Travel Differently Day 2008 (Comments: 1)

I wrote about Travel Differently Day in an earlier post. Today was the day, and I had a blast!

The day started with my usual mode of travel — bicycle. I visited the members at the New York State Office Building Campus, where we represent the cafeteria workers. One of the buildings with a cafeteria is the Department of Labor. They currently have an exhibit in the lobby about the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911. The exhibit is partly sponsored by my union, UNITE HERE. Nearly 150 workers, mostly women, were killed when the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in NYC caught fire. Many of the doors and windows were locked, and the building went up in minutes. This tragedy led to reforms in the garment industry and safety improvements for factories in general.

There was a cool cruiser bike at the rack in front of the labor department, complete with a combination radio/horn/headlight!

Then it was off to Albany-Rensselaer Station to catch the 11:05 a.m. Adirondack train to Saratoga Springs. We have staff meetings every Tuesday, and I usually get there by car. Not today, though. I checked in my bike at the baggage claim, got my ticket and hopped on the train. (Side note: The guys at the Amtrak baggage area are very cool. They were asking all kinds of questions about the Xtracycle and giving me tips on how to box it if I ever need to ship it via Amtrak. Thanks, Fritz and the gang!)

Multi-Modal Man! ™

The Adirondack starts in NYC and ends in Montreal. From Albany it goes northwest to Schenectady, then north to Saratoga Springs. The trip takes about 50 minutes — 5 minutes longer than the same trip by car. Gas for the drive to Saratoga Springs costs about $15 round-trip, compared with $28.80 on the train. The route is lovely — after Schenectady most of the trip is through a forest.

We got to Saratoga Springs right on time. I walked into town, which took about 25 minutes. There’s a bus, too, but I felt like walking because it was such a gorgeous day. I had lunch with one of my co-workers, went to the meetings, then headed back to the station to catch the 3:55 Adirondack back to Albany. The Saratoga Springs station is much more upscale than the average station its size, which isn’t surprising, considering the demographic that probably uses the station during the summer.

The train was about 20 minutes late getting in, which I guess is common for trains that have to cross the Canadian border. We arrived in Albany at about 5:20 p.m. I picked up my bike with a lot less trouble than last time, had dinner at El Mariachi, and headed home through Washington Park.

Grand total: 15 miles on the bike, 4 miles on foot, 88 miles on the train. See you in 2009!

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