Hi all,
my last train trip was Denver, Raton, Los Angeles, left Dec. 18 and returned on Jan. 4th.
We had our thruway Denver to Raton. The ride was pleasant.
On the train to Los Angeles, my son traveled with me, we had a roomette. I really am glad I went ahead with the roomette. We both were comfortable, he mostly stayed on the top bunk the whole way. I cannot imagine sharing a roomette with another adult. My legs take up most of the space while sitting. At bedtime a noise scared my son, who is 10, and he wanted to sleep with me in the bottom bunk. I told him, sorry, just not enough room and assured him we were safe and not going to wreck.
While these next things did not ruin the trip, I just have to wonder about Amtrak's service. Our car attendant was goofy. There was not anymore room for our luggage in the car. We cannot check our bags in Raton, so my first thought, two large suitcases in our roomette. Oh here it goes, the trip from hell. Well the attendant hollered to put our bags in the family room. Which worked out very well, we had roomette 14 right next to it.
The attendant came by as I was just starting to figure out how to lower the bottom bunk. She asked if I knew how, I replied no but I guess I'll figure it out. Asked her if I could get a box of tissues. She looked as if I were asking for the moon and said she would see if she could find some. She left.
We go upstairs, gee, there are two tissue boxes there, I took one. She was coming by so I asked if I could have some of the bottled water sitting there, sure and there is ice in the cooler.
With my son, we went to the lounge cafe a few times. Passed our attendant several times, she always looked like she was on her last leg, never smiled.
We ate in the dining car for lunch but cannot remember what we had. Next morning, french toast and they were out of bacon!
For dinner we ate in the dining car. We both had, maybe someone could help me out, a braised steak?
We ordered med. rare and received very rare. We ate it anyway and it was sooo good!
Night time, I made our own beds.
When it was time to get off the train in L.A., my thoughts of tipping came. Do I tip her or not? What did she do? The toilets were pretty clean, so I gave her $5.
The trip was very enjoyable.
On my return trip it was just myself in coach.
I was delighted when I realized so far, I had a seat to myself. Then the man next to me started babbling about wanting his children sitting next to him, looking at my seat. Saying something about a child sitting there. I said they won't let you change seats.
The conductor came by for tickets and I told him, I do not want to babysit a child in that seat. He informed me, the train was full and I would be getting a seat partner, child or adult. I would have rather moved to a seat next to an adult.
The attendant came and moved the man and his children somewhere behind me, thank goodness.
It probably sounds rude, but I did not want a child there.
So, I wonder, why couldn't they have assigned him seats where he could have sat side by side with his children in L.A? I think it would be nice to be able to reserve seats. This was my issue going out with my son, would I be able to sit with him?
After all of that, I had both seats to myself from L.A. to Albuquerque. It was so nice.
For dinner I ate a pizza from the lounge cafe. I didn't want to wait until 8:00 for dinner. The pizza wasn't bad.
The cafe attendant was a nice man, the next afternoon when I went down he had very nice music playing. So I sat in there for quite a while after Albuquerque and getting a seat partner. It was very pleasant.
My night was as comfortable as could be, with just me, I could stretch out pretty well on the seats. I do fall asleep but wonder if I had snored or whatever through my sleep
Morning, I had the french toast again with bacon.
Lunchtime, I decided to go to my little coffee and gelato place and get a sandwich, they are closed for good. Asked a security guard if there was a coffee place close. He directed me inside, the city's bus center building pretty much next to the Amtrak station. They have espresso, iced coffee, some bagels and burritos. So I bought a burrito, it was pretty good. And I really liked the iced coffee. As I made my way back to the train, I thought I should have just ate at the coffee place, I had plenty of time.
After this I came back to my seat to find I have a seat partner. So this is when I journey to the cafe and found the wonderful music.
Not sure when my next Amtrak trip will be, thought maybe in March but my mom and I are going by bus She doesn't want to ride all night in coach and doesn't want to spend for a room. We are going to stop over in Las Vegas before heading to Long Beach for our cruise. I will keep my fingers crossed I can convince her of the train at least to Vegas through the Kingman thruway.
my last train trip was Denver, Raton, Los Angeles, left Dec. 18 and returned on Jan. 4th.
We had our thruway Denver to Raton. The ride was pleasant.
On the train to Los Angeles, my son traveled with me, we had a roomette. I really am glad I went ahead with the roomette. We both were comfortable, he mostly stayed on the top bunk the whole way. I cannot imagine sharing a roomette with another adult. My legs take up most of the space while sitting. At bedtime a noise scared my son, who is 10, and he wanted to sleep with me in the bottom bunk. I told him, sorry, just not enough room and assured him we were safe and not going to wreck.
While these next things did not ruin the trip, I just have to wonder about Amtrak's service. Our car attendant was goofy. There was not anymore room for our luggage in the car. We cannot check our bags in Raton, so my first thought, two large suitcases in our roomette. Oh here it goes, the trip from hell. Well the attendant hollered to put our bags in the family room. Which worked out very well, we had roomette 14 right next to it.
The attendant came by as I was just starting to figure out how to lower the bottom bunk. She asked if I knew how, I replied no but I guess I'll figure it out. Asked her if I could get a box of tissues. She looked as if I were asking for the moon and said she would see if she could find some. She left.
We go upstairs, gee, there are two tissue boxes there, I took one. She was coming by so I asked if I could have some of the bottled water sitting there, sure and there is ice in the cooler.
With my son, we went to the lounge cafe a few times. Passed our attendant several times, she always looked like she was on her last leg, never smiled.
We ate in the dining car for lunch but cannot remember what we had. Next morning, french toast and they were out of bacon!
For dinner we ate in the dining car. We both had, maybe someone could help me out, a braised steak?
We ordered med. rare and received very rare. We ate it anyway and it was sooo good!
Night time, I made our own beds.
When it was time to get off the train in L.A., my thoughts of tipping came. Do I tip her or not? What did she do? The toilets were pretty clean, so I gave her $5.
The trip was very enjoyable.
On my return trip it was just myself in coach.
I was delighted when I realized so far, I had a seat to myself. Then the man next to me started babbling about wanting his children sitting next to him, looking at my seat. Saying something about a child sitting there. I said they won't let you change seats.
The conductor came by for tickets and I told him, I do not want to babysit a child in that seat. He informed me, the train was full and I would be getting a seat partner, child or adult. I would have rather moved to a seat next to an adult.
The attendant came and moved the man and his children somewhere behind me, thank goodness.
It probably sounds rude, but I did not want a child there.
So, I wonder, why couldn't they have assigned him seats where he could have sat side by side with his children in L.A? I think it would be nice to be able to reserve seats. This was my issue going out with my son, would I be able to sit with him?
After all of that, I had both seats to myself from L.A. to Albuquerque. It was so nice.
For dinner I ate a pizza from the lounge cafe. I didn't want to wait until 8:00 for dinner. The pizza wasn't bad.
The cafe attendant was a nice man, the next afternoon when I went down he had very nice music playing. So I sat in there for quite a while after Albuquerque and getting a seat partner. It was very pleasant.
My night was as comfortable as could be, with just me, I could stretch out pretty well on the seats. I do fall asleep but wonder if I had snored or whatever through my sleep
Morning, I had the french toast again with bacon.
Lunchtime, I decided to go to my little coffee and gelato place and get a sandwich, they are closed for good. Asked a security guard if there was a coffee place close. He directed me inside, the city's bus center building pretty much next to the Amtrak station. They have espresso, iced coffee, some bagels and burritos. So I bought a burrito, it was pretty good. And I really liked the iced coffee. As I made my way back to the train, I thought I should have just ate at the coffee place, I had plenty of time.
After this I came back to my seat to find I have a seat partner. So this is when I journey to the cafe and found the wonderful music.
Not sure when my next Amtrak trip will be, thought maybe in March but my mom and I are going by bus
She doesn't want to ride all night in coach and doesn't want to spend for a room. We are going to stop over in Las Vegas before heading to Long Beach for our cruise. I will keep my fingers crossed I can convince her of the train at least to Vegas through the Kingman thruway.
