# I'll be posting Segmented Trip Reports ASAP



## Brahmama (Oct 12, 2008)

It's the 13th October, and we returned yesterday from our 19 day Amtrak Adventure.

I'll be posting her by segments asap - if you are traveling soon and want to ask a question, drop me an email.


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## Brahmama (Oct 12, 2008)

After some wrong turns because of one-way streets and not realizing that Amtrak was sharing a building with the Bus Company (!) we arrived. We got our on-line ticket printed out in about 5 minutes. The train left about 2:45 PM. Had a nice sleeper roomette - old but clean (Superliner 1). Plugged in our Iphone to a little stereo about 3 inches - opened a bottle of wine and relaxed with some cheese and crackers for about an hour. Then met the people right across from us (from Taylor, TX) and enjoyed the comraderie all the way to Chicago. Our steward was good and efficient - Tony. At 7:00 PM we went up for our reservation in the dining car.

Dinner in the Diner! (Love those old railroad songs)

We both had the Flatiron steaks, mashed potatoes, veggies, rolls and ice tea. No salad was served with it, but one was available for an additional $6.50. We ordered our steaks medium, they arrived rare to med rare, so be forewarned. Potatoes and bread were tasty. Veggies were cool to cold. We had a choice of pecan pie and peanut butter torte. We each had one but I was too full, so carried it to the roomette for a late night snack. I'd rate our meal about a 6 (scale 1 to 10) Tony made up our berths at 10:00 PM. Will had the top bunch (he insisted!) and it was a tight fit - with not much air space and a rather thin mattress. I fared better and had a fairly good night but then, we are seasoned train travelers and weren't expecting anything else. Oh yes, I always bring my pillow wherever we go which really is a bonus for me. (Old down pillow and mashes enough to get in the suitcase)

Breakfast

Up about 7ish and ate breakfast about 8:00. We had coffee & juice. I had French Toast and bacon. Will had the cheese omelet and sausage and biscuit. Breakfast about an 8. We checked out the observation car and talked to fellow passengers for a while.

Lunch

Tony called us at 11:00 but Linda said we could wait for an hour (good) and paged us. Theresa was our helper - abbreviated lunch menu - hamburger, turkey burger or vegetarian enchiladas. There was one salad left, but the lady across from us got that. I had the enchiladas. Um, not a good choice for me. Will had the hamburger and said it was great. For dessert there was only peanut butter torte, as they had run out of ice cream. That was ok; we were full anyway. Lunch about a 6. I should have had the hamburger. I'm learning!

But hey, we're ON TIME! We got really lucky and arrived at Union Station about 2:30 PM. We tipped Tony, grabbed our bags and wheeled them over to the Visitors Transit area and bought 2 tickets for $12 each. These are good for 3 days from the time of purchase. What a deal. We rolled out the door and over to the bus stop and took Bus 151 to our hotel, the Affinia. (3/4 of a block away from the bus stop) Bus driver was nice, polite and helpful and weather was outstanding!

Next segment will be our stay in Chicago for 3 nights and 4 days.


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## AlanB (Oct 13, 2008)

Brahmama said:


> I'll be posting her by segments asap - if you are traveling soon and want to ask a question, drop me an email.


Just as an FYI, if you meant PM instead of email, then everything thing is fine.

However, if you really want people to email you with questions, as opposed to a PM, then you'll have to go into your profile and turn on the ability that allows people to email. Right now, they can't email you with the way your settings are set on the board.


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## amtrakwolverine (Oct 13, 2008)

nice trip. i rode the Texas eagle from Chicago all the way to LAX a 4 day trip.


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## Brahmama (Oct 13, 2008)

AlanB said:


> Brahmama said:
> 
> 
> > I'll be posting her by segments asap - if you are traveling soon and want to ask a question, drop me an email.
> ...


Thanks Alan,

I did mean PM, but I think I'll change my settings to allow email also.


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## Brahmama (Oct 16, 2008)

*Ft Worth to Chicago on the Texas Eagle*

After some wrong turns because of one-way streets and not realizing that Amtrak was sharing a building with the Bus Company (!) we arrived at the Ft Worth Station. We got our on-line ticket printed out in about 5 minutes.

The train left about 20 minutes late - about 2:45 PM. Had a nice sleeper roomette - old but clean (Superliner 1). Plugged in our Iphone to a little stereo about 3 inches - opened a bottle of wine and relaxed with some cheese and crackers for about an hour. Then met the people right across from us (from Taylor, TX) and enjoyed the comraderie all the way to Chicago. Our steward was good and efficient - Tony. At 7:00 PM we went up for our reservation in the dining car.

Dinner in the Diner! (Love those old railroad songs)

We both had the Flatiron steaks, mashed potatoes, veggies, rolls and ice tea. No salad was served with it, but one was available for an additional $6.50. We ordered our steaks medium, they arrived rare to med rare, so be forewarned. Potatoes and bread were tasty. Veggies were cool to cold. We had a choice of pecan pie and peanut butter torte. We each had one but I was too full, so carried it to the roomette for a late night snack. I'd rate our meal about a 6 (scale 1 to 10) Tony made up our berths at 10:00 PM. Will had the top bunch (he insisted!) and it was a tight fit - with not much air space and a rather thin mattress. I fared better and had a fairly good night but then, we are seasoned train travelers and weren't expecting anything else. Oh yes, I always bring my pillow wherever we go which really is a bonus for me. (Old down pillow and mashes enough to get in the suitcase)

Breakfast

Up about 7ish and ate breakfast about 8:00. We had coffee & juice. I had French Toast and bacon. Will had the cheese omelet and sausage and biscuit. Breakfast about an 8. We checked out the observation car and talked to fellow passengers for a while.

Lunch

Tony called us at 11:00 but Linda said we could wait for an hour (good) and paged us. Theresa was our helper - abbreviated lunch menu - hamburger, turkey burger or vegetarian enchiladas. There was one salad left, but the lady across from us got that. I had the enchiladas. Um, not a good choice for me. Will had the hamburger and said it was great. For dessert there was only peanut butter torte, as they had run out of ice cream. That was ok; we were full anyway. Lunch about a 6. I should have had the hamburger. I'm learning!

By the way, if you have sleeper accomdations - either Roomette or Bedroom which are larger and more expensive than what we had, your meals and all included, but you are expected to tip.

But hey, we're ON TIME! We got really lucky and arrived at Union Station about 2:30 PM. We tipped Tony, grabbed our bags and wheeled them over to the Visitors Transit area and bought 2 tickets for $12 each. These are good for 3 days from the time of purchase. What a deal. We rolled out the door and over to the bus stop and took Bus 151 to our hotel, the Affinia. (3/4 of a block away from the bus stop) Bus driver was nice, polite and helpful and weather was outstanding!

*Chicago to Washington DC on the Capitol Limited:*

We boarded the train at 6:15. We had another nice & clean Roomette - this time it was a Superliner 2 with a few minor differences. We asked for ice for our warm water, but Lou (our steward) said there was none on the train except for the dining room. We finished our bottle of wine and went for dinner at 7:00 PM. Will ordered the Flatiron again, (ordered medium, and came rare) and I had the salmon with veggies which was very good. This time a salad was served first which was very good also. I ordered the Red Devil Cake and Will had Ie Cream.

We crashed early again - Asleep by 10:00 PM. The ride was really, really rough but I always got back to sleep. Many passengers complained about it the next morning in the diner.

Thursday

The room steward this time was Lou and Angela and Freisha (?) worked in the dining car.

Woke up at 7:00 AM. Will went down and signed us up for breakfast. I had luke warm lumpy oatmeal which I didn’t eat and a hard biscuit but good yogurt and Will had a very nice omelet. We ate with our friends in the opposite roomette. This is one of the things we enjoy about train travel. You do meet the most interesting people.

Then we read in our compartment until lunch at 12:15. Again it was the alternative (shortened) lunch - I had a turkey salad sandwich (very good) and Will had the hamburger and both of us had ice tea. They had totally run out of dessert which was ok - as I was stuffed. Dawn ate with us as Mike skipped lunch. We were seated at a table with Bob Johnston, a writer/photographer for Trains Magazine. So we had some ery interesting train talk.

The train arrived in DC at 2:30. We’ve been fortunate with close to on-time arrival so far! We bought a $10 ticket for the Metro and walked to the Redline - right in the Station. The Omni was only about 4 stops and about 2 blocks from the Metro. With the escalators in Union Station and at the Metro, this is an easy transfer, and oh we did LOVE the Omni!

*Washington DC to New Orleans on the Crescent*

This was the last train on our Anniversar Trip and we boarded her about 7:30 PM.

Charlie was our steward. We had trouble getting DH's larger bag stashed as the only place for it was up next to the top bunk. This is a Viewliner, so didn’t have a place to leave the luggage. There is a toilet and sink in our compartment, which was ok, except DH wanted to use a public facility, which meant walking through 2 sleepers, the dining room and the lounge to a coach car. However, he had much more room in the top bunk and even a window and a thicker more comfortable mattress so he much preferred the Viewliner.

Another couple boarding the train with a roomette down the hall from us couldn’t get in their roomette as a lady train employee was asleep in it! Charlie finally encouraged her to move, but she took her time and wasn’t out until we were out of the station. Then she moved all her “stuff” as she called it over to the shower room, so no one could shower on our sleeper! Boy, she did have the stuff - I guess she was moving.

After Charlie got them into their roomette, he bought us each a cup of ice so we could have a rum & coke before dinner. We relaxed and turned on my iPod to some good music. Before we finished our drinks, Turee, the dining car manager (?) came through the car inviting us all to dinner. We told him we needed to finish our drinks and he told us to bring them with us, so we did. He was excellent. He was friendly and spent time with each table, answering questions and just generally making it a fun time. DH had steak again, but ordered it med well and it arrived about medium which it what he wanted. I had the salmon (delicious), mashed potatoes (delicious) and mixed veggies (HOT and delicious). Salad was served to us before the entree and also the bread, which had rosemary and thyme in it (delicious!) We had apple strudel with ice cream for dessert. So we were happy with this meal.

The best of our 3 overnight train trips was definitely on the Crescent. Oh yes, we had a real dining room car. Where all the others were the CCC cars, with odd configuration, and the table cloth bunched up at the end because of a permanent condiment fixture - this was the real thing. Just tables, and tablecloths. I asked what the difference was in the food as we had the same menu on all the trains - and ate generally the same things. I was told, THE CHEF! So I went back to talk to Chef Wilson, a lady with 27 years of experience cooking, but only on Amtrak for 18 months. I told her how much we enjoyed her cooking and she appreciated hearing that the Crescent was our favorite train because of the meals. Also we liked the Viewliner configuration better that the double-deck trains.

We played cards and talked until our bedtime - 10:00 again. DH slept much better on the top bunk and I found it just the same - maybe not quite as comfy as the Superliners on the bottom bunk - I kept tilting toward the edge!

Tuesday October 7

Slept until 8:00 and then walked down for breakfast. I had the cheese omelet which was very good and DH had the French Toast. Cranberry juice and hot tea for me and coffee for DH. i had one piece of his 4 - and gave him half of my omelet. We read and DH slept most of the day (He could pull it down and get in his bunk which was a real plus) His knee is still hurting and his stomach is doing it’s monthly thing. I skipped lunch, but he went and enjoyed talking with 2 men and hearing their stories. We had an early dinner at 5:30. We both had the Flat Iron steak, which was good, but not as tender as the one DH had last night! We skipped dessert.

Went back to the Roomette and got our things together. We arrived in New Orleans ON TIME! We have been so lucky with our trains after reading all the doom and gloom on the Forums. Charles got that bag down for us and took my larger bag and put them in the vestibule. He certainly earned his tip. But I still am pondering why we are supposed to tip so much MORE than the equivalent on a Cruise Ship. We generally tip $10 per person per day on a cruise (more for special service) but the train tips added up quickly to $20 or more per person - which doesn’t make much sense. It was raining all day on the train, but just a light mist when we departed the train. We got on a people mover with our bags and he took us right out to the taxi stand. We took the first available cab to our hotel.

It's been a great trip and we enjoyed the trains, but we are also looking forward to a big King bed tonight!

If you ares still read this long (boring) report, I do hope it's been helpful in some way.

Happy Train Travels!


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## hello (Oct 17, 2008)

Thank you, I really enjoyed reading your review!


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## Ispolkom (Oct 18, 2008)

Brahmama said:


> Slept until 8:00 and then walked down for breakfast. I had the cheese omelet which was very good and DH had the French Toast. Cranberry juice and hot tea for me and coffee for DH. i had one piece of his 4 - and gave him half of my omelet. We read and DH slept most of the day (He could pull it down and get in his bunk which was a real plus) His knee is still hurting and his stomach is doing it’s monthly thing. I skipped lunch, but he went and enjoyed talking with 2 men and hearing their stories. We had an early dinner at 5:30. We both had the Flat Iron steak, which was good, but not as tender as the one DH had last night! We skipped dessert.


Thanks for the narrative. I'm particularly interested in the Capitol Limited, as my wife and I will be traveling on that several times in the next year. I'm impressed at your fortitude at skipping dessert -- I have to get past my poor-student notion that I ought to order it, since it's already paid for. (Really, dessert after lunch?)

One of the many things I like traveling by train is that you can go and be social in the lounge or the dining car, but then can retreat to your compartment and read, nap, or watch the scenery in blessed quiet.


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