To go from Baltimore to NY has been a real nightmare. I had a return train ticket for the 29th at night, but that was obviously cancelled. Amtrak then rebooked me on the first train out of Baltimore (at 03:45am on November 1st), and since flights or buses were not operating, I took it.

The nice lady at the travel agency got me a reservation on a flight to La Guardia. But a few hours later the flight was cancelled. Then she got me another reservation on a flight to JFK. But that was also cancelled by the airline hours later. She is definitely the best, most professional and caring travel agent I have ever met. But good thing I still had my train reservation.

A few hours before going to the station, I receive an email saying my train reservation was cancelled by Amtrak. So I spent exactly 3 hours on the phone (calling, selecting options, waiting, line drops, starting again…) trying to understand what happened and trying to digest the news that there would be no trains to NY until November 5th. In the meantime, I saw on a bus operator`s twitter account tweeting (in case of emergency you need communication channels and social media) that they were running buses from Baltimore to NY November 1st! After a while trying to get through their phone sales, I decided to try online booking. The system kept falling, but I finally got a ticket, and an even earlier second ticket by someone who had booked too many. 

After another extra night at the hotel, and waiting in the rain for the bus to arrive, Im out of Baltimore, at last! Writing the beginnign of this post from a tunnel traffic accident that delays us over half an hour, but in a nice and clean Bolt bus, with plenty of leg room, electricity plugs and free open wifi. How ironic that when I get to NY I will not have those things in my apartment. Lets see what happens.

[Note: images on this post have not been taken, or downloaded, or hosted by me; for full attribution follow the source]

Upon finally arriving in New York, I see with my own eyes how strong the hurricane must have been:

Glad I did not arrive via train (look at these pics), since service to NY will not be available until Monday November 5th

although tunnels did not look better

and the airports…

were a mess.

So I finally made it to my apartment and as the automatic system had warned me: no water or electricity (so no internet, no light, no heat, and no elevator to the 14th floor… at least I don`t live in the 50th floor like someone I know!). Ed Con utility company says “we do not know how long it is going to take to reinstate the power, but it may be after the weekend”. WTF.

I walk 14 floors upstairs, in complete darkness, with my suitcase, throw everything that was in the fridge to the trash, water the plants, pack again, and walk downstairs.

Stephanie (thank you, thank you, thank you) offers me to stay at her apartment uptown. Looks like I can`t take the subway but above 40th street there is electricity and running subways. Big lines to take buses.

A warm shower, three purring kitties, a good night sleep… happy again. Tomorrow, while she goes to work, it will be time for me to lend a hand and help those in need.