Get on the Bus...and stay on!

We've used a wide variety of transport during our New York stay, and sometimes the choice was bewildering. We took the bus each day from our hotel in Secaucus, NJ to the Port Authority terminal in downtown NY. After a couple of days of relying on taxis for short hops around the city, we then got brave enough to use the subway system. I had forgotten how it works, and had to 'relearn' everything, from how to purchase tickets to changing lines. (Now I know how newbies feel when confronting the Tokyo mass transit system, although I do think it is much more user-friendly than that of New York, even for folks who don't speak Japanese! Sometimes even finding a station employee to help proved futile in NY.)

Another thing that confused me was this: Why do both New York city and New Jersey have hub stations called Penn Station?! We used both during our journey. Aside from the subway, we travelled out by regular train from Grand Central station to see friends in Chappaqua near White Plains (and I almost screwed up by asking for tickets to Chautauqua, which is near Buffalo). And on the evening of the Idols concert, we had to take one system out to Newark and then another one back to the hotel. That was the day we used both Penn. stations, and I almost had a heart attack when I was told I had to go to Penn station for the Idols concert, after setting out for Newark--before realizing the person I was talking to meant the Penn station IN Newark. Overall, the mass transit systems we encountered were clean and efficient, save for Amtrak's Empire Line, but more on that when we get to Buffalo.

The biggest gaffe of our trip so far happened on our first full day in NY and it was with the bus, not the train. We found the NJ transit buses a pleasure to use, quick, clean and comfortable. The riders coming in from Secaucus, NJ were an eclectic mix of workers and tourist like us, who were lured by the reasonable lodging prices and the easy proximity to NY city. After a full day of sightseeing, we made our way back to the Port Authority terminal and joined the queue for our bus at the designated bay at around 5.30 pm. The trip back to the hotel would take roughly 20 to 30 minutes. The kids were all exhausted and still catching up on sleep, so within moments of boarding the bus they were all out for the count. Despite my best intentions to keep vigil, I too fell asleep--waking half an hour later to unfamiliar scenery. I hurriedly asked the guy in front of me if we had passed the Harmon Meadow stop and he said he thought we had, so better ask the driver. I stumbled towards the front only to be told, "Lady, you got on the wrong bus!" Whoops!! The driver gave me the option of being dropped at the next stop (where?) or staying on the bus and going back to New York, so with sleeping kids, that seemed liked the much better option. To cut a long journey short, we indeed rode the bus to the end of the line and then all the way back to New York, getting in around 7.30, so the kids had a nice long sleep. When we arrived back at the Port Authority they were somewhat confused: "Didn't we leave yet?" Our bus was the one next door, and after hearing our sorry tale, the nice lady directing people said there was no need to pay for a second ticket, so we lucked out. We finally made it to back to our hotel after 8 pm!