There Is Always A First Time

Yeah, it finally happened. I TOOK THE WRONG TRAIN! Ta-dah!

I take commuter rail trains everyday, for almost 6 years, I only missed trains (due to traffic), never got on a wrong train. Once a while you hear someone sitting next to you say "Darn it!", you know they got on the wrong train. I always felt sorry for those people. Well it happens! Especially when they have two trains boarding next to each other at the same time, or you have less than 1 minute to run to your train.

But yesterday, it was different for me. I had to take a later train because of a late doctor appointment. So, I didn't know the conductors or other passengers. Well, I noticed the Rockport train was sitting on Track 6, didn't leave on time. There were several other trains at the station, so I soon forgot about it. I was talking to a lady, while they announced "Lowell train" on track 6. Without any doubt, lots of people walked to that track and we all got on. I remember thinking for a second, "Wow, so many people already on this train, they must saw the conductor earlier". Well, experienced commuter always do that, follow their conductor onto the train, before the announcement. So, I quickly found a seat and closed my eyes. Within a minute, the conductor on the train announced that the train is not working, so we all need to switch to track 7! OK, I thought "how nice of them letting us know the problem immediately". So, I followed the crowd and got on the next train. Got myself a good seat, started sorting my receipts and writing to-do lists. They didn't announce anything on this train, no destination or all the stops. But that happens. The train left station 3 minutes later than my schedule, I actually thought it was not too bad, I would be home in 40 minutes. 10 minutes later, I heard "Chelsea"! I was shocked! "What!?" I looked out of the windows, oops, I didn't know the surroundings. Asked the guy next to me what train is this, hoping he will say Lowell train, but instead he said Rockport! "OMG! I am on the wrong train!"

Long story short, I had to get off that train, wait for the inbound train, and get back to North Station (Boston). To my surprise, I was the only one got off that train (well, for this reason). "Where are the other Lowell people? Was I the only one took this wrong train? Or they just haven't noticed yet?" Well, maybe I heard the announcer wrong at North Station. We all knew he pronounce "Rockport" and "Lowell" almost identical for whatever reason. Stubborn did offer to pick me up, but that station was too far away from our home, and it was raining, I didn't want him to drag little caterpillar out so late in this condition. So I took the train. Anyway, base on the information I got from Stubborn (he was telling me train schedules over the phone. Yeah, I don't have iPhone), if the inbound train arrives ontime, I will have less than 2 minutes to get on the next Lowell train. Unfortunately, the engineer was in no hurry. The train was sooooo slow, even made a couple of stops in the middle of nowhere. Before we even reached North Station, I watched my train left. "OK, still not too bad. At least this gives me some time to grab some dinner". So, finally I got on the 7:30 train, and got home after 8pm. I was exhausted. Well, I planned to go for a little shopping, but I have to save my precious energy to deal with little caterpillar. And there was an armed rubbery in the area I planned to go, police basically locked down the entire neighborhood, everyone had to go inside and lock their doors and windows. No car can get in or out of that area. Police officers were doing door to door search. Guess I was lucky to miss my train!

Well, that's my advanture last night! Do you take buses or trains? Have you ever got on the wrong one before? Did you get off immediately or went all the way without noticing?