The flight.

Remember how I ended up spending $10 on a taxi to ride a dozen yards in Italy - well I'm getting better - this trip I spent $6 to travel about 500 yards - here's the story of my trip from Woods Hole, MA to New York:

Things weren't going too well at the lab so I stayed till the last minute before running to catch the bus - made it to the bus stop with a few minutes to spare. Everyone hops on the bus and we wait while the driver stands outside finishing his cigarette - he finally climbs aboard and is just about to close the door when a kid runs forward from the back of the bus:

"Is there time for me to get a drink?"

"Sure, but make it quick"

So the kid runs off and we all sit and wait, and wait, and wait. After five minutes the driver hops out and goes in search of the kid. No sooner has the driver left than the kid shows up - pokes his head in the door of the bus - sees that the driver is gone and runs off to find him. Its another five minutes before the driver the kid and the bus are all in the same place. We arrive in Boston at 5:15 - my USAir flight departs at 6:00.

Now I walk three blocks from the bus stop to the subway station. Once inside I have to queue up to buy a token - in front of me are three really fat people and they're really slow - passing nickels and dimes amongst themselves so they can each give the ticketing guy exactly 85 cents - the train arrives as they're buying their tickets and leaves while they're trying to squeeze through the ticketing booths. By the time the next train arrives another 5mins have past - now less than 35 mins to make the flight.

I take the train to Government Center, switch trains and finally arrive at the airport station - 25mins left. Now I have to wait for the free shuttle bus from the subway station to the terminal building. Five minutes go by, no bus, 10 minutes go by, still no bus - there's now only 15mins till the flight departs. In desperation I flag down a taxi - except they're not supposed to pick up pasengers here so I have to promise the guy a significant tip. He asks which terminal - that's easy - I had arrived in Boston on USAir and knew it was at terminal B. He races through the traffic. About 500 yards, 2 minutes and six dollars later we arrive at the terminal - now 13 minutes to departure.

I race inside, up the stairs, down the coridoor to the departure gates - check the monitors to find the gate number - my flights not listed! Run back out the corridor and find a ticketing agent

"Which gate for flight 6151"

"Huh?

"Which gate for flight 6151"

"Oh, that's a USAir Shuttle flight - they leave from terminal A."

Its now eight minutes before the flight leaves - I run down the stairs and along the road toward terminal A (which, as luck would have it was up an incline from terminal B and in the opposite direction to the traffic so not even a taxi can help). I reach the terminal, run inside and make it to the plane with 2 minutes to spare.

I think next time I will walk to New York.