Well not really – we’re going to Niagara Falls – that’s if I can get my shit together!

I’m usually pretty good at organising stuff, but something has come over me this trip and I keep getting things wrong – I have to tell you it’s an odd feeling that I’m not enjoying.

So I booked our train tickets months ago and since then there were a couple of schedule changes made – which was fine, but then last month I got an email with the same PDF ticket attached, but with no other information or communication – when I looked at it…. and I say “looked” I obviously ‘glanced’ – at best… I noticed a small time change from 11.59pm to 12.14am (meaning we’re now looking at a different date) and I must have taken in that information and thought – fine, I can live with a 15 minute time change and left it at that.

What I didn’t read was the fact that the station of departure had also changed from Penn Station to Grand Central Station…. and because I was clearly focused on the first leg of the journey, I took no noticed of the change they had made to our second train journey, where they had split the booking into two with one of us was travelling on one day and the other on the next day!  Naturally I only noticed this now.  I made a call to a friendly lady who didn’t know why those changes had been made, but just changed them back so it all looked fine…. I guess only time will tell tomorrow night now.

Now that the train is sorted (fingers crossed) I can tell you about this morning’s drama and our lovely 10 hour train journey.

We said goodbye to the New York apartment…

… and left for Penn Station in a taxi (as we all now know was the wrong station!) Lucky we didn’t decide to walk or catch the subway as both were options.  I had a funny feeling in my gut telling me to check the tickets at the counter and luckily I did.  Lucky we left so early and lucky that my sister is super patient and understanding.  Phew! Lucky.

We got back up onto the street and lucky that I had decided to send my suitcase on to Denver – I went back and forth on this decision and now it was paying for itself!  Jodie still had her case, but she packs light. On the street level haiing a taxi wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be, but finally got a chap who was happy to take us.

We still had plenty of time before our train was due to be boarded, so we got to look around Grand Central Station a bit – a much prettier station than Penn.  Lucky us!

It is so busy there with the people coming and going…

Once we got on the train, there was a huge sigh of relief as I felt I could finally relax.  We had lovely seats and a great view as the train moved up through Harlem and north to Yonkers and beyond.

A chap got onboard about half way and sat in front of us, but kept looking back inbetween the seats at us….  As he got up to get off the train a few stops later he turned around and asked, “Are you two sisters?” We said, “Yes.” “Twins?”, he asked?  It’s funny what some people see.  I can see that we have similar features, but I don’t think I’d ever say we were alike enough to be twins – identical or otherwise.  Also, I guess we’re more of a similar height when we’re sitting down.  I’m going to have to start wearing a hat so people can tell us apart!

The train line follows the Hudson River the whole way up the Hudson, through places like Poughkeepsie, and the scenery was beautiful.

I had to take these sneaky pics while the man in this seat was up in the dining car.

But then he stood like this for a while, so maybe he wouldn’t have minded so much if I he was in my pics?

We spent 10 hours on the train, so we listened to podcasts and followed ourselves on Google maps, looked out the window and ate snacks…. we were both very ready to get off by the time we got to Niagara Falls.

Most of the accommodation in NF are chain hotels, so when I saw the Red Coach Inn, I jumped at it.

It was different, it was unusual.  As far as I knew I was booking a two bedroom suite, meaning two bedrooms, a bathroom and perhaps a small living area, but look what we got!!!

Here’s a close up of that wallpaper for you.  The decorating was top notch – Shania Blaze would have had a field day!

Everybody was terribly friendly and they even had a cheese plate and a “bottle” of bubbly in the fridge for us….

We weren’t sure how long that cheese had been in the fridge for and yes – that’s a 250ml bottle of Spewmante!  Bless. it’s still in the fridge.

The location of the hotel and the view from our excessive lounge room window though was wonderful.  You could hear the water from there.

Jamie, at the front desk told us about the new light show – meaning they illuminate the falls at night and apparently every weekend they have fireworks – that’s giving Mandurah a run for its money!

It was quite beautiful… but chilly!

It’s unfathomable how much water is going over the cliffs every second….