It’s another year and another backpacking trip! For those of
you that don’t know us by now, the Mo and I like to save all our vacation days
and go on a 2-3 weeks backpacking expedition each year and explore the world on
a college kid’s budget. We indulge in
the local street foods, share dorm rooms with other interesting foreigners
(except in the case of Costa Rica, where it seemed like everyone was from
Massachusetts or the States.)
This year it was the Mo’s pick and he chose Turkey and I
persuaded him to add in Greece since the countries are so close to each other
and we would be able to kill two birds with one stone. He actually got the idea from a cool
Turkish-American chick, Sila who we dormed with in Costa Rica and she convinced
us it was definitely a “must-visit” country.
To save a few hundred dollars, the Mo and I decided to take
a train/bus combination to JFK from Lowell instead of a connecting flight from
Boston’s Logan airport. The difference
in airfare would have been about $200.00 a person for roundtrip ($400.00
total). The frugal personality in me
decided it was too much money to waste.
This is the alternate route we came up with. Sure, some people would say that time=
money, but we were already on vacation
and we wanted to pick up some snacks in NYC.
·
Lowell Commuter Rail to Boston $ 8.75 a person x
= $17.50
·
Single use ride on a Charlie card from North
Station to South Station = $4.00 (we walked for about 5 mins)
·
Bolt Bus from Boston to New York’s Penn Station
, the Mo paid $2.00 since he purchased in advance and I paid $20.00 since I
booked mine last minute (long funny story!) = $22.00
·
E train Subway + AirTrain Combo Pass to JFK
airport $ 7.50 a person= $15.00
Total for one way
from Lowell to JFK = $ 62.50
I don’t think it will cost as much for our return trip since
we’ll probably share cabs with our other friends but even it was the same
price, the total would be about $125.00 roundtrip and we would have still saved
$ 275.00 which could be used towards booze or some other fun activity.
Travel time from Lowell to JFK: About 10 hours with stop for
lunch
Travel time from JFK to Istanbul: A little over 10 hours
Total travel time from door to door: 24 hours total, now do you see why I need a mid travel drink?
Since we left the house at 5:00 AM this morning, I didn’t
feel like eating breakfast or grabbing anything from McDonalds or Dunkin Donuts
at South Station. It was still too early too eat and I typically don’t eat
breakfast until 9:00 Am- ish or when it’s time for a DD’s coffee run.
There was a large selection
of authentic Chinese foods including pig’s feats, fried fish heads, garlic
vegetables etc. There was also a large
variety of American Chinese foods including fried chicken wings, general gau
chicken and fried rice to name a few.
They had a bakery with the traditional Chinatown pork filled buns,
cakes, rolls and of course bubble tea.
The best part of it all, the combo plate was only $5.00 for 5
items!
The Mo and I eat got a combo plate, drinks, a bubble tea for
me, a mango cake dessert and a few pork buns to go for only $20.00. 2 Lunches + 3 drinks + 1 dessert + 4 snacks
to go for $ 20.00 in NYC. The food wasn’t
“Chinatown” quality but it was still tasty and it did the trick, plus I hadn’t
eaten all day. It seemed like a popular
place, as soon as it as a little past noon, the upstairs seating area quickly
filled with both locals and tourists enjoying good Chinese food.
The subway + AirTrain ride to JFK was a breeze, the trip took
less than 45 minute and the AirTrain station was immaculate, lots of restrooms
too which is definitely a plus with my small bladder and drinking 2
drinks. Check-in and airport secuirtiy
went quick and smoothly since we I checked up both in the night before and
weighed our luggage for any possible weight issues.
After finding our terminal and gate, we grabbed drinks at
Legends Sports bar in the airport, a double whisky on the rocks for the Mo and
a glass of Pino Grigio for me, trying to keep it classy. $30.00 for 2 drinks with tip and tax, talk
about airport gouge! The flight is supposed to have unlimited beer, wine and
sake so I am looking forward to that.
We definitely took advantage of the unlimited wine and drank about 6 glasses and passed out! Hello Istanbul! Delta foods pics below, not impressed.
