To travel, hopefully

When I was planning my trip to America, I had this romantic notion of doing a lot of travel on Amtrak - visions of seeing the sun rise over the plains; of craggy mountain passes; of eating dinner and watching the ocean go past.

Then I found out about the time and the cost, so most of my travel was by plane, but I did do a couple of Train trips.

My first Amtrak experience was when I was getting the train to Chicago, and to get the best (that is cheapest) ticket, I was up at 3.30am and made my way to the station to join the dozen or so sleepy people waiting for the train to be ready. I'm used to UK trains, where you walk along a platform, and step nicely across into the train - if you have luggage you just roll it over into the train, as we've on the same level as the carriage floor. But not so here - I walked along at wheel height, which is really allows you to see the size of the machine you're just about to try to climb into. And "try" is a good expression, when you have a wheeled suitcase and a bag over your shoulder - as I lift the suitcase, the bag falls off my shoulder and before you know it everything is jammed in the door. But I get help and stow the bigger bag on the lower level, before climbing more steps to the carriage proper. Getting a seat I have the strangest sensation - I want to put on a seat belt!! I do this so instinctively in cars and on planes that I feel somehow strange to be sitting without buckling up! Isn't it odd how something becomes so ingrained in us, that we only notice its absence.

We head out slowly at first - maybe a speed restriction on leaving a big city? - and then we are out and racing along through the dark early morning, and the lights are dimmed to let us sleep. But a lot of it isn't dark out there, I am amazed how many lights I can see, even on the apparently empty plains we are travelling through, you will see a light here and there from solitary buildings, the lights of cars on the roads, and then the occasional town with its street lights and road signs make for a sudden oasis of lights in the middle of the ocean of dark.

They kept the lights dimmed until something like 7am, and there were no announcements either, although we made a few stops. But 7 was the official wake-up time I guess, and the lights went on, and we were all welcomed and from then on we were told what stops we were coming to.


(passing a town)

I did doze on and off, and can't say I actually saw daybreak, but pretty soon it's kinda light, and I feel the need for breakfast, so go along to the "cafe". This is run by one of the most wide awake and outgoing people I think I've ever met! She tells me all about the great things I can do in Chicago, which is her home town, and is so bright and chatty and - well OK, I'll say it - loud:) that it really wakes me up as much to just talk to her as to have the coffee she serves!


(some freight cars, on their sides - why?)

We pick up more people at the stops along the way - the stops are amazingly brief actually and people must be really attuned to getting up and onto the train - we seem to simply pause at most places, but still people get on and off. Never do we get really crowded, but I'd say 75% of the seats were taken by the time we arrive.

We had started out really well - left on time and scooting along fine - but then we started to have delays - we went through sidings at one point, and we had to stop at each crossing, the guard would have to get out and ensure there were no people on the crossing, and then we'd go on. And we got stuck behind other trains and ... well there were many announcements, and we ended up 40 minutes late arriving. But somehow, that was not as frustrating as it is with planes - I think that because I was not restricted in a tiny space, and could still get up and move around if I wanted - at one point, I even went to my luggage and got out my laptop and played a computer game - not something it'd be possible to do whilst stuck on an airport runway.

But my lasting impression of that trip is of the steward in the cafe and her announcement that "we will be closing in 20 minutes, so come see me if you want to get coffee or food, or just to have a talk with me" :)

I also left Chicago by train, and here I was actually able to see the Illinois countryside more as we sped past it. Once again the towns came and went, each one seemingly with it’s store and gas station right there on main street. But the main impression of Illinois from the train is of the space and the sky - a storm developed and passed us as we travelled, and the sky went on forever.


(The Horizon goes on and on)


(and on and on)

My diversion for this trip was when I had lunch in the restaurant car - a really nice experience, and got to share my table with a youngster who was travelling all the way from New York way down to New Orleans to visit family. He had a sleeper and was getting all his meals on the train - what an adventure for the kid! He was a really charming young man, and as well as being interested in my trip, was happy to share about his own life and his family. At one point when we were ordering he asked about the vegetables being served - he knew how important fresh vegetables were, and he wanted to make sure there were going to be some:)


(In the observatory car)

Travelling on Amtrak give you a new view of the world, one you don’t get from plane or a car - and isn’t the journey part of the reason for going anyway?