爱aiKina

In my last blog post, I told you we were planning to go to Harrisburg last monday, but we had a change of plans and came here two days earlier than our plan. Our plan was to take a train 5.55 am from Worcester to Boston, and then bus from Boston to Philadelphia and change bus to Harrisburg, where finally Issac's host family would meet us. It was a trip that took us about twelve hours! It didn't go all smooth either, early in the morning we encountered problems already. Since the bus from Boston to Philadelphia was scheduled to leave at 8.15 in the morning, we decided to take a train from Worcester to Boston that leaves at 5.55 and arrives at 7.30 to make sure we would catch the bus. So we had to get up at 4 am, and when we got to the train station we met a young man looking pretty desperate as he said to us "Bad news guys, the station is closed." He told us that not only had the guard lost his keys to the doors of the train station, but also the first train on Saturdays doesn't leave until 9 am! That's to say, three hours later than we thought. That was really a bad news to us whom had already planned and bought bus tickets for the whole trip. The only comforting news was that at least we weren't the only ones who made the same mistake planning after the weekday schedule for the train and not the weekend. A few more people was in the same situation it seemed.

 

So we were left with no choice but to try to take the bus to Boston but there was two problems with that. First of all, the bus wasn't scheduled to depart until 7.10, and would arrive at Boston at 8.05, we were in a thight spot! In addition to that, the bus company is notorious for being late. The other problem was that the tickets to the bus must be printed out but there was no place to print them this early in the morning. So even though we managed to buy the tickets online with the WIFI at the station, we couldn't print it anywhere. Just as we were about to get really desperate not knowing what to do, luck all of sudden was on our side. Issac's little brother happened to have set his alarm clock at 6 am even though he doesn't work on Saturday, and right at that time we called him and explained the situation. So we emailed the tickets to him and he printed them at his school and took a taxi to the station. Thanks to him, we could get on the bus! 

 

Before we got on the bus I tried, as kindly as I could, to explain to the driver what a tight schedule we are in and that is would be great if he could just...get to Boston in time. He answered "No way you'll make it! Even if I get there at 8.05, I have to park the bus and it's gonna be at least 8.15 until you can get off the bus. You won't make it! But I'll try my best."

 

Wow. So we were really doomed according to the driver. All we could do is get on the bus and hope the bus to Philadephia would be delayed. And the driver really did his best, on the road I noticed that the bus was travelling fast, passing cars after cars, and to everyone's suprise, we actually got to Boston in time and the bus finished parking and was ready to let us off at 8.05 sharp!! We even heard other passengers saying "wow this was quick" and "it has never travelled this fast before". Seems like it really helped talking to the bus driver, and we made it in time to our connecting bus.

 

To be exact, WE got to the next bus station in time. The bus however, was delayed. Really delayed. And when the bus finally arrived, they took a long time preparing space in the bus for a wheel chair passenger. So not until 9 am they let the passengers on the bus, so the first bus could as well have taken it's time. It's funny though, just as we got there, five minutes before the scheduled time, a bus attentent passed by and a man behind us asked her if he would make it to buy some coffee. She answered "You can buy coffee if you want but it's not my fault if you miss the bus". Well, the bus departed almost an hour late so yes he would have time to buy one or several cups of coffee! 

 

The rest of the trip went fine. The bus stopped for a 30 minutes lunch break on the way, and then finally arrived at Philadelhia at 5 pm (altough it was scheduled to arrive at 3.15). We had dinner at the train station in Philadelhia and then got on the last bus that would take us to Harrisburg. In Harrisburg Issac's host family met us with her car and took us to their house, and here we will be staying for some time. It's in the countryside, but there are things to go around here as long as you have a car. The host mum have vacation this week so she took us to some places around. I will update you with pictures. For now, I'll just show you pictures of the scenery here.