On the Road #1: Avoid Orbitz If You Can

Just a few short notes before I start roaming about town:

I was not disappointed by Amtrak’s service – though I had envisioned horrific things happening – super delays among the worst of them. But for my purposes at least, Amtrak was a very efficient, if expensive, way to travel. And I didn’t even have to deal with New York traffic!

I did have to deal with New York foot traffic, and a thousand people who felt obliged to just stand around in New York Penn Station not moving while I barreled toward them. The subway was far less of a nightmare than it was in November. I took the #3 train to 96^th, and then to my hotel. Now, because I had made two different reservations on two different days – cheaper than paying an extra $25 fee to Orbitz (notice I am not linking; you will soon see why) to extend my time, I booked a second night through Hotels.com – I was not quite sure how that would show up in the system. Turns out my Orbitz-booked room was not even in the Continental Hostel’s reservation system, but the Hotels.com one was. Well, that’s the last time I use Orbitz. They’ve been a pain before – why do I keep goin’ back when they do me wrong?

Fortunately, the hostel was able to accommodate me – I did pay for the room after all – and without extra cost. I might have to change rooms in the morning, but at least I have something.

Don’t reserve a hotel room through Orbitz, people. In fact, don’t reserve anything through them. They just mess up your reservation sometimes.

Back to the train ride: the snacks on the train were, well, underwhelming – though not the prices. For $6.75 I got a bottle of Heineken and a container of yogurt. All their sandwiches were out except for microwaveable cheeseburgers and two bratwurst. Maybe it would’ve been better had I not eaten at all, which I really didn’t need to in the first place!

Well off I go! Today I try to find cheap eats before my big night out – I’m going to see Company, in a similar staging as another recently-staged Sondheim classic, Sweeney Todd, where all the actors and actresses double as the orchestra. Cool. I found this book in the library published by Frommer’s – NYC Free & Dirt Cheap. It will be my Bible – Qu’ran, Bhagavad Gita, Book of Mormon, whatever you wanna call it – for the next 48 hours.