Category: Domestic Travel

Waaaah!
Let me clarify last week’s entry about US airports and rail links.
SFO does have a rail link to the City. That’s technically correct. But the experience still sucks.
Verrry eariy this AM, I awoke at 0615 to get out of the house by 0715 to wait for MUNI to get to the BART station.
In case you’re new here, MUNI is hell on earth. MUNI sucks. MUNI is our local “Transit” system that always stops for red lights. Even if they’re green. And it will wait at that green light until it turns red.
They also run at their own leisure. I waited 25 minutes for an overcrowded, filthy bus with the majority of people on it the kind I wouldn’t want to associate freely with in ANY way. And it ran SLOW! Slower than a UA “flight attendant” responding to the attendant call button in steerage.
Then (of course), the basi finally gets downtown. After 35 minutes of timing every red light on Geary Boulevard and stopping at practically every block.
You can make the transfer to a BART train to SFO IF you have no baggage and run like-a hell. Of course, no mere mortal could do this. Except Superman, but if you were Kal-El, son of Jor-El, you would fly yourself to LA instead of trying to catch a train.
Long story short is that once I entered the bowels of the Powell Street BART station, my mobile worked (Cingular) but I had to wait 18 minutes (remember, just missed the train?) for another SFO bound train.
It took 30 minutes for the BART train to travel 14 miles, including the train coming to a dead stop and waiting for several minutes after Daly City station. Twice.
Sooo, using my public school math, the BART train goes 28 miles an hour. Sooo fast!
The BART link drops you off inside the International Terminal. If you are flying UA domestic, it’s a 6 minute walk through the International Terminal before you get to Terminal 3. Coming off the horrible BART/MUNI experience, entering the Int’l Terminal is like walking onto another planet.
It’s clean. Pleasant. And NO BUMS.
Then you make your way to Terminal 3. It’s crowded. Not quite
as nice. But better than the journey you made to get here.
I’m hungry. Wonder what’s there to eat?

…but not to Asia yet.
Trip to LA this weekend to help some frens out with their ground ops.
I expect to lose at least three pounds (by trudging up and down hills) and my voice (cuz it’s not just a lit drop). Hope we can get it all done by Tuesday…

As I promised, here’s a night shot of the view. The ribbon of lights in the background is the Queensboro Bridge…

twinkle-ly!
And as I promised, here’s some silly movies. Right-Click on the links and save the little movie to your computer.
Here’s the basi trying to back up into the “bus station”. And the driver slurping down dinner.

I expect connections between town and airport to be seemless and stress free.
When I do make it to da airport, I dun wanna be harrassed or forced to strip when I go through security.
Once inside, it would be nice to have some amenities such as a laptop corner with free broadband (Singapore Changi) or decent food (HK Airport, Tokyo Narita) and not to have to take basi to my gate, but instead to take a simple train.
In other words, the airport and getting to the airport should be part of the journey. And it should be enjoyable. And stress free.
Which flying into or outta Dulles ain’t!
Come to think of it, none of the US airports have a good direct airlink. Or food. Ironically, SFO has decent food and the BART link is the closest thing to direct rail. At least at SFO, it goes DIRECTLY into the terminal. Heh.
Six hours later…am packed into an air bart basi. Either there is just one basi or the driver gets paid by the head, but I get on da basi…and wait, and wait, and wait and wait.

Here’s how crowded it was about 10 minutes before we finally left OAK to the BART station. And still more people were piling in because chances were that this was probably the ONLY bus running at this time of night (1900 hours). I would have taken a pic of that but you wouldn’t be able to see anything except some person’s unattractive butt, so I will spare you that.
After 13 minutes, the basi finally lumbers to the BART stop. Of course, it will be just in time to watch the train leave us on the platform for another 20 minutes. This sucks.
The positive thing: I found an In & Out near OAK! So that’s a positive thing, I guess. Actually, finding an In & Out in a place where u dun expect it is always a good thing!
Home now, yay.

Wah! Stud, eh?

Ha ha ha! Suckah! Actually, they are two babes! Heh. This is Annie, a longtime fren and fellow Trojan and her daughter, Sophie. A real babe! Ha ha ha.
She was an infant the last time I saw her. Now she’s walking and talking and all that. We grabbed a quick lunch near the Village at an Italian place where a lot of bigshots eat. The food wasn’t bad but they dun take credit cards!!!

Spaghetti Carbonara with freshly shredded parmasian! Numnumnum…
I took a cab back to East Broadway and Forsyth where I was to meet the Chinatown (erm, the Today) Basi to head back to DC. Unlike the DC leg, this wasn’t easy to miss..

Where is da basi? Where where?
And unlike the drama getting to New York, this was boringly efficient. Left at 1600. Got into DC at 2030. Had a 10 minute rest stop that morphed into 30 because the guys at the Subway were too slooooow…
So now I’m back in DC. Tomorrow is all business (in painful wingtips and a three piece James Bond type suit). Not looking forward to the wingtips…

Or my second day out of three.
It’s appropro because it was after 1300 when we finally left the apt for brunch. Found a neat place in Soho where the food was good but the coffee was grrrreat!
Of course, I’ve not had proper coffee in three days so I was jonesing for a cuppa. Soho was great. Lots of boutiques and places to eat. Like Union Street with character. And an Apple Store. Yay Apple Store! But no video iPod yet…

This be one of the streets of SoHo…
After brunch, I was left to my own devices, so I went shopping. The big Dean & Deluca was nearby so I got coffee…

Yay! Look at all that coffee! How many cups could all that make?
Smelled cheese…

…mmmm cheeeeese!
Then I saw the “don’t take pictures” sign so I stopped. Dun wanna offend the food police. And besides, this is their store…
A long stroll down Broadway brought me to Century 21. Might pick up a suit tomorrow.
Then a visit to the hallowed ground that is the WTC. Possibly the only serious point in this brief NYC visit. ‘Nuff said about that.

no snazzy comment here…
Shot back up to the East Village to find a good ramen shop. I found many, including this place that makes a good tonkotsu ramen.


mmmmmmmm, tonkotsu ramen……
Only nit to pick: not enough cha-shu in the soup. The soop, btw, was delish! Almost as good as being in Hakata.
Apparently, along St.Mark’s Place between 2nd and 3rd, there’s several ramen shops and a big BIG izakaya with a queue outside.

Another good looking ramen shop. On my list for next time!

The big izakaya
Is it coincidence that all the ramen joints are within walking distance of the NYU dorms? Nope, I thought not.

I had a New York lunch.

White pizza, yay!
After lunch, I farted around Grand Central on my way to Bryant Park and Nat Sherman’s. I had a short cigar and learned wisdom from George, one of the guys who works upstairs.

Bryant Park Doggie!
Then it was off to Brooklyn. That’s a big deal for me since I don’t usually leave the island…

Walked across the Brooklyn Bridge where there was a wedding party exchanging vows and a BD photography session on the middle of the bridge. Didn’t get pix of THAT though…
I DID get a picture of the sun setting behind the buildings of Manhattan.

New York Harbor with Lady Liberty on the center left
Now that’s artsy-fartsy!!

welcome to Brooklyn, now go home!
Once you cross the bridge, take the stairs on the left, go down and hang another left. Cross the street. Congrats, you’re in DUMBO, latest area of gentrification in NYC…

A view of the Manhattan Bridge from DUMBO
DUMBO is the name of the district under the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. There’s a lotta art and expensive condos there. I thought the condos looked better than the art.

Katz’s
Dinner time and nothing beats a big ass pastrami sandwich from Katz’s Deli, home of the “when Harry met Sally” orgasm scene.
When you enter the place, you are given a ticket. DON’T LOSE IT otw, it costs US$50 to get out!

Big tender juicy pastrami sandwich, yum!

On the way home, some words of advice

and edible advertising! The two-storey tall Cup Noodles! That’s a lotta MSG…

After the adventure getting here last night (erm, this morning?), I was glad to wake up to this….

kickass view!
Apparently, it’s been raining non-stop in NYC for the past week and this is the first dry day they’ve had since.
This is the guestroom, which will be my domicile for the next few days.

don’t mind the mess, I’m a rough sleeper, apparently
Here’s a view from the living room. Nice, especially at night!

But it’s morning now, so this is all ya get…

As one of my frens commented via sms yesterday, “U sure are lovin’ those basi, eh?”….
Wise ass.
I don’t like riding basi. They’re slow. They ain’t quick. And they tend to drop you off in the middle of nowhere. It’s not like taking rail where the stops are usually downtown or flying where often the airports are out in the middle of nowhere but you got to nowhere quickly. Basi are often the only option (like getting to OAK early in the AM) or the cheapest option (getting from DC to NY) to get somewhere.
They’re collectively called the Chinatown Bus (shouldn’t it be called the basi?) and there are several companies that run travel coaches between Chinatowns in Boston, NYC, Philly and DC.
An entire subculture has sprung up around these buses and if you pick up a copy of any alternative weekly out here, chances are you will find a story or two about the horrors (erm, I mean “adventure”) of riding the Chinatown Basi.
So how did yours truly, the obsessed travel planner, wind up on the Chinatown Basi? Well, A, by not knowing that AA charges to use your miles and B, trying to save money, like I do on overseas trips.
When I travel domestically, It’s just like being home, except the sun wakes up on the wrong side of the bed. I tend to travel like I would in SF too because it’s that familiar.
The airline shuttles charge over US$200 r/t if you purchase 3 weeks in advance. Amtrak has similar pricing (like that’s going to grab travellers from the airlines, thanks Amtrak!). But the basi charges US$35 round trip! And if you figure the time it takes to get to the airport, the one hour in advance you gotta cool your heels for there, the flight and then getting into town from LGA, it’s sorta like 4 hours, right? Whattabargain, right? Well….

This is the basi station…
I get to the “bus station” at 1730 after having a light supper of an ham & cheese sandwich, chips and a pint o’ Guinness.

Mmmmmm, Guinnessssssss
Every Chinatown should have a beeg Irish Pub…

Eats AND Drinks
I was thinking that this would tide me over on the basi trip until we made it to the rest stop midway through the trip.
Yeah right.
I queued up with a small crowd that soon morphed into a larger crowd. And as the time went from 1730 to 1830 to 1930, the crowd was getting itchy. Especially since the “customer service rep” was a bum. Literally.

A nice well behaved mob
Anyhoo, when the 1800 basi finally arrived after 2000, people were cranky and tired. And we were all pissed too! The basi discharged it’s load of prisoners and tried to back into the “bus station”. This was a 20 minute maneuver, including close calls with three cars, one attendant and a fence that looks like it’s been hit before (movie coming soon).

“back back back back STOP STOP STOP whamwhamwham”
Up the sidewalk, and into a fence. And out. And in. And out. Waitaminnit, this is supposed to be a PG-13 rated blog!

I’d hate to own this house…
I can just wonder about the thoughts going through this woman’s mind as the basi came within inches of taking out her door. Of course she DID have a parking space, so maybe that’s why she hung tough…

“this bozo’s gonna hit me, I just know it…”
Doesn’t fill me with the greatest confidence. Maybe this guy should go to HKG and learn how to drive a Citybus double decker. Now those guys are good drivers lah.
After the basi ballet, we finally piled onto the basi. (note: if you ever try this ride to death, get a seat in the front of the basi, unless you wanna smell the horribly maintained toilet in the back). Then the driver had to eat. To his credit, he ate rather quickly, noting the presence of a simmering mob in his basi.

The ride was nothing to complain about, once we got on the road. Sensing the anger in his basi, the driver proceeded to drive over 70 the entire time, getting us to NYC in 4.5 hours with no rest stop. Since there was no rest stop, I (and the rest of the bus) either were hungry (for those of us who didn’t bring food) or asleep.
We finally arrive in NYC’s Chinatown “basi station” a bit after 0100, delayed by the Holland Tunnel having only one lane open. And naturally, the “basi station” is waaaaaaay on the opposite side of Chinatown, where there’s no Subway stop nearby. Of course lah!
Straggling to the subway stop, I relent and share a cab with a fellow basi victim. She’s going to Harlem. I’m going to the Upper East Side. We split the cab. I get to my fren’s place. She’s awake (keeps west coast time, apparently), gracious and verrry patient. An absolute rock star. Wound up eating an omelet at 0230 while catching up.
And that’s half of my adventures riding the Chinatown Basi. Except for getting into NYC THREE FRACKING HOURS LATE, it’s no worse than transport I’ve taken on mainland China…
Of course, this ain’t mainland China so I expect a bit more…
Hopefully, the other half of the ride (back to DC) won’t be as eventful.

since I’ve flown a domestic long-haul flight. Or even longer since I’ve flown outta OAK. Here’s why I will NEVER do that again!
My flight to IAD departed OAK at 0720. In order to get out there, I had to endure the following:
A 40 minute MUNI bus ride (4 miles) to BART.
A 20 minute BART ride (25 miles) to the OAK/Coliseum Station
A 5 minute wait followed by a 20 minute “scenic” tour of Oakland before finally getting to the Terminal.
In order to make my flight, I woke up at 0350! That’s usually bedtime!
It was foggy, cold and DARK DARK DARK outside! Please keep in mind that it took me close to 90 minutes to get to OAK on “public transit”. A journey that takes me 35 minutes to DRIVE! That’s a big transit gap, lah! And ppl ask “why do you drive”?
Then, once I got onto the plane, I discovered (again because I dun usually fly domestic long haul) that there are: No magazines (but a bible in 1st Class instead; none in steerage) and no food (used to be that long haul got food but not anymore). Thankfully, I was just knackered so on goes the iPod and fitful sleep until we arrived at IAD with an impressively smooth landing…