I’m out of town this week designing for a theatre in Rhode Island, (Yes they have theatre in Rhose Island. I was shocked too frankly.) Yesterday I headed out for Penn Station to start my trek out of the city only to find that Amtrak was completely sold out for the entire day. This has never happened to me before. Was there some mass exodus yesterday that I am unaware of? I panicked briefly trying to figure out what other methods I could use to get to RI… car rental? taxi? What is there? Then I remembered that I was living in one of the best cities in the world for transit. Just a few blocks away was a whole different train system that could possibly help me end-run Amtrak. After a phone call to Amtrak and a quick check of a time table I knew I could do it, so I ran (almost literally) over to Grand Central where I picked up Metro North to a town halfway up the Amtrak line, beating the Amtrak train to the station, and switched over. Having made a few stops, my originally desired train was now emptier and could afford me a seat. I also did this for nearly $20 less than I would have paid if I had been on Amtrak from the start. Where else in the world could I have managed this?