The train was 4 hours and 43 minutes late getting to Halifax. Jane and I exchanged contact information and agreed to get together next time she's in Ottawa. We really hit it off. We said a hurried goodbye and went our seperate ways. She was visiting her sister for an overnight before going to Boston on business.
Instead of having time to get groceries and do a quick walk about I just had time to gather up my luggage and lug it over to Dalhousie University's Sussex Campus (DalTech) Which is only a 5 minute walk (10 minutes when dragging luggage) up Barrington from the train station. I had booked a room in the O'Brien Hall residence. It was quite comfy. The rooms and shared bathrooms are kept clean, The bed was comfy. The furniture was brand new. There were 2 common kitchens so I could save some money on meals by getting groceries and eating breakfasts and a few other meals in. It was only $38.76 (taxes incl.) per night. I fell into bed early after unpacking and settling in and was sound asleep before 11:00pm. That was Monday night.
Before I forget... I met lots of folks on the train who were unaware of the ViaPreference plan. So I want everyone to know about this. There is no cost to jooin. Get a membership card before you travel by train. You get one point for every dollar you spend on train travel. There are 3 levels and for awhile I was at Priveledge (second) level where I collected 1 1/2 points for every dollar I spent on train travel. You have to keep your travel up each year to maintain the higher levels so I'm now back down to basic. But I had lots of points and have had many train trips free and a couple of upgrades thatnks to the points. For instance, I cashed in 2000 points for the Montreal to Halifax return portion of my trip. After receiving a late train credit the trip that would normally have cost about $600 only cost me 1500 points. I got seat sales for the Ottawa to Montreal return trip so it only cost me $62.06 (taxes incl.) and I will get a late train credit on a portion of it too. So never travel by train without first getting a VIA Preference card.
OK, I'm falling asleep now so I'm going to have to continue later. Good Night.
Posted by gailene at August 27, 2005 09:44 PM