A Story of Transit: 48 Hours

... many miles over a short time, with lots of good conversations!

I always find it amazing that when you go in simple faith that things will just work out and relax... things just work. The past two days have been a great example...

I knew I needed to attend and present at a TALCO meeting up at the Durham Board of Education in Whitby on the Friday. This presented on opportunity to slate a workday with a colleague on Thursday, seeing as I was going to be up in the general area.

The challenge was to see how I could stitch disparate locales together and still leave my car at home so as not to deprive my 21 yr old of wheels!  Time to stitch together our wonderful, disjointed bits of public transit, call on a few good friends to collect me at end points... and then just relax and let the adventure flow...

(shot this at the Georgetown GO station at 6:45 AM, Friday morning)

Thursday morning:
(5:00 AM) 

Car from home to VIA station (Windsor) [thanks Brenden!]
VIA train from Windsor to London
change trains, VIA train from London to Georgetown
Car from Georgetown to town of Acton (10:30 AM) [thanks Debbi!]

- workday in Acton -

Friday morning:
(6:30 AM) 

Car from Acton to Georgetown [thanks Walter!]
GO train from Georgetown to Union Station, Toronto
Subway from Union Station to Lawrence Station, Toronto
Car from Lawrence Station (Toronto) to town of Whitby (9:30 AM) [thanks Ruth!]

- workday in Whitby at the Durham Board of Ed -

Friday afternoon & evening:
(4:00 PM) 

Car from Whitby to McCowan LRT station in Scarborough [thanks Philip!]
LRT train from Scarborough to Kennedy Station, Toronto
Subway from Kennedy station to Bloor/Yonge Station, Toronto
Change subway lines, then subway from Bloor/Yonge Station down to Union Station, Toronto
VIA train from Union Station (Toronto) to VIA Station (Windsor)
Car from VIA Station (Windsor) to home. (11:50 PM) [thanks Pat!]

Along the way one ride fell through, some connections were late... but in the end it all worked.
 - saw great sights from train windows;
 - had great conversations with friends as we shared rides;
 - received trustworthy and friendly directional advice from strangers;
 - swapped stories with fellow passaengers enroute....

I was technologically passed along as well - my network connections swapped along seven  different ISPs while I maintained connectivity *most* of the time (okay - there was one series of firewall issues... grumble...).  My laptop and iPad preformed as the usual road warriors I have come to trust them to be.

It was a long and busy 48 hours... but well worth the effort.

Thanks, everyone!