September 23rd: Washington to Long Island

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After an early cup of coffee, we packed, checked out and grabbed a taxi to Union Station (remembering to tip the bell-boy!!). Following type, the driver needed little encouragement to offer us the benefit of his political beliefs. As a staunch democrat his views were dramatically different from those of the Friday's taxi-driver.

Union Station provided a substantial breakfast (bacon & egg croissant, fruit, juice with endless coffee) but no solution to our lack of mobile (make that cell-phone) reception problem. We bumped into the Wakefield couple from the hotel and they showed us the 'catching a train' ropes - one queues up at a gate and then makes a dask for a seat, EasyJet-style. On-board 'wi-fi' allowed us to overcome the cell-phone reception problem and contact Kate's cousin using Skype and email. At Penn Station we stuffed a couple of notes into their automated ticket machine and within minutes we were heading off towards Babylon, Long Island where Christine & Guyla picked us up and drove us to their house in North Sea, Southampton. The views from the lounge speak for themselves!!

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