On the Friday before Labor Day, I had to take a train. I was going to meet my parents, who were working to clean out our condo, so they can sell it. I stayed for five days, before heading home. My trip down, however, was more eventful than I expected.
When I got to the train station, I found out that Labor Day weekend is very popular for travel. It didn’t really mean much to me at the time, because my destination was only three stops away. The train arrived and I headed for one of the rear cars, thinking it would be more peaceful and quiet than if I was in the front. The trip went well. We got past the first two stops and I grabbed my bags in preparation to get off. Just before we stopped, I headed for the doors and they wouldn’t open. I could see that we were in the right station, but I couldn’t get off the train.
Panicking, I started looking for another door, even heading back through my car, desperately searching for a way out. I even asked some random passenger if he knew the way out. Finally, I found my way to a door with a guard… just as the train started to move. Panting, I hurried to the guard and tried to explain the situation. Luckily, it turned out that this was planned. The guard told me that they were just pulling up slightly and that they would let me off. I practically ran onto the platform, once the doors opened.
I found my parents quickly, so they were the only people still waiting on the platform. Once I calmed down enough, I learned that because Labor Day is a popular travel day, the train employees had added a couple of extra cars to the end of the train. They weren’t able to let me off originally, because my car wasn’t in front of the platform, but still in the middle of the track.
Well, I was able to help my parents clean up the condo, but I learned an important lesson that day: do not underestimate the popularity of trains on Labor Day.