Personal Blog
May 25, 2010•20 min read
45 hours with Amtrak.
"It's so much better than flying," or so I'd overheard on a few occasions. Just how valid could that statement be, against a trip that was the same cost of flying but took almost forty hours longer? This, I needed to find out.
Amtrak has been around for 29 years, the name chiseled out of American interstate transport culture, along with Greyhound. Like its roadworthy kin, it has long since become an afterthought of travel planning, with crippling blows being hammered home by quick and cheap air alternatives. To set the record straight, pricing for an adult is not favorable if comparing with budget flights and online deals. Booking in advance and opting for a la-z-boy recliner as a bed, does reduce the Seattle to Chicago fare to the exact same $150 deal found for the flying alternative. <!--more--> King street station in Seattle is the terminal for any of the Amtrak Cascades, Empire Builder, or Coast Starlight destinations, so anticipation was high, of entering a modern experience full of excited passengers and bustling porters, eager to get a journey started. Due to current renovations, it takes a little investigation to locate the actual entrance to the building and once inside, enthusiasm tends to get lost in the dark and tired waiting area that suffocates anything modern with a courtroom and banking claustophobia. The building is over one hundred years old yet the once enchanting upper decor, is now hidden above a lowered false ceiling. It took several minutes of exploration and lifting of left-over construction material, before an electrical outlet next to seating could be found. There are a few outlets under the public pay-phones, if willing to suffer the kicks and glares of anyone needing to dial out and I find this unforgivable, considering many people would need at the very least to keep cell phones charged, prior to heading off on a multi-day trip.
Still thinking on 'airport schedule,' turning up almost two hours early was completely unecessary; train boarding is last minute, at just ten minutes before departure. Expect a free-for-all, as the first people to get to the appropriate coach get the best seating. Thinking of a window seat on the left-hand side? make a run for it and eyeball the exact location while you're approaching the door. Half of the coach is for single travelers, the front half being marked for groups of two or three, so plan on something near the rear that is not next to the stairway - the light and noise of people heading to the bathroom will not help the cause for sleep. The person you'll end up next to however, is certainly a game of chance. This isn't to say fellow travelers are unsavory but the next two days will be spent breathing, sleeping, and snoring, two feet from them. A good bet is to get chatting to people while still in the waiting room - striking up a conversation will not only pass time quicker, it could endear you to a better companion for the rest of the trip.
Without having time for warm bodies to mould into the seats, a broken announcement suddenly snapped everyone's neck's to attention. There was now a 'mechanical problem' and we would all have to step back off the train and wait for repairs. It would be another hour pacing the waiting room before getting back on board, during which time the train had departed to the depot for, apparently, a blocked toilet (you guys don't have a portable suction?). Finally the journey was able to get underway and only one and a half hours late.
