State-hop (Mis)adventures 3: The Survival Challenge

We were running... er... driving late. I have a flight to catch at 3:25pm, we're still in the friggin' highway, and it's... 3:00 already! Well, when I got to O'Hare, I said goodbye to my flight. I'm supposed to go back to Avoca stopping over Philly. My business trip was supposed to be until Monday but it got cut short; had I known, I would've bought plane tickets straight to my next state-hop: New Jersey. Anyway, I had my flight rebooked and I was able to fly out later that night. Up in the air you can see the spectacular lights of downtown Chicago. It was A-mazing! Too bad I couldn't take a picture though.

my cow

After the plane circled the skyline of Philadelphia thrice, we finally landed at 12:30am. Whew! Then after claiming my now 40-lbs suitcase, along with my carry-on, laptop, and cow, I hurried to the nearest payphone and called my Uncle. "Naku naiwan ka na ng mga bus at train dyan." was the first news I got. Wow. Baligtarin pa natin: Wow. And I was told that the first train leaves at 5:25am. Before we put the phone down, my Uncle and Aunt took turns giving me instructions for getting to New Jersey. I was told to take SEPTA (what the h is SEPTA??). The first thing I saw after that was a sign that says "SEPTA Bus". Then I heard stuff like "30th St", "Trenton", "Edison", "Northeast Corridor", "R1", "NJ Transit". That's it. My brain wasn't functioning anymore. So I was just writing down those names and putting arrows everywhere. The last thing I heard was, "magtanong ka diyan ha".

This calls for another challenge! And probably the most challenging part of my trip. It might not be much but it was a test of survival for me. So of course, I didn't go anywhere for the next "few" hours. I took a $3-cart to drag my stuff with and holding my cow, I sat at one corner and waited for the sun to come up. I took naps along with a few other people who spent the night near the baggage claim area of the Philly airport. Suddenly, I felt something in my stomach. Deym! I got hungry! And there's no food, no vendo machine anywhere. As if the thinking bulb lit up in my already tired brain, I openned my suitcase and there they were. The most delicious granola bars in the world-- Kudos!

I woke up at 7:30am. Oh goodie! Finally, I'm going to get out of the airport. So the first thing I need to do is to take SEPTA. I went outside fighting the cooold Philly weather and painfully waited for the SEPTA bus. After 20 minutes, it arrived. I dragged my stuff, went in, and felt relieved that I'm finally going somewhere. Wait a second... going where?? When some of the folks got off, I asked the bus driver if he's going to 30th Street with a huge question mark there. I told him I was going to New Jersey. Eto yung winner. He told me that it's difficult having to lug my stuff around and that I should've taken the R1 train from the airport! I thought, "Aaaah yun pala yung R1...!" Bwahahaha yeah, now I know. So I took a mini tour outside and well, went back to the airport hehe. Somebody told me where the train is so I dragged my stuff on another walk again. And there it was-- R1. Oh and the train says, "SEPTA". Demmet!

Taking the train dragging my stuff was even more difficult. Sheez! And it wasn't just 1 train. I had to transfer three times, on three different tracks! Drag. Drag. Drag. SEPTA took me to 30th Street station, where I took the NJ Transit going to Trenton. Making sense out of these familiar names courtesy of conductors and cashiers gave me such relief and I kept telling myself, "okay, good job Myls!" Haha!

30th Street Station, NJ Transit

It was a long and slow train ride. I finally reached Trenton at 9am. I wondered if it was still Pennsylvania or it was already New Jersey. Hehe. Then I saw a brochure that says "Northeast Corridor" with stations and lots of numbers I couldn't interpret. I didn't know if I was going to take a train or a bus. So I asked a lady but she replied, "No English". Great. I asked a guy but he said, "Oh sorry I'm not from here."

So I took my phone out and searched my phonebook for my Aunt's number. I hopped payphones but none of them seem to work. So I approached a police desk. The officer dialed my Aunt's number for me. When I reached her, she gave me instructions going to my final stop. She told me to ride a train going to Edison, which is near their place. My uncle will pick me up from there. Oh wow, only one more station to go! So I bought the last ticket going to Edison. Train on track two. 10 minutes.

Tired and lovely. Walang mangengeelam!

I dragged my things to track two and waited impatiently for the Edison train. All the NJ Transit trains bound to Newark/New York pass through the same tracks but not all of them stop at certain stations like Edison. Here comes the train! I asked a lady if it will stop at Edison and she said yes so I quickly got on board. Hehe only to find out that it's an express train going (somewhere), and it's not going to stop as Edison. Waaah, ano na naman to' Myls?? So when the conductor came, I told him that I got in the wrong train and that I'm supposed to drop at Edison. Excited kasi eh. He told me to drop and transfer at the New Brunswick station. Aaah yun naman pala. So I dropped and transferred to the next train and a light from above shone brightly on the sign that said "EDISON". I'm here!

Just after getting off the train with the usual drag drag drag, I saw my favorite Uncle (slash Godfather btw). Wow, I've never been soooo HAPPY to see him!!! We haven't seen each other since 1984 anyway hehehe. We hugged, got to Aunt's SUV and drove. And of course I told him everything that's happened. The news spread out to all our relatives there like wildfire. The first thing we did when I got there-- EAT. He asked where I wanted to eat. I said, "ANYWHERE!" So we had a Subway sandwhich.

HOME AT LAST!!! Man! That was some trip! I got into my room overlooking the nice pond with ducks lounging on the grass hehe. Then I quickly went online to buy credits for my phone (yeah, which is why I was never able to use it when I got stranded in Philly). 1K load, bought! Now I can text. Hmmm... how come I didn't hear any alert? So I took my carry-on, openned it, and saw my shoes, my wallet, my ice breakers, my kikay kit... my phone-- was missing!!! Ohhh crap!!! Later on, I figured that I left it on the ticket counter at the Trenton station. Crap!!! I loved that phone! Marami nang na-document yon!!! Good thing though that 99% of the files there are in my laptop already. Oh... well... at least this is going to give me an excuse to buy a new unit hehehe.

Not long after that, I took a most-awaited bath, changed to my PJ's and ZzzzZzzzZzzz like a baby. I woke up at 7pm to meet my Aunt for the first time and we talked about the morning's adventure. Went back to bed at 10.

Tomorrow, we're off to the big apple! Can't wait!!