All plans (even the best thought-out ones) always have a flaw. For instance, they say that to reduce anxiety during public speaking you should imagine the audience members being naked. Yeah, that’s really gonna help when you’re delivering the keynote address to a nudist convention.
Recently I was planning a trip from Seattle to Hartford, CT. The flights on offer were nasty beasts running into the 13 hour range with multiple stops. So I figured I’d fly into Boston and from there into Hartford. The two cities are only 100 miles apart.
The Seattle-Boston flights were sweet — direct shots with one layover, which really helps with those pesky blood clots. Great prices. My plan was looking good. Then I checked the Boston-Hartford run and found things like this:
Boston (BOS) to Pittsburgh (PIT) — 1hr 44min
3hr 41min layover
Pittsburgh (PIT) to Detroit (DTW) — 1hr 3min
57 min layover
Detroit (DTW) to Hartford (BDL) — 1hr 35min
Total Distance: 1,232 miles
Total Travel Time: 9hrs
The little Expedia graph said: Only 2 seats left! I didn’t realize airlines still flew those planes that only have two seats behind the pilot.
Who in their right mind buys this $414 ticket? It’d be worth taking the flight just to see who your seat-mate is (“Oh, so you’re majoring in Math, huh?”).
Undeterred, I checked the Amtrak schedules. I had a choice between a 5 hour ride or a 9 hour one. I was still in the zone where I could probably walk between the two cities in faster time. But then I found a Peter Pan bus offering a 2 hour trip for only $18. Well, it’s more like $25 when you factor in the requisite flask of Jim Beam.
Peter Pan, you rock! I just hope your drivers are required to wear those awesome green tights and pointy hat.
You seem to spend a lot of time on planes Tom. Would they not give you some sort of discount or something?
I drove 500 miles one way last week, and paying the extra for mass transit looked better every hour.
I think it’s time you tried Amtrak! 🙂