Public all the way
I’ve just been re-reading some old posts on Godzookie Baby – and was reminded of a few posts I promised about stuff we learnt on our two month adventure. So here is (drum roll) the public transport post you’ve all been waiting for!
We began our trip with a big dedication to public transport – we used the Sydney Airport line – and as most Sydney-siders know, this is a joke. If you can catch a cab, do it, but we decided that we didn’t want to stuff around with cabs and car seats, so we caught the train. We’d done a “dry run” to Melbourne the week before so we knew what we were in for in terms of carrying a baby, a pram and luggage. What we carried; our Bugaboo bee in its travelling case, our baby bjorn travel cot (super light weight – great for big trips), one suitcase, hand luggage and Fin of course strapped to me in an ergo baby carrier. Three items to check in. Not bad, not bad at all!
Here is a quick city by city run down…
SAN FRANCISCO: We arrived and headed straight to the BART and into town. Really easy to get into the city. We stayed in the Tenderloin area which I have been told is an up and coming area for the last fifteen years. It is. And it isn’t. But it’s not too hard to get to as there are two BART stations close by. If you are travelling around the city with a stroller or pram most BART stations have disabled access so it’s quite easy. If you are doing the touristy thing with the cable cars, take a baby carrier or a very small, lightweight fold-up stroller. We also caught the ferry to Marin County to visit a friend. The ferry’s give you great views of the bay area. The buses we rode did not have disabled access so you have to fold down your stroller.
CHICAGO: Rode the El right downtown and planned our trip before hand so when we made our line change, we did it at a station with disabled access. There are some stops on the El with disabled access and it just takes a bit of planning. To be honest, did most of our getting around this great city by foot. Walked up to Lincoln Park and the zoo, walked down to Millenium Park and the Art Institute. It’s easy taking the El though, and we jumped on one down to the Printers Row / South Loop area, had breakfast at my favourite place in Chicago, The Bongo Room and had a long stroll back up town that took up the most of the day.
TORONTO: We had no idea about the public transport situation when we landed in Toronto, but one thing we had going for us was flying Porter Airlines, as they land right on an island in the centre of town. We were staying on Queen Street West, and after a little bit of scoping on google maps we saw it would take about 30-40 minutes walk from the airport up to the hotel. So mm jumped in a cab with our gear, and Fin and I stretched our legs and walked. It’s a great neighbourhood to explore so this was not a problem. Maybe some of you reading this may baulk at a walk that long but besides always wanting to stretch my legs after a flight, that length of walk is nothing to us. We do a lot of walking normally at home so that distance was fine. During our time in Toronto we caught a few trams around (the ones we caught we had to fold our stroller up as they are quite high off the ground with steps – I am not sure if they have disabled access at certain times) and we aslo caught a train out to Niagara Falls. The trains are really easy to get on and off and there is a big area in a very clearly marked carriage that has room for wheelchairs or strollers if there is no one in a wheelchair using the space. The train conductor even puts out a little bridge so it’s easy to get on and off the train. The bus that takes you to the falls from Niagara station has disabled access so you can wheel your stroller straight on. And yes – if you do the Maid of the Mist, you can wheel it on board too. Flying out of Toronto, mm got another cab back to the airport with our gear and Fin and I had a brisk walk again back to the island.
BOSTON: We thought this would be a cake walk – get off the plane, and get a train that would take us straight to Back Bay Station – a mere ten minutes walk to our apartment. But the airport line was being renovated and we had to change trains at some point and had to climb stairs with our luggage. We were OK (sort of) as we had Fin in his carrier, but we helped a lady who had a tiny baby in a pram and some luggage up some stairs and onto another platform. But once we got on the train city-bound it was very easy. Boston is other wise a great city to get around. Their subway is extensive and will get you to most places you need to and it’s also a great city to just walk. The great east coast railway line also means that getting to our next destination (NYC), simply meant walking back up to Back Bay Station and jumping on the AMTRAC heading south.
NYC: Ah, what a city! And one of the best to get around with a baby in the world. Since my last trip in 2008 there had been a lot of work upgrading subway stations to make them accessible, so jumping off at Penn Station meant a change down to the B line and a quick ride over to Brooklyn. Our stop was 7th Avenue, but a bit of forward planning showed us that with a slightly longer walk, if we got off at Atlantic Avene instead, there was disabled access. The stairs down to 7th Ave at other times were very easy to negotiate with two of us and fin in his stroller – just with our luggage we need that lift! But what can I say – the subway is one of the most kid friendly systems in the world – stations are very easily identified as having access or not. We got a bus one day to Red Hook and while there is wheelchair access you don’t wheel your stroller aboard. We got married in NYC and got the subway to the registry office. It sort of seems bonkers to do anything else. And for our journey south to Philadelphia, we just headed back to Penn Station.
Next post…
- Philadelphia
- Washington DC
- Paris
- London
- Hong Kong
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