Re: [Debconf-discuss] Travelling from Montréal to NY f or DebCamp10, July 26th
Luca Capello writes ("[Debconf-discuss] Travelling from Montréal to NY f or
DebCamp10, July 26th"):
> I do not have any specific plan yet and I am considering any travelling
> option (car, bus, train, flight). Thus, if someone is interested and
> would like to share the journey, feel free to contact me!
I'm afraid I won't be at Debconf, but:
I can recommend the Acela train from New York to Boston. It's not
quite what a European would expect from a high speed train, but it's
well-appointed and comfortable. It was reasonably fast and punctual
and a lot more pleasant and less hassle than flying would have been.
I travelled first class for a reasonable fare. Book early for cheaper
tickets.
Ian.
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Re: [Debconf-discuss] Travelling from Montréal to NY f or DebCamp10, July 26th
On Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 01:53:18PM +0100, Ian Jackson wrote:
> Luca Capello writes ("[Debconf-discuss] Travelling from Montréal to NY f or
> DebCamp10, July 26th"):
> > I do not have any specific plan yet and I am considering any travelling
> > option (car, bus, train, flight). Thus, if someone is interested and
> > would like to share the journey, feel free to contact me!
>
> I'm afraid I won't be at Debconf, but:
>
> I can recommend the Acela train from New York to Boston. It's not
> quite what a European would expect from a high speed train, but it's
> well-appointed and comfortable. It was reasonably fast and punctual
> and a lot more pleasant and less hassle than flying would have been.
> I travelled first class for a reasonable fare. Book early for cheaper
> tickets.
Further information which someone may want to adapt into a chunk of the
DebConf10 travel coordination wiki area:
The "Acela Express" is the fancier, slightly faster train (by maybe 30-60
minutes). The "Regional" train is the more affordable train, though still not
as cheap as the bus options. Ian was presumably referring to the Acela Express,
on which the two classes are called business class and first class. On the
Regional trains, they have coach and business class. I usually travel Regional
coach and it was perfectly fine, though the Acela certainly has a higher-class
atmosphere.
All of these options have sufficiently comfortable seats, reasonable bathrooms,
a cafe car, and power outlets. I believe Amtrak is deploying free wifi,
starting with the Acela trains, but I am not sure of the timeline or whether it
will remain free. I second what Ian said about booking in advance; you can book
as early as 11 months in advance, though I usually get sufficiently cheap fares
by booking 4-8 weeks in advance. http://www.amtrak.com/ - quite a well-done
site. Do allow time for delays, as they can occur, especially if the train to
Boston comes from Washington instead of originating in New York.
The various bus options will be significantly cheaper but also take longer due
to traffic, and much more spartan / less comfortable. MegaBus and BoltBus both
have free wifi, and BoltBus also has power outlets. Fung Wah and Lucky Star are
common among Chinese-Americans (since they go between Chinatowns) and among
students who care more about price than anything else. Flying to Boston from
NYC probably makes no sense for anyone other than wealthy people who are ok
with a daily commute to work of several hundred miles.
- Jimmy Kaplowitz
ji...@debian.org
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Re: [Debconf-discuss] Travelling from Montréal to NY f or DebCamp10, July?26th
On Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 09:33:58AM -0400, Jimmy Kaplowitz wrote: The various bus options will be significantly cheaper but also take longer due to traffic, and much more spartan / less comfortable. MegaBus and BoltBus both have free wifi, and BoltBus also has power outlets. I travelled with a WiFi+power bus from Boston to NY last spring, and it was so unreliable that it was useless: It worked less than a minute, then we had to complain to the bus driver, who rebooted the WiFi router, and then it worked for a minute more... After 10 rounds of complaints we gave up. - Jonas -- * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt * Tlf.: +45 40843136 Website: http://dr.jones.dk/ [x] quote me freely [ ] ask before reusing [ ] keep private signature.asc Description: Digital signature ___ Debconf-discuss mailing list Debconf-discuss@lists.debconf.org http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/debconf-discuss
Re: [Debconf-discuss] Travelling from Montréal to NY f or DebCamp10, July?26th
Hi Jonas, On Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 05:08:26PM +0200, Jonas Smedegaard wrote: > I travelled with a WiFi+power bus from Boston to NY last spring, and it > was so unreliable that it was useless: It worked less than a minute, > then we had to complain to the bus driver, who rebooted the WiFi router, > and then it worked for a minute more... After 10 rounds of complaints > we gave up. Yes, that is one known problem with the wifi on the bus, though I was able to get some useful browsing in on MegaBus from Boston to NY the one time I tried. I have no idea how reliable Amtrak's wifi is where they do offer it, but overall I'm guessing it's more reliable since the whole operation is less minimal. When comparing Ian's views with mine and mine with Micah's, you can see a range of price vs comfort tradeoffs, and hopefully you can translate to your own preferences. (In my case there's the additional factor of getting a bit motionsick on long-distance buses but not on long-distance buses, especially when reading or staring at a computer screen for extended periods.) - Jimmy Kaplowitz ji...@debian.org ___ Debconf-discuss mailing list Debconf-discuss@lists.debconf.org http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/debconf-discuss
Re: [Debconf-discuss] Travelling from Montréal to N Y f or DebCamp10, July 26th
On Wed, 14 Apr 2010 09:33:58 -0400, Jimmy Kaplowitz wrote: > The various bus options will be significantly cheaper but also take longer due > to traffic, and much more spartan / less comfortable. MegaBus and BoltBus both > have free wifi, and BoltBus also has power outlets. Fung Wah and Lucky Star > are > common among Chinese-Americans (since they go between Chinatowns) and among > students who care more about price than anything else. Flying to Boston from > NYC probably makes no sense for anyone other than wealthy people who are ok > with a daily commute to work of several hundred miles. The bus is really the way to go if you ask me. Its *significantly* cheaper than the train by several magnitudes (typically costs $15), and it often doesn't actually take that much longer than the train (at least in my experience they seem to take the same amount of time, sometimes the bus has been faster). The BoltBus is the preferred one, if you want Wifi and power, but the other buses all have wifi, just no power. If you are looking for an interesting experience, go with a Chinatown bus. There are a lot of options, try riding the bus one way and if your european sensibilities are offended, spend the money on the train on the way back ;) micah pgpL6Uw5aH9kW.pgp Description: PGP signature ___ Debconf-discuss mailing list Debconf-discuss@lists.debconf.org http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/debconf-discuss
Re: [Debconf-discuss] Travelling from Montréal to NY f or DebCamp10, July 26th
On Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 9:33 AM, Jimmy Kaplowitz wrote: > The various bus options will be significantly cheaper but also take longer due > to traffic, and much more spartan / less comfortable. MegaBus and BoltBus both > have free wifi, and BoltBus also has power outlets. Fung Wah and Lucky Star > are > common among Chinese-Americans (since they go between Chinatowns) and among > students who care more about price than anything else. Flying to Boston from > NYC probably makes no sense for anyone other than wealthy people who are ok > with a daily commute to work of several hundred miles. FungWah fo' life! -- http://twitter.com/damog http://stereonaut.net/ ___ Debconf-discuss mailing list Debconf-discuss@lists.debconf.org http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/debconf-discuss
Re: [Debconf-discuss] Travelling from Montréal to NY f or DebCamp10, July?26th
Jimmy Kaplowitz writes ("Re: [Debconf-discuss] Travelling from Montréal to NY f
or DebCamp10, July?26th"):
> I have no idea how reliable Amtrak's wifi is where they do offer it, but
> overall I'm guessing it's more reliable since the whole operation is less
> minimal. [...]
I don't have any information about this, since I usually use long
train journeys to do programming (or sleeping or staring out of the
window) rather than general spodding, and I arrange to have all the
materials I need on my hard disk.
Ian.
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Re: [Debconf-discuss] Travelling from Montréal to N Y f or DebCamp10, July?26th
On Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:08:26 +0200, Jonas Smedegaard wrote: > On Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 09:33:58AM -0400, Jimmy Kaplowitz wrote: > > >The various bus options will be significantly cheaper but also take > >longer due to traffic, and much more spartan / less comfortable. > >MegaBus and BoltBus both have free wifi, and BoltBus also has power > >outlets. > > I travelled with a WiFi+power bus from Boston to NY last spring, and it > was so unreliable that it was useless: It worked less than a minute, > then we had to complain to the bus driver, who rebooted the WiFi router, > and then it worked for a minute more... After 10 rounds of complaints > we gave up. I've done multiple trips in the last few months, both directions and not experience something as bad as you did. There almost always is a few dead-spots along the route (it is cellular data), but nothing I couldn't handle. Maybe someone on your bus was running torrents while streaming hulu and ruining it for everyone. micah pgpSPtAtwTgTo.pgp Description: PGP signature ___ Debconf-discuss mailing list Debconf-discuss@lists.debconf.org http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/debconf-discuss
Re: [Debconf-discuss] Travelling from Montréal to NY f or DebCamp10, July?26th
On Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 05:43:39PM -0400, micah anderson wrote: On Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:08:26 +0200, Jonas Smedegaard wrote: On Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 09:33:58AM -0400, Jimmy Kaplowitz wrote: >The various bus options will be significantly cheaper but also take >longer due to traffic, and much more spartan / less comfortable. >MegaBus and BoltBus both have free wifi, and BoltBus also has power >outlets. I travelled with a WiFi+power bus from Boston to NY last spring, and it was so unreliable that it was useless: It worked less than a minute, then we had to complain to the bus driver, who rebooted the WiFi router, and then it worked for a minute more... After 10 rounds of complaints we gave up. I've done multiple trips in the last few months, both directions and not experience something as bad as you did. There almost always is a few dead-spots along the route (it is cellular data), but nothing I couldn't handle. Maybe someone on your bus was running torrents while streaming hulu and ruining it for everyone. I am pretty sure I did not use BoltBus. And I am quite certain it was not just a dead spot or a lame passenger: the bus driver was in no way surprised that it failed contantly. I would still choose bus over train next time, however - just wanted to warn that internet connection might not be reliable :-) ...and if you found it reliable then please do share with us which company you used. - Jonas P.S. No need to cc me - I am subscribed -- * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt * Tlf.: +45 40843136 Website: http://dr.jones.dk/ [x] quote me freely [ ] ask before reusing [ ] keep private signature.asc Description: Digital signature ___ Debconf-discuss mailing list Debconf-discuss@lists.debconf.org http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/debconf-discuss
