The first 28 hrs on our Amtrak Adventure went from excitement, to settling in, to comfort joy, to discovery, to making the best of things, to harsh reality, and finally collapsed exhaustion.
As we entered the train for the first time, we were filled with excitement and joy for the adventures ahead. It was 10:30 pm at night, so we settled into our coach seat, side by side, feeling snugged and content, hoping for a good night sleep.
In the morning, Keith was up first, having coffee in the observation deck. How very civilized. We were discovering different aspects of the train. Like did you know that to open the double doors between different cars, you don’t have to touch the “Press” button. You can kick a lower “Press” button. It’s perfect for Covid time. The most important discovery when traveling with a tall person is that not all seats have the same legroom. It pays to walk around, scope things out, move seats even. Because it’s the little things that makes or breaks your experience on the train.
For example, where the electric plug is located. Some plugs are located conveniently in the middle of the window space, easily accessible. While others are wedged next to the back of your seat. So the space is not big enough to plug anything in. Hello?!! How did you not see this?
Another discovery I made about myself on the train, is that I get a little nauseous from the constant gentle rocking. That along with the scenery gliding by the windows, kept me close to the verge of throwing up constantly. The romance was wearing off, and now I was reduced to making the best of things.
Suddenly the train came to a slow halt. The temporary stop became a 3 hours delay as they discovered that there was a break in the tracks. A crew had to be sent to fix it. Wow, i never knew how active this whole world of train management was. So many people are working in the background to carry people and stuff around the country for our pleasure and comfort. Thank you railroad industry.
The 3 hour stop allowed me to recover and get some blogging done. So I liked it, while others were mumbling underneath their breaths of how unreliable the train system is.
After the fix was done, we encountered another delay. They needed to find a pilot to command the train into Portland. Apparently there was a special skill needed for this stretch of the route. Another hour went by.
Now the harsh reality settled in… we were not going to arrive in Seattle until midnight. Our friend Cathy was expected to pick us up at 7:45pm that night.
Yet another delay in Portland as they splitted the train. Now we were anticipated to arrive at 1am or so. It’s the “or so” that was suspicious to me.
Our enthusiasm reduced down to a mild exhaustion that we didn’t know. Oh and we didn’t eat enough. Since they don’t serve real food to us coach seat passengers, we packed our own provisions in. Even though we had protein and green powder with us along with yummy snacks like beef jerky and other fun things from Trader Joe’s, we didn’t eat enough to end the day.
Cathy suggested for us to get a room and she would pick us up in the morning. Brilliant idea. I quickly got on my Marriott app, and booked a room near the train station. Thank you Nicole and her friend in Hawaii for giving us access to a friends and family discount code, that allowed us to stay in a nice place without breaking our budget.
1:20am we arrived in Seattle. Grabbing our five heavy bags, we head out into the wild city. It turned out Seattle is very much like San Francisco and other major cities around the country… it is filled with make shift homeless tents. My heart broke to see so much poverty. As a country we are in so much trouble, with the rich getting richer and smaller, while the middle class are getting so much poorer and homeless.
We marched ourselves to our hotel, as fast as we could. We collapsed onto a plush white bed at 2am, grateful to be done with our first leg.
Tell us about your train delays. I heard that 4-5 hrs delay is normal. 😩
If you know friends who would enjoy living vicariously through our adventures, plz share.
See you at the next leg of the journey.