by easathor
My wife's parents live in Central MA. In the spring - they will be moving from Orange to Athol. Around that time, we will be flying in to help a bit with their move. We haven't been to Massachusetts for a while now - and the last time we were there, her parents drove to Boston to pick us up. But now - due to age and health reasons, driving into Boston for them would not be preferred. Not to worry, I thought. We'll just use the transit system. It seems fairly straight-forward looking at the website. Blue line to Orange line to North Station -- then ride the Fitchburg line all the way to the end where it would be a much easier and shorter drive for her parents to pick us up.
What I'm curious about from people familiar with the line is: This all looks good on paper - but the reality is that we'll have luggage. Besides 2 pieces of carry-on, there will be at least 1 checked bag (a roller). It's pretty decent size and during trips my wife always seems to come in around the 50 lb mark when packing it. The possibility exists for a 2nd bag also - but for sure there will be the one (again, besides carry-on for each of us). How feasible is it to make the run described while having to wrangle luggage? Due to heavy ridership - is dealing with luggage on a run from (and later in the week the return trip) not really an option? Is it going to be one of those shoulder-to-shoulder things and not something we're going to realistically be able to do? I assume time-of-day is a big part - but on average is using the T with anything other than shoulder bags not an option we're going to want to consider?
Interestingly - my wife's parents are not good sources of info on this. They've never taken transit to the airport and thus don't have any real experience to offer an opinion. A Google search of mbta forums leads to a top result of railroad.net so I thought I would check here for real experience to offer an opinion. Thanks!
What I'm curious about from people familiar with the line is: This all looks good on paper - but the reality is that we'll have luggage. Besides 2 pieces of carry-on, there will be at least 1 checked bag (a roller). It's pretty decent size and during trips my wife always seems to come in around the 50 lb mark when packing it. The possibility exists for a 2nd bag also - but for sure there will be the one (again, besides carry-on for each of us). How feasible is it to make the run described while having to wrangle luggage? Due to heavy ridership - is dealing with luggage on a run from (and later in the week the return trip) not really an option? Is it going to be one of those shoulder-to-shoulder things and not something we're going to realistically be able to do? I assume time-of-day is a big part - but on average is using the T with anything other than shoulder bags not an option we're going to want to consider?
Interestingly - my wife's parents are not good sources of info on this. They've never taken transit to the airport and thus don't have any real experience to offer an opinion. A Google search of mbta forums leads to a top result of railroad.net so I thought I would check here for real experience to offer an opinion. Thanks!