The Little Engine That Could....

This weekend, I'm heading to the northeast for some R&R.  The last time I went in the northeast direction, I took the bus in order to see what the 21st century bus experience entails.  I ended up somewhat disappointed.  This time around, I've decided to take the Amtrak.

I've been on board for 2 hours and I already have very positive first impressions.  I have twice the amount of leg space than on the bus and the cost for coach on a train isn't that much more than a standard bus fare.  There is a constant internet connection, although the speeds will vary since they use the data connection from various cell phone towers.  Streaming and downloading isn't allowed in order to conserve bandwidth but if you are l33t hax0r, then you can figure out a way around that.

 

Pros:  Plenty of space, constant internet connection, cafe car, wall outlets, no rush hour traffic to worry about and gorgeous scenery.

Cons:  A bit more expensive than a standard bus fare.

The wheels on the bus go round and round......

I'm going to keep this short and sweet.  I took the bus from D.C. to NYC and back during Memorial Day weekend.

Pros:

Super cheap.  Memorial Day weekend prices were $30 each way.  I have been told that during non peak days, you can get tickets at around $20 or so each way.

It is nice to let someone else do the driving.

Cons:  (mostly #firstworldproblems)

WiFi is advertised as free, but in reality, it is non-existent (super slow @ 56k speeds and connections drop all the time).

Seats are super cramped for a 4 hour bus ride (would be better for shorter rides).

Although it is nice not driving, you still need to deal with traffic jams that will delay your arrival time by more than an hour.

Conclusion:

The bus from D.C. to NYC is good for short trips during off hours when traffic is light.  It is also great for when you have a lot of time to kill.  My bus arrived to pick me up an hour late each way due to really stupid reasons.

After talking to seasoned travelers who frequent NYC from D.C., they recommend the train.  With the train, you pay a little extra but you don't have to deal with traffic jams, have plenty of space (even in coach), and apparently their WiFi connection is not bad.

Photographing with stuff in your face!

So there I was, on top of this clock tower with a great view of Washington D.C. The only problem was that the city put these metal bars all over the window to prevent people from falling out I guess.  Unless you had a point and shoot, your lens would not fit in the space between the bars.  What do you do?

I thought about it for a moment and came up with an idea.  You would take a photo with the bars in the shot.  Next you will side step to the left or right slightly and take the exact same shot.  This is best done with a tripod but since I didn't have mine on me, I tried my best to keep the elevation the same.  Remember to side step and not pan.  Due to the distances of the objects you're shooting, when you side step, there is very little shift in the angles.  However, if you pan, you throw everything off, changing the angles dramatically.  You need to keep the elevation of the two shots the same because next you will have to overlay them in Photoshop.

Ensure your camera is in Manual or use the Exposure Lock feature to keep the camera's computer from changing the exposure between the two shots.

When you get home, open up Photoshop or your favorite open source photo editing software such as Gimp.  Load the first photo on the first layer.  Load the second photo on the second layer.  Start erasing the bars on the top layer and presto, you're all done!  (Note: if you dork up the alignment, Photoshop and Gimp should have a feature that automatically does source alignment between 2 layers.)

Awesome!

I went on a fun 4 hour walking tour today. The tour guide was great and we covered all the monuments along the National Mall and Tidal Basin area. If you're in the mood to learn about the history behind it all, look up "DC by Foot". They do free, tip-based walking tours of various areas in Washington D.C.

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