This weekend, RQS and I went down to Washington, DC for a little R&R. We've been looking to get away for a while, and I took the week off without pay in order to do so. Today's entry is not going to be a full recap of the trip. Instead, it is more of an overview of what we did during this trip.
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One of the things RQS and I felt that we needed to know was whether we could go away for a mini vacation (with opportunities to escape each other if needed) and find out whether we could get along after several days together. On that issue, I can say that we have dealt with a couple of mini crises, and we have passed a couple of tests in dealing with unexpected adversity.
We left for DC on a Saturday, and used a Lyft to get to Penn Station (NYP) from RQS's house. The driver asked if it was OK not to use the most direct route through Manhattan to reach NYP, as there was a parade going on that day (which he was going to attend). We said OK, and did the loop from the Brooklyn bridge to South Ferry, then back uptown on the West side, where he dropped us off across from the new Moynihan train hall. This wasn't a problem, as we had time to spare. But we almost blew it, as RQS misread the departure time. Luckily, I noticed the error, and we made it across the street with over 30 minutes to spare/
One of the problems that was going to bother me throughout the trip would be my lack of low denomination folding money. I had several $100 bills on me, but was running out of $20's. So our lost time in NYC was due to my looking for a Chase branch before getting on the train. This forced me to do something which became an advantage for me - use a specific credit card for all my purchases on the trip. This made it much easier to figure out how much I was spending on the trip, and balance things out with RQS at the end of the trip. But I digress.
RQS and I waited in the train hall for an announcement to tell us that it was time to board our train. While waiting to get on the elevator, we met another couple traveling to DC and I overheard a comment about New York City rudeness. I said that in NYC, if a person uses deleted expletives for 5 minutes then says "have a nice day", you know that the person likes you. Then, I mentioned that the F-Word is not an expletive in NYC, but only a word used for dramatic emphasis. They laughed at this while we got on the escalator taking us down to the platform.
Boarding the train was not an issue, and we saw a homeless woman riding between the train cars. The steward chatted with this lady, and then she proceeded to lock herself in the lavatory for most of the ride. About 2 hours lady, the attendant (and a female assistant) did their best to politely tell the woman that she had to leave the lavatory before the train reached DC. When she finally vacated the room, she used words to define herself that showed how down and out she was. As much as I felt sorry for her, I was impressed at how well the two Amtrak employees dealt with an issue which could have escalated into something worse.
As we arrived in DC, we noticed that the temperature was much warmer than it was in New York. Instead of a long sleeve shirt and a windbreaker, it was time to break out a short sleeve shirt. Yet, after checking in to our hotel, we stayed in what we were wearing for a nice dinner with RQS's cousin before calling it a night.
