Travelling via Amtrak

That last post on this blog was sent by my cell phone. I am setting it up so that I can blog from the cell phone while on my next trip.

I'll be travelling on an Amtrak train from Denver to San Francisco and back again. I've never gone by train except for one trip I am told that I took as a very young girl. I obviously don't remember it, so this will be an adventure.

I booked my tickets back in March. The trip is planned for the second part of June. To prepare myself, since I have never really travelled by train, I've been doing some research on what to expect.

On the internet I have found quite a lot of complaints about Amtrak. From the few people I personally know to have gone by train, I expected the trains to occassionally run late. However, I found that it is more normal to be late than to be on time. Being late is actually putting it mildly. From some accounts, we are talking about a 4-hour trip becoming 12 hours. A one day trip becoming two days. You shouldn't even bother to arrange for someone to arrive at the train station until you have called and said you have actually arrived. It seems that Amtrak is notorious for this.

In my case though, this is not going to be a problem. I have no deadlines to meet, no schedule to keep. The main purpose of the trip is to "get away". I have reservations in San Francisco, but I've already talked to them and covered myself in case my check-in is rather late. No worries.

I checked out the food options on Amtrak's website and found that I could special-order vegan food. I had initially planned on packing snacks and sandwiches to feed myself the entire trip. After reading about their dining car, I erased most of the food items from my packing list. But after yesterday's research on other people's experiences I feel that I should rethink this.

I found that, due to the many delays in the train schedules, they often run out of food. Yikes! No food? Not wanting to become the crankiest bitch on the train, I am reinstating my grocery list and considering adding even more! So far I am planning to bring: sandwiches, Odwalla bars, fruit, carrots, crackers, and some small bottles of wine!

Apparently there are occassional mechanical issues too. I found reports of air conditioning not working or working too well & unable to turn it off. I read about blankets being dirty, bathrooms leaking, and a chronic problem of grumpy personnel.

These are all good things to know in advance. I will bring a lite blanket, plenty of hand-wipes and disinfectant, and make it my goal to be the "happy spot" on the train. No grumps allowed. Wish me luck.

Most importantly, I have a roommette reserved. As long as nothing goes wrong with that reservation I'll be fine. I'll bring my mp3 player, pocket-sized battery-operated tv, a couple books, a sudoku book, a pair of binoculars, a camera, sketchbook and paints, and my cell phone that can access the web. Let's not forget that I am also bringing wine. I will have a great time!