Adventures on the metra train

I'm the type of girl that likes to do a trial run.  I like dress rehearsals.  Practice makes perfect, right?  The story I am about to share happened on a day when I decided to throw caution to the wind and try something new....a new metra line.

This past Tuesday ~ mom, Bryan and I took the Schaumburg metra in to Chicago.  It was extremely affordable... $1.50 to park all day and $5.75 per person one way.  Taking the metra saved my sanity and a small fortune in Windy City parking rates. 

We arrived at the Schaunburg station approximately 30 minutes early.  The non-attendant-ran station was a bit unnerving as we had never been there.  We did, however,  discover a turn-style book rack with several good reads....including a couple of newer Karen Kingsbury books.

The train arrived promptly at 3:47 and we were off on our grand adventure in to the city.

We arrived at 5:10 which was nice because it afforded us time to find the Amtrak gates and get mom and Bryan situated.

Their boarding call came at 5:20.  They board seniors and those traveling with children ~ since my mom is technically a senior and Bryan his youngest, they were able to board early.

I, then, walked across Union Station to the metra tracks.  This is where I space-out.....  During our trip IN to the city, I had read and re-read the silly train schedule. I knew that the 5:34 train was a commuter train ~ thus it doesn't make all the same stops as the train in....yet when I was standing there with people bustling to the Big Timber Train, all sense of "maybe this is the train I should NOT be taking" fled my pretty, little head. 

What did I do?  I boarded the wrong train.

And I didn't realize it until we were pulling away from Union Station.

The ticket puncher (much like Tom Hanks' in Polar Express) said I would need to exit the train at the stop before my actual stop and sit there and wait 30 minutes for the right train.

I did as directed...however in the meantime, it had started to drizzle.

At the wrong station, the doors were locked with the exception of a very small (think bus stop small) side room which was occupied with a boisterous young couple and their 6 month old.  I learned that the "mom" was not looking forward to her upcoming court date and had quite detailed plans regarding self-medication before the bless-ed event.  Needless to say ~ 10 minutes of THAT and I went back outside to sit under the awning. 

Also it should be noted that OF COURSE my cellphone had died.  I thought to myself, I could totally get shot here and no one would know.

As promised by "Tom Hanks" (which the guy not only was hole punch happy but he did kinda look like Mr. Hanks) ~ the next train arrived right on time.

Literally 5 minutes after we pulled away from the wrong station, we were at my stop and my metra train adventuring ride was over.