So I used to love going up to New York but it has been a long, long time. Last time I was there, nothing much was happening in Chelsea, Soho was were all the established galleries were (well except the uptown ones) and Williamsburg was just become the hip place for artists. Yep, I couldn't believe how long its been. The other thing that was different- mode of transportation. Back in the day I usually took the train up but here in the DC, the trendy folks take one of a slew of buses offering express routes with wifi and outlets. After much debate, I decided on the Bolt Bus, mainly since it offered a departure after the wine tasting event I was attending.
The Post did a big article a while back which made this sound like a good alternative to the train. I heard from friends that they were sometime unreliable in terms of being on schedule. Well, Bolt left the parking lot at 6:59, 1 minute ahead of schedule and dropped us of at 11:20, 5 minutes "late." If only airlines could be that on time. Being the early bus out, we were not full, so i had no one beside me. I'm a big guy, and though the bus had plenty of leg room, the seats are pretty narrow. I can't say it was the most comfortable trip but no worse than flying.
Returning the same night, I was exhausted from walking around Chelsea for a few hours and then attending a 3 hour tasting event, only to walk back down to the bus stop in the rain. Everyone was tired and a little confused when a Bolt bus pulled up dropped some people and left, but sure enough, our bus arrived and we left on time, getting back into DC at about 4:10, 5 minutes ahead of schedule.
I guess I'm getting old but I was so surprised to see cop cars and people all over the streets at 4am coming in DC on rt50. Every fast food joint was packed, it seemed crazy- could some event have just ended/ it didn't seem unlike a club closing but that amount of people would have been more like a Redskins game.
All in all, I'd take the bus again.
