perfect girl to have with me since we got a seat on the quiet car. I wish planes would adopt this because it was so nice and peaceful. No cellphones, loud music, loud conversation or crying babies What more could you want? When someone’s phone went up, the conductor came right over and told them no phone calls, how it was the quiet cart and all. I just raised my fist in the air a little and mouthed “Word” since silence is golden.  I slept a little and chatted with the lady sitting next to me. She boarded in Philly and was telling me about the u2 concert in Philly the night before. If I can’t get tickets for the u2 concert, I will happily life through someone else who has been. I would have loved to have been at that particular concert because another favorite band of mine, Interpol, opened for them instead of Florence& The Machine, who has been opening for them this tour. I wanted to sleep more but it just wasn’t in the stars, this better not happen when I go to Italy because I will definitely need to rest on that trip.

I even got to see a bit of NYC before we got into Penn Station.

While on a 20 min break, Matilda got her own seat

I should have kept her there because maybe that would have kept the people at bay. Apparently, everyone wanted to sit next to me and the girl who sat next to me at Penn Station broke the cardinal rule of being a girl with big hips : Thou shall not sit next to another girl with big hips. It was uncomfortable all the way to Boston.

The second part of the trip was pretty dead. I broke into my Clif Carrot Cake bar right after we left NYC

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this flavor. I’ve liked just about any CLIF bar flavor I’ve tried in the past but there is always the risk of making a bar out of a popular flavor and it turns out like crap. To say the bar was extremely tasty would be an understatement. It was flavorful, moist for a bar and the only thing that would have made it better was some cream cheese drizzle.

By 5pm I was in Boston, hooray I survived the Amtrak! Stephanie was gracious enough to let me crash at her place and show me her city for the weekend. We took my suitcase over to her car then made our way over to the Seaport District for much needed dinner and drinks (not in that order). The plan was to go to Temazcal, a newer upscale restaurant right on the water but there was already a wait….at 5:15. Um no. We tried to find a spot at the bar but the place was absolutely jam packed, which is definitely a sign it’s doing well. I even got to hear my first Boston accent while waiting in line to speak with the hostess. I heard some guy say “We’re just going to the bah (bar)” and I giggled to myself, I love Boston accents!

We went over to Jerry Remy’s  right next door. There was a little wait and when I say that, I mean 10/15 minutes not this hour long bull crap. We made our way straight to the bar to get some hoppy refreshments in our system and the place was a complete sausage fest-score! Not only did it have nice views of men, it also had nice views of the food. We noticed that pretty much every table had an order of nachos on it and they looked heavenly with cheese, chips, sour cream, meat galore. When we sat, we finally found out why the nacho craze at Jerry Remy’s. On their menu, they guarantee cheese on every. single. chip. I’ve never heard of something so wonderful and now questioning why we didn’t order the nachos?  I ordered the Remy Burger with a side of sweet potato fries because I needed real food stat. I’d been chowing on snacks all day so a big meal was a must plus I needed a little something something to soak up the beer.

Sweet potato fries count as a vegetable serving right? Right. Even though they weren’t orgasmic, they were good enough to down. The burger was magnificent and I ate up every single bite, Jerry Remy’s was a great spot for a low key,  dinner option after a long day of traveling.

I marveled at the skyline, well, a part of the Boston skyline on the way back. Also at the beautiful scenary, people walking around and smell of the water. I feel spoiled when I go to a new city since Charlotte’s skyline is lame and the Uptown area is pretty much a ghost town after 5pm.

And that’s all for now. I am leaving DC tomorrow morning and have way too much to take care of in the next 15 hours. Stay tuned for more Boston fun!

Do you like the process of traveling such as packing, waiting, sitting next to strangers, etc or would you rather just get there without the fuss? Some of my friends hate going to the airport and having to wait with others then sitting next to strangers but I find it oddly exciting!

When you travel, are you chatty with others around you or do you keep to yourself? I’m a chatty Cathy most of the time but occasionally like some quiet, alone time.