Now that Sandy’s come and
gone, I hope that everyone is safe from her wrath. My thoughts and prayers are
with those who lost everything, and hopefully they can start rebuilding their
lives. I was extremely fortunate, as my house was one of the few that didn’t
lose power, even though most of my town is still without it.
I came home for the weekend
so I could vote, so Monday I had to take New Jersey Transit into Manhattan to
get to my internship. I’m a seasoned commuter and have never experienced
anything but a minor delay with the trains. However, Hurricane Sandy threw the
mass transportation system into a tailspin. It was probably one of the greatest
travel adventures I’ve ever experienced!
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The rails just eroded away on this track! |
The train I normally take
was down because of lack of power, rail damage, and fallen trees, so I had to
travel two towns over to catch the 7:23 AM train to Secaucus, where I would
transfer to get to Penn Station. Everything was running smoothly until we were
almost at Secaucus; the train stopped for a good 40 minutes waiting its turn to
feed into the station! When we were finally able to exit the train, we were met
with hundreds of other people who were trying to accomplish the same transfer.
After a series of unfulfilled promises and an hour of waiting, an empty train
finally arrived to take us to New York.
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An incredibly crowded Penn Station. |
By the time I arrived at my
internship, it had been exactly THREE HOURS from when I began my journey!
Thankfully, the ride home was uneventful, but the entire morning was a
stressful experience to say the least. I appreciate that New Jersey Transit tried
to open up as many lines as they could, but I think they underestimated the
demands that would be placed on the system.
So where does Adele’s song
“Chasing Pavements” come in? Sometime between when the mysterious empty train
that was promised to us for a good hour showed up and when it left the station,
I realized that it was the perfect theme song for the day. I longed to escape
the rails and tunnels that held me hostage for the morning. I’m pretty sure I
had it on repeat for a good ten minutes on the ride into New York.