After a very brief visit, it was time to say good bye to Montréal on Friday. The original plan was to get a greyhound travel pass and go to Toronto and Niagra Falls before driving over to Boston. However, somehow I've decided not to..... gut feeling and all that ;) So, I was looking for other possibilities to get to the States and found Amtrack! (www.amtrack.com) Not that I hadn't known about the US train system before, but I didn't think it would be this inexpensive... The trip from Montréal to New York city (which is considered one of the top ten train routes in the world!) starts at 60 $. Since I didn't have the money to pay for a night in the city, I've decided to get off in Albany and found another couchsurfing host there.
The first thing I noticed on the train was the immense space between the seats. I could fit my suitcase in front of me and STILL have enough space to sit! (Granted, I have short legs, but still...) I was standing in the aisle and trying to decide which side to sit on and my gut feeling told me "left" . Since my gut isn't in charge of directions, I sat on the right - and was wrong. Not that the view on the right isn't beautiful, too, it's just that the river shore the train is following? Well, it's on the left.... -.-
All the way towards the border, I was wondering how we're gonna deal with customs. I only remebered the Greyhound trip last year, where everybody had to get off and take everything with him to the customs building and stand in line for an eternity - and I couldn't picture that happening with a train. Turns out, the officers actually board the train and go from row to row asking you what your purpose is comming to the States and, in my case, what on earth I was doing in Montréal! (so, why were you in Montréal? Where did you stay? What did you do there? Why did you go there? - Seriously people? Haven't you ever heard of TRAVELLING???) Anyways, after a lenghty explaination that yes, I had indeed only stopped in Montréal for sightseeing and no, I didn't have a boyfriend or family there and yes, I only stayed there as a tourist, I was finally sent to the officer with the stamp (and *yay* finally a nice/good-looking border control officer!) I had a nice chat with him and was officially welcomed in the States :) Still a little weird that they didn't scan the baggage though...
And then came the River Shore... On the other side of the train, unfortunately, but I could still see it. And yes, the ride really is breathtakingly beautiful! I also realized that I am much more of a nerd that I had thought... scenes from movies seen in class kept rolling through my mind... crazy....
In Albany (not pretty, by the way) I was picked up by my next host and realized, that I really had made the right decision by deciding to go down this way instead :) Jeff is a great host! We went to two couchsurfing parties and I met a ton of new people. He even took me on a motorcycle ride to a state parc nearby with an amazing view over upstate New York! So, yeah, I should really go with my gut feeling more often... ;)
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