Notelvis
Conductor
Mine was in June 2002........ a trip that I booked while Amtrak was under threat of being completely shut down. My intention was riding some trains I'd never ridden before.
At this point I had ridden the entire California Zephyr route and the entire (Seattle section) Empire Builder route. I had ridden the Southwest Chief east of Albuquerque and the Sunset east of San Antonio only.
So....... with that background information,
Day 1........ I started by driving to Nashville, TN, flying Southwest Airlines to Spokane, WA, and catching a cab (at 10:00pm) downtown to the Amtrak Station.
Day 2....... in the wee hours I caught the #27 to Portland and caught the Coast Starlight.
Day 3....... I arrived in Los Angeles and spent the night at the Dragon Gate Best Western.
Day 4...... Roundtrip to San Diego with a ride on the San Diego trolley. Back in Los Angeles I caught the Southwest Chief riding in roomette - my first sleeping car on this trip.
Here's where the convoluted part comes in
Day 5......... arrive in Albuquerque, catch the local bus to the airport, fly Southwest Airlines BACK to Los Angeles, take the shuttle downtown to Union Station. It was pretty surreal walking in almost exactly 24 hours after I had departed on #4.
Then......... board the #422 sleeper (roomette) for a two night ride (so I thought) on the Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle to Ft. Worth.
Day 6........ arrive in El Paso (a Saturday) where #2 is annulled due to a UP derailment. We are told that buses are on their way to carry us overnight to San Antonio. Does not sound good. I teamed up with two other passengers and caught a cab to the airport, bought a walkup ticket (on Southwest) for a flight to Dallas where I got a hotel room.
Day 7........ I caught the local bus then light rail to downtown Dallas and caught a Greyhound Bus to Ft. Worth. I would have gone on the Trinity Rail Express but that was not an option on a Sunday. Once in Ft. Worth I resumed my original itinerary and caught the Heartland Flyer to Oklahoma City. Don't recall the hotel but it was one of those chain places by the airport. Interestingly, there were several other passengers onboard who had been on #422 with me out of Los Angeles. They had ridden the bus from El Paso and had endured a sleepless night.
Day 8........ flew back to Nashville and drove home.
Day 9....... Called Amtrak Customer Service and politely asked for a travel voucher in the amount equivalent to the roomette accommodation fare from El Paso to Ft. Worth. They instead issued a voucher for the entire Los Angeles - Ft. Worth segment of the trip. I used that voucher a few months later for a bedroom from Clemson, SC to New York on the Crescent.
I'll add that the amount of the Amtrak voucher was nearly twice what I spent for my unplanned cab ride, flight to and hotel in Dallas, and Greyhound ride to Ft. Worth. It was an adventure with the exception of the extra screening I received at the El Paso airport for buying a one way airline ticket less than 90 minutes before flight time.
At this point I had ridden the entire California Zephyr route and the entire (Seattle section) Empire Builder route. I had ridden the Southwest Chief east of Albuquerque and the Sunset east of San Antonio only.
So....... with that background information,
Day 1........ I started by driving to Nashville, TN, flying Southwest Airlines to Spokane, WA, and catching a cab (at 10:00pm) downtown to the Amtrak Station.
Day 2....... in the wee hours I caught the #27 to Portland and caught the Coast Starlight.
Day 3....... I arrived in Los Angeles and spent the night at the Dragon Gate Best Western.
Day 4...... Roundtrip to San Diego with a ride on the San Diego trolley. Back in Los Angeles I caught the Southwest Chief riding in roomette - my first sleeping car on this trip.
Here's where the convoluted part comes in
Day 5......... arrive in Albuquerque, catch the local bus to the airport, fly Southwest Airlines BACK to Los Angeles, take the shuttle downtown to Union Station. It was pretty surreal walking in almost exactly 24 hours after I had departed on #4.
Then......... board the #422 sleeper (roomette) for a two night ride (so I thought) on the Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle to Ft. Worth.
Day 6........ arrive in El Paso (a Saturday) where #2 is annulled due to a UP derailment. We are told that buses are on their way to carry us overnight to San Antonio. Does not sound good. I teamed up with two other passengers and caught a cab to the airport, bought a walkup ticket (on Southwest) for a flight to Dallas where I got a hotel room.
Day 7........ I caught the local bus then light rail to downtown Dallas and caught a Greyhound Bus to Ft. Worth. I would have gone on the Trinity Rail Express but that was not an option on a Sunday. Once in Ft. Worth I resumed my original itinerary and caught the Heartland Flyer to Oklahoma City. Don't recall the hotel but it was one of those chain places by the airport. Interestingly, there were several other passengers onboard who had been on #422 with me out of Los Angeles. They had ridden the bus from El Paso and had endured a sleepless night.
Day 8........ flew back to Nashville and drove home.
Day 9....... Called Amtrak Customer Service and politely asked for a travel voucher in the amount equivalent to the roomette accommodation fare from El Paso to Ft. Worth. They instead issued a voucher for the entire Los Angeles - Ft. Worth segment of the trip. I used that voucher a few months later for a bedroom from Clemson, SC to New York on the Crescent.
I'll add that the amount of the Amtrak voucher was nearly twice what I spent for my unplanned cab ride, flight to and hotel in Dallas, and Greyhound ride to Ft. Worth. It was an adventure with the exception of the extra screening I received at the El Paso airport for buying a one way airline ticket less than 90 minutes before flight time.
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