Bikes, trains, and rental cars.

Day 26th

This is a early day, as I have to be at the storage locker by 6:30 am, to start packing

stuff. So the 3 S's are done, and I leave for the first trip at 6 am. I get there at 6:30 am

and the pilons are still in place to block you going in. I try my passcode and the 

gates open. So I just remove the pilons and head in. I put my crap in and head back

to the hotel for the second load to bring down and check out.

I get back to the locker around 7:30 am, as rush hour traffic has started. It takes to

about 8:30 am to pack everything properly, disconnect the battery and figure how to

fit the trailer in, which I ended up standing up. With everything good to go. I grab

a Lyft to get me to the local intercity (GO) train. I make it there with 3 minutes to

spare, though I could have caught the next one to Orlando's Amtrak station. The

fare is $2. I wish it was this cheap back home.

The same trains as we have in Toronto on GO. Not too busy, as everyone has lot's of

seats. Not like our GO trains.

The usual view that you would have on any train, anywhere.

I guess I won't be using those for awhile. Time to pack them away.

That's all folks, that's what will fly back with me. It's actually quite heavy, but no

baggage fees and no waiting for luggage.

The train only has two cars, you'd never see that in Toronto.

I'm grateful for SunRail. They make my trip a bit easier and cheaper.

I do try and use public transit as much as I can.

So why am I doing all this. The original plan was to park the bike in Tampa and

fly out of  there. Why Tampa? They have some really good BMW dealers there and

if I had any problems with the bike, they could be taken care of them in Tampa. So

my flight leaves from Tampa on Saturday. The reason I know of the Amtrak train is

that, when I come back in February, I plan on flying to NYC, catching a show that

night, and then taking the overnight train from NYC to Tampa. The catch is, there is

only one train per day, at 10 am. To be honest, it is the easiest way from Orlando to

Tampa. The best part, it costs $14 for a ticket. 

I'm thinking these are the original seats from when they built the station. Build it right,

and they will last forever.

While waiting for the Amtrak train to arrive. There is the SunRail train heading back

south. There's a hotdog stand opening up on the platform. So why not grab a breakfast

sausage to go. Actually it was really good, and lasted most of the trip.

                                                 

Just a cool little sign that keeps you from getting swiped by a train coming in

the other direction.

Anyway, the train comes in on time and leaves on time. Which actually surprised me.

The boarding lady gives me a seat next to someone who overnighted from NYC. So as

soon as we move off, I change cars and find couple of empty seats and get comfortable.

These seats are what flying should be like, lots of room, ton's of leg room and plugs to

plug everything you need in. Plus a cafe car for snacks. It's about a  2 hour trip, with a

few local stops thrown in. Considering it takes anywhere from a hour to a hour and a half

to drive, that's not to bad. I end up watching some of the "Man in the High Castle". I got

a feeling I'm going to be watching the rest of it before I fly home. I like taking the

train, it's always relaxing.

Anyway, we arrive in Tampa at Tampa's Union Station.  I have  a car rental at Tampa's

airport. So it's either walk 10 blocks and catch public transit, or Lyft to the bus terminal

for $12. Or as I find out, Lyft to the airport for $17. Lyft to the airport wins.

It's a ok station, but I wouldn't want to spent 4 or 5 hours waiting for a train there.

 The airport isn't that far from Downtown Tampa. A 15 minute drive later and I arrive at

the rental car place. Little did I know the fun I was about to have. I'm a couple hours early than

my scheduled time, a first for me, but why should it matter. Well to Thrifty it does, as they tried

to  charge me $100 extra for the experience. Plus they didn't even tell me, As I was walking to the

rental car and opened the agreement, that's when I had the nice surprise.  Surprisingly, I actually had

to argue about this. Since I didn't have anything planned for the day, I told them I'd just come

back a couple of hours later, as I can always work on the blog anywhere. So after getting that 

straightened out, I'm off down to get my car. 

The one nice thing about Thrifty car rental is that you get to chose from anything that is in the area

that you are renting from. For me that's full size. So I went with the one that had the most toys in

it. Yep, it's the minivan. I was at one time thinking of buying one, so this would be a great test 

drive. From the airport, I'm off to the motel to check in (no pics though). Since I have a few hours

to waste, I go on my usual pawn shop jaunt.

Who knew, a Dr Who Monopoly game. Nice, but I can't see me playing that much in the future.

That's the problem with having a Krispy Kreme donut store next to the pawn shop. That and I was

getting hungry.

This was a really hard one to turn down. I just looked too good to be true. So I passed, and, yes

I still regret it.

It's come to the end of a fun and interesting day. I head over to the local supermarket and pick up

a few supplies for the next couple of days. This is the one area that America has Canada beat hands

down. Frozen Pizza selection.  Till tomorrow.