I try to live my life in part by the novelty effect, or how making new memories can slow down time (or at least your perception of it) because you’re not in the same routines that blur the days together.
Somehow, despite all my best efforts to slow things down, we are still just about halfway through summer. But it’s important for my sanity that I keep the glass-half-full mentality and not see late July as summer fleeting, or Labor Day as the end of the road. We’ve got another good two months of late sunsets, warm weather, and new experiences left for this season.
This means there’s plenty of time to participate in what I affectionately call “Transit Girl Summer”. Transit Girl Summer evokes the unapologetic confidence of Megan Thee Stallion’s “Hot Girl Summer” and the messy vulnerability of Charli xcx’s “Brat Summer”, but adds the quiet power and limitless freedom of trains, buses, and bike shares.
I mean, come on, tell me you don’t feel like you’re in a coming of age movie biking down a hill feeling the wind whip through your hair (under your helmet, of course). Or listening to Lorde with your head in your hand propped up by your elbow as you stare out the bus window sprinkled with raindrops. Or sitting in a lively train car journaling while people around you are taking photos of the views just outside, playing cards with one another, and making small talk with strangers.
In this physical and political season, it has never made more sense to support transit in all its forms to not only help ensure its sustainability in a scary political future on a macro scale, but also to take advantage of its offerings to simply get you where you’re going on the day to day. Going to the grocery store? Take the bus. Going to visit your sister? Take the train. Going to a Sox game? Grab a Bluebike and make your way down to Fenway. There’s almost always a non-car option for the trip you’re trying to make that deserves dignity and a slice of the road.
And if there isn’t, then that highlights an area lacking connectivity and respect for all road users, and it’s important to get curious about why that is, and who that hurts.
Planning and policy are nothing if not intentional, though whether it’s to uplift some people or shut others out becomes the question and the subsequent call to action so that everyone has equitable access to these freedoms.
This month throughout the holiday weekend, I took a couple Transit Girl Summer trips myself up the North Shore and as far as Vermont.
Some friends and I were getting together on the beach, and historically I would have driven up, but I thought no better way to get there than the good old commuter rail.
The T was running a Holiday Weekend Pass special, so for the low price of 10 dollars, I got unlimited rides on the Commuter Rail from the 4th through the 6th. I hopped on the mTicket app, and from there it was a pretty seamless process. I put in what station I was leaving from and which one I was heading to, and used Apple Pay to finish the purchase – no time wasted, no confusion, no fumbling for my wallet.
Due to the vacation time energy I was on, I got to North Station only 5 minutes before departure, but I still could not bring myself to run for the train, especially not when carrying all of my beach essentials in my arms.
The holiday weekend ran on a Sunday schedule, which meant that the trains were once an hour on the half hour, so I knew I needed to move at a decent pace. I trusted my light speed walk, and got a kick out of the people running past me with their beach chairs and bags bobbing up and down just to catch up to them a minute later as we waited to board.
With a few taps and a few hurried steps, I activated my ticket, tapped to enter, and got cozy on the train.
The route up the Newburyport/Rockport line took me through Chelsea, Lynn, Swampscott, Salem, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Gloucester, and Rockport; from the upper level, I gazed out on landscapes ranging from marshes to cities, from remnants of an industrial past, to a modernizing future.
Gloucester
The ride to Gloucester was a little less than an hour, and it left me within walking distance to their downtown, with various shops and restaurants. Many places were closed for the holiday, and I was on the hunt for a good beach day sandwich. Major shout out to Subway, who was the unsung hero of the day. Other restaurants like Greg’s, Yellow Sub Shop, and Mike’s Place looked good, too, I’ll just have to come back to give them a try.
Beach-wise, you can reach Pavillion Beach on foot through Gloucester’s downtown, but I did need a last-mile ride to Wingaersheek Beach where we were spending the day. I did consider a rideshare situation (not Uber though, since supporting this administration and its Medicare-slashing policy garbage), but thankfully have good friends who were able to be on pickup duty.
We spent the day on the beach, barbecued, and set off fireworks until time came to head back into the city. We left a little too late to catch the last train home and wanted to maximize friend time, so I hitched a ride back with friends.
Rockport
The second ride I took that weekend was all the way to the end of the line to Rockport, where I realized I had actually never been.
The ride was more of the same, an easy straight shot up the north shore. Once I touched down to meet my friend, we grabbed her dogs and window shopped our way through Rockport’s downtown, which reminded me of Provincetown’s. It’s a beautiful walk bookended by the ocean, local stores, and beach-side restaurants.
I love a memento, so it was important to me to get something that represented the memory my friend and I were making. Thankfully, the area is in no short supply of local art, from sea glass jewelry to paintings of the coast. I got myself a piece of art from local artist Joe Barillaro, and got to chat with him a little bit about his store Dream House, his process, and where his piece will fit in my growing gallery wall of art, photos, and memories.
Despite the oppressive heat, we took our walk all the way up to Bearskin Neck and let the dogs cool off, finishing the day with a quintessential Northeast coastal dinner, fried seafood from the aptly named The Lobster.
Burlington
With the extra day of the long weekend, I was also able to head up to Burlington, Vermont to visit a friend who recently relocated to the area for school. I had been to Burlington before via driving, so I was pretty shocked to realize that there aren’t many other options connecting Boston to Burlington.
In fact, the only options were an over-12-hour Amtrak ride with at least one transfer, or a Greyhound ride offered only at 1 PM and 11:45 PM.
I took the overnight bus to capitalize on the daylight hours and time spent with my friend, a kind of ride I was no stranger to. I was apprehensive seeing on the seat map that someone moved to sit next to me at the eleventh hour, but hoped I could go right to sleep to put that betrayal out of my mind.
Of course it did not though, because why would it? We got off to a roaring start with the driver trying to get going a minute early, with a man headed to Montreal catching up to the bus on foot and starting an argument with him before we could even leave the terminal. Their yells echoed off the walls of the garage, as the passenger and a few other folks heading all the way up to Montreal were able to board. I started to think that a trip to Montreal would be an interesting ride to take one day as I fought to doze off.
It was a tall order, apparently. My seat buddy regrettably stayed the course, and fell asleep within minutes. Unfortunately, he also took manspreading to a new, unconscious level where in slumping over in slumber, he crossed the line between our seats, and I’m not a big fan of footsie with strangers. I was preparing myself for an uncomfortable ride when he got off 45 minutes later at the Manchester Airport stop.
I’m not sure what was faster, the speed at which I set up my backpack as a pillow and went to lie down across the seats or the time it took me to knock out. A few hours later, I wound up in Burlington where my friend hooked me up with that last-mile ride and a place to catch the last few hours of sleep. All in all, the ride wasn’t bad and I would do it again.
Once in Burlington, there was solid connectivity by way of the free shuttle system that takes you across town, which was helpful to explore the stops throughout our day. But consider this my public plea for more intercity connectivity to explore the beauty and brews that the northeast has to offer.
Rested and ready for a day out Burlington, we followed our stomachs for a fun, self-guided food and brewery tour. We started out at breakfast with a view at Burlington Bay, walked by Lake Champlain for the views and reprieve from the sun, went for a downtown lunch at American Flatbread, then sampled local beers at both Foam Brewers and Zero Gravity.
After taking a break during a flash thunderstorm, we made our way to Leunig’s Bistro for a very French dinner and a great $26 dollar dinner deal. During our night cap at Devil Takes a Holiday, we met some new friends and they took us to one of their favorite spots, JP’s Pub, for a late night round of pool and a jukebox takeover.
So, with the time we have left this summer, I encourage you to tap into your own variations of Transit Girl Summer – be it across town or across state lines, with loved ones or on your own, for a nature getaway or a city girl weekend. Make more memories, not only at your destination, but along the journey as well. Romanticize the ride.
As for me, I have a few more beach trips and friend trips in me, I'm sure. I also have taken a couple long-distance Amtrak rides these past few summers, and I’m hoping to get another one under my belt, so stay tuned there. Any transit trips you’re looking forward to? Sound off in the comments.
