Students Begin Exodus to Airport, Train Station

BOSTON--Manny J. Frazier, a seven-year veteran employee of Amtrak, was an island of calm in the sea of holiday travelers coursing through South Station yesterday.

In the course of just fifteen minutes, Frazier, who mans the Amtrak information counter, explained the inner workings of Boston's subway system to harried passengers approximately 10 separate times.

"A lot of people are happy, everybody's all geared up for the holidays," he said in-between his customers. "Everybody wants to go somewhere."

But people yesterday were still cheerful, Frazier said.

"You see people smiling, everybody's smiling, I'm serious... it's like, tra-la-la-la-la," he said, with a twinkle in his eye.

Back in the Square, Harvard students began gearing up for their vacation, with a few lucky souls already having departed for warmer (or colder) climes.

William L. Adams '04 was looking forward to returning home to a favorite restaurant.

"I'm taking a flight out to Atlanta and I plan on going right away to the Chick-Fil-A... I miss it completely," he said, explaining that the chain is not the same in Boston.

Williams missed other things about Atlanta besides the Chick-Fil-A, he said.

"I want to see my cat, and I guess I'll see my parents too, he said.

Alejandro J. Ros '02 planned on driving home to New Jersey tonight.

"I'm driving home," he said. "It's actually cheaper than taking a plane."

Ros said he anticipated no heavy holiday traffic for his drive home.

"I don't particularly right now expect traffic, because we go home so late," he said.

Amtrak's Frazier, similarly, said did not expect any extra trouble for train travelers, as the trains can accommodate the extra volume.

"During the holidays they add more trains to meet the convenience of consumers," he said.

Williams said he feared that the snow Atlanta has had this year might put the brake on his travel plans.

"It never snows in Atlanta, and for some reason it does this year, and I'm not sure if they'll be ready for that," he said.

But Williams wouldn't be facing any delays by himself, as he said another Grays resident would be on the same flight.

"We can camp out together," he said.

As of last night, the Federal Aviation Administration listed no delays on flights from Logan to Atlanta. But students traveling to places like Chicago's O'Hare Airport and New York's LaGuardia Airport were experiencing delays, in some cases upwards of 5 hours.