# My Cross Canada trip via the Canadian



## JESUSrocks (Nov 8, 2004)

Heres a brief report on my trip to Canada

We left Atlanta Friday Morning to Los Angeles without a hitch and we managed to get our tickets for our next leg thier (we had a very tight connection.)...We got to Los Angeles and had plenty of time to get lunch at the airport and catch the next flight to Vancouver. We arrived in Vancouver near enough on time. We got a cab to the station and we took a walk around outside before the Lounge opened. Once the lounge was open we went to the patio and sat underneath the heaters. We talked to a nice fellow from the uk while we were thier. Time to bored...Yay...we had been waiting for this for a long while.... Fortunently we were in the Sleeping car before the Park car so we did not have far to walk.

The train today consited of

1 not-in-service skyline car

2 coaches

1 skyline dome car

1 dining car

1 park car

6 sleepers

I heard the train the week before had been much longer...

We got to our room, which was quite small but towards the end of the trip found it to be nice and cosy. We did a tour of the train before our departure in Vancouver. We had the 1st call for dinner so it was not long before the announcement was made and we headed off to dinner. We ate with one of the nicest couples you could ever meet. I would say they were in thier 70s but they were still enjoying life. They had beennearly evreywhere all over the world. They even went on a freight ship for about 18 days. The food was surprisingly delicious and the staff were super friendly. If I remember we went to the park car shortly after that and it was not long before I retired to bed...due to jet lag I was very tired. I must say the beds are super comfy...its just like the bed at home (only a bit smaller)..I woke up many times the first night but when I got up I felt refreshed. We were about 3 hours behind schedule when we woke up...they said it was due to heavy freight traffic during the night...We ate breakfast with the same couple we ate with last night.... It was nice to be 3 hours behind schedule because we got to see the scenery thats usually in the dark. We were running along this beutiful raging river for ages. Later the train slowed down for pyramid falls (<----spelling??) we got some good photos of that. At about this point it was snowing and thier was about a foot of snow on the ground...It looked just like a CHRISTmas card. Then we started hitting the Mountains. Thier was alot of clouds so we could not seem to see the peaks of the mountains. I at lunch with 3 sisters (2 from Montreal I think and 1 from the Us) We had a good laugh together. Nearly Everey time I took the camara out to get a photo a tree would come in the way. By the time we stoped at Jasper in the after noon it was snowing but thier was little/none on the ground. We got some good photos of the train here. After departing Jasper we came to the best scenery yet... The clouds were lifting and we hit the big part of the rocky mountains. It was snowy and wherever you looked North, West, South, or east all you could see was the Rocky Mountains and some beutiful lakes. Going through many twists and turns It was one of the things that you nearly only experience on a train. It was truly amazing.... We had a nice conversation with a bloke that night in the dome car. I got a much better sleep that night on the train.....One thing I noticed is that the trains can be really smooth. After waking up I took a shower...I think evreyone on a train must do this at least once, its an experiance. The shower pressure is surprisingly good. Some people say that the praries are boring, I would dissagree altough it was completely diffrent from the Rocky Mountains it was a very beutiful place to look out of the window at and watch. We were going pretty fast through the praries. I think now we were about on time and would stay that way for the rest of the trip. I think this is the night that we dined with the engineer of this train on his way back to his mother, It was intresting to tell us about trains the history of the Canadian. Once again the food is amazing and the Lamb is great. You meet some of the nicest and friendliest people on a train that you have great conversations with. We had some great ones with fellow passangers and even the park car attendent. The last day we played bingo and won once.....The rest of the day was spent relaxing and being in the dome car. Dinner that night was rushed (due to the fact they had to feed evreyone before the arrival in Toronto) but it was still very nice. We arrived I think about 20 minutes early. We arrived at the Delta-Cheleas hotel which we got at an amazing price. That night we ate at a delecious Japanese Restraunt near the hotel. We watched Shrek 2 that night in the hotel room. We woke up the next day had breakfast at the hotel, then we walked around the block. We went on a taxi to the airport and had a good conversation with the taxi driver. We got on the plane and landed back in Atlanta I think on time.

All in All a GREAT trip and would defiently do it again

in JESUS

gavin

email me with any questions [email protected]

I know thier are alot of typos


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## JESUSrocks (Nov 8, 2004)

I think I forgot this,

the staff on this train were top notch and the trip went without a hitch

in JESUS,

Gavin


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## gswager (Nov 8, 2004)

Glad to hear that you have a flawless trip even though it's snowy in the mountains!

I'll definitely will take the trip but I don't know when.


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## Bill Haithcoat (Nov 9, 2004)

Glad to hear your trip went so well, Gavin. Wish I could have seen that snow. I had a much longer train---I think they just sort of add cars as the demand grows.

About that early dinner into Toronto, did they do as they did on my trip and plan ahead by asking you at Lunch what you wanted for dinner, so it would not be as rushed as it could otherwise have been? I, too, arrived about 20 minutes early.

Come to think of it, though , your train was not nearly as crowded as mine so maybe that type of planning was not necessary. Guess they are flexible about things like that. You will recall my train had 27 in service cars.

Glad you made all your connections, etc.

I assume the Park car was at the rear? You list it ahead of the six sleepers.


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## MrFSS (Nov 9, 2004)

When do we get to see the pictures???


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## JESUSrocks (Nov 9, 2004)

Yes I did the cars in no particular order. They did take dinner orders at lunch which was nice...but some people I think forgot what they ordered....

Ill try and post the pics later when I upload them...

in JESUS

gavin


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## JESUSrocks (Nov 9, 2004)

The car order went as follows

2 locomotives (i i think)

1 out of service skyline dome

2 coaches --comfort class

1 skyline dome car

1 sleeper or 2 sleepers

1 dinner

4 sleepers??

a park car


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## Bill Haithcoat (Nov 10, 2004)

I agree with you, Gavin, that the scenery was good everywhere, not just the Rockies. I recall when I took the trip 30 plus years ago I was bored with the prairies but I suspect that is because I had no idea it would take so long to get to the Rockies.

This year, knowing better what to expect, I relished and enjoyed all of it. After all, where there are not tons of mountains there are tons of lakes.


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## Steve4031 (Nov 10, 2004)

I enjoyed the report. Thanks.


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