I spent a day and a half in Boston and I have to tell you, I've rarely been so excited to see a city.  All my life I've wanted to go to Boston, just to take in the American history.  I thought I'd only have an afternoon, so it was a very condensed visit.

South Station

First place we landed in Boston, off the commuter train from Worcester is South Station on Atlantic Avenue. I thought I could have written an article just on the train station it was so cool.  Loads of restaurants, a CVS, and both commuter and Amtrak service.  The odd thing was the pigeons that everyone just accepted as normal in the train station.  They were everywhere and nobody thought anything of it.  The cool thing was business people coming in and getting lunch and going on with their day in Boston.

The Hotel

You simply must hear about our hotel, The Intercontinental.  I know, it's as fancy as it sounds. People like me don't get to stay at hotels like this unless we get a great deal, so may I recommend  Express Deals on Priceline.  I paid less than half for the room than regular price. It was the best hotel I've EVER stayed at.  It was perfectly located on Atlantic Avenue and right across from the Boston Tea Party Museum.  I couldn't believe our luck.  They offered everything you'd think a 5 star would offer and then some.  The staff was top notch.  Every time I was around they greeted me as Ms. Toren and were always willing to help with anything.  Next time I go, I'm staying here for 3 days.  More if I can afford it.

Atlantic Avenue

So much more than a Monopoly square!  This street is so long and so full of culture and history.  I only saw a couple of miles of it, and it took an entire afternoon of my life.  It's lined with skyscrapers, a park in the middle, great restaurants and the bay just behind it.  It was really amazing to be walking somewhere that I know is a yellow on a Monopoly board.  It's really the only way I ever thought of it until my time in Boston.  This is also the street that offers the trolley tour I took on my bonus day in Boston.  I'll elaborate on that more, later in the article,.

Boston Tea Party Museum

When I thought I only had an afternoon in Boston, I made the decision that if I only saw one thing, it would be the Boston Tea Party Museum.  What says America more than that?  Keep in mind, I thought I only had a couple of hours, so we didn't do the tour and reenactment.  I wanted to see more of the city.  We perused the gift shop and took lots of pictures standing where our founding fathers committed treason and told the king to get bent.  It was awe inspiring.

Ending up on Marshall Street by accident

The worst/coolest thing happened when we took an Uber to dinner.  We asked to be dropped off at a Thai restaurant that was recommended by the hotel.  So, the Uber guy just dumps us on Marshall Street and says we're at the location.  (For the record, we were NOT at the location, took this map wizard about an hour to find the restaurant.)  What a happy accident.  It just happened to be where we found Union Oyster House, Bell in Hand Tavern and the Green Dragon Tavern.  All 3 of these have had Americans like Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere, Daniel Webster and the like as patrons, and now they can add Tammie Toren and Jaime Taber.  It was so surreal to be sitting, having a drink in the same place our forefathers did American business.  Honestly, I don't have words to describe it so you feel like I did.  The history in this town is palpable.

Guess what, your flight is cancelled

The day I was to leave, I woke up at 3:45 am to a text from United that my flight was cancelled and I'd be leaving the next day.  Not quite as thrilling as it sounds.  Boston is expensive. Not, you're staying at the Intercontinental expensive, I mean EVERYTHING is more than you'd expect to pay.  I had only brought so much "emergency money" with me, and the way the clouds were looking, I was worried it may not be enough.  I felt like I could cover 3 days comfortably and the weather was bad.  So, I got my bestie on the train back to Worcester and wondered what to do on this rainy bonus day in Boston.  The Intercontinental was nice enough to store my bag because the hotel I booked for that night was near the airport and Ubers there and back would have run me upwards at a hundred dollars and they loaned me a gigantic umbrella to use for the day.

The Trolley Tour

The concierge suggested a trolley tour.  Normally, this tour allows you to get on and off of the trolleys at about 15 different historical stops in the city for the whole day.  Well worth the $35.  It was raining like crazy, so nobody was doing much trolley hopping.  But I had THE BEST guide.  His name was Bailey and this man LOVES Boston, loves the history and knows his city.  The tour was only a couple of hours, but I learned so much.  And isn't it always more fun to spend time with someone with passion for their work?  I highly recommend this tour.  Especially if you're lucky enough to land Bailey.

Airport Hotel

After the trolley tour, it was around 4:30 and I was just toured out, so it was time to head to the Comfort Inn by Logan International Airport.  It's actually a pretty great hotel, just nowhere near anything but the airport. The only issue I had was they double charged me for my room and it took exactly 2 weeks for them to do anything about it.  The rooms were pretty sweet.

Let's talk Uber

Before this trip, I'd never taken an Uber.  Why would I, I have a car.  But, now I've had 21 Uber rides.  All in all, I highly recommend them.  For taking that many rides, it was somewhere around $300 even with tips. We even got a ride in a Tesla in Boston.  Yeah, hate to give Elon credit, but that was a damn sweet ride.

I only had 3 strange experiences.  One guy in Worcester drove right by where we were going, dropped us 3 blocks away and argued with us that this was where we were going.  One guy in Boston got us around a block from where we were and only wanted us out of the car.  And one guy in Worcester scared me a little asking very personal questions and not following the GPS.  However, here I am, no worse for the wear and I'd do it again to avoid the wicked angry rude drivers I encountered in MA.

Now, here are the pictures.  I can't believe you read the whole thing!

Boston Ma

Boston Trip 2022

 

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