April 14, 2005

Amtrak

Since I'm obviously mentally ill and can no longer force myself to get on a plane and endure the torment I put myself through during the span of the flight, getting to Phoenix recently was an adventure. When I went to Phoenix two years ago, I completely flipped out and drove (yes, from New Orleans. Yes, it was a loooooong trip). I realized early on that I didn't care to drive and flying was obviously out of the question. So I did what few people do these days -- I booked a ticket on Amtrak.

I had ridden Amtrak when I was in high school, but the longest trip I had taken was from Dallas to Houston -- it takes five hours, tops. My grandmother was not amused when I stopped flying Southwest Airlines and starting riding the rails, mostly because it meant that when I got to Houston she had to pick me up in an area of town that shouldn't be visited alone or without a gun.

I should've known this trip would be eventful when I planned it. If you go on Amtrak's website, you'll see that they don't go to Phoenix. They used to, but no longer. Now your options are Tucson and Maricopa. A little more searching on the internet will tell you that there is NOTHING in Maricopa except for a Harrah's casino. There's no airport, no shopping mall, no taxi services -- nothing. Clearly, that wouldn't do. Although Maricopa is closer to Phoenix than Tucson, Tucson is the winner since it has signs of civilization besides slot machines.

Having chosen Tucson as my stopping point, I then realized that the train gets into Tucson at 1:00 a.m. local time. Seriously. This presented a problem because the rental car places at the airport don't open until 5:30 a.m. Ultimately, I made two plans: plan (a) would be used if we got in on time (ha!), and involved me taking a cab to an airport hotel, sleeping for a while and then taking the shuttle to the airport to pick up my rental car and drive to Phoenix. Plan (b) would be used if we were late, and I would take a taxi to the airport, pick up my rental car and zip to Phoenix, showering in my hotel when I arrived.

Being the anal-retentive mentally ill sort that I am, I did my homework. I read everything Amtrak had to offer about train travel, called them and asked questions, and even read an online forum for train travel buffs, many of whom are Amtrak employees. I packed my bags and Archi-Sapper took me to the station at 11:00 on the day of my departure.

The first thing I noticed that was different about Amtrak than say, Delta, is that no one really tells you anything. I checked in and checked my two bags and spoke with the gate agent. The only thing he told me was that I should wait in the seats at the gate and they would make an announcement when it was time to board. That they did, although I noticed plenty of people hopping onto the train before the announcement -- scofflaws!

Once they made the announcement, I headed outside, had an employee punch my ticket, and they told me to go to the first door. I did, and met an employee who told me to go to the second door. Once on the train, I went into the only compartment I saw, which held about 12 seats and looked way too small to be the right place. After sitting down, someone walked in behind me and said, "This doesn't look right." Exactly, I thought. One of the passengers who had been on the train for a while replied, "This is handicapped seating." Ahhh. It made perfect sense, I just didn't understand why there were no signs denoting that.

I made my way upstairs and found a seat. Note that I did not make my way to my sleeping berth, as I didn't get one. I really wanted one, but simply couldn't afford it. A sleeping car each way would've added about $800 to the cost of my trip -- slightly out of my reach. However, the coach seats are large and recline back quite a ways, and the train offers pillows much like those on the airlines. And I brought a blanket.

Once we got going (on time!) I headed to the observation/lounge car and watched the scenery. I ended up spending more time there than I'd planned since that was the only location I could find an electrical outlet to recharge my Treo and my laptop. Interestingly, it seems that most of the people on the train were Amtrak regulars. At meal times, you can either eat light snack foods from the Lounge car (basically the same food you'd buy at a convenience store) or have a seated meal in the Dining Car. I opted for the seated dinner, and was placed at a table with three other passengers, all of whom ride Amtrak regularly. One of them rode it so much he actually knows which trains go to which cities.

As often happens with train travel, we got stuck behind some Union Pacific freight cars and lost quite a bit of time. They were able to make up some of it, but certainly not all. I recall waking up at various points in the night and realizing we weren't moving, which wasn't the greatest feeling. Had I been traveling for pleasure, it wouldn't have bothered me, but since I had CLE classes I wanted to attend and friends I wanted to see, I just kept thinking, "Go train, go!"

The evening of my arrival in Arizona, I again had dinner in the Dining Car. I was seated next to a neatly dressed man with white hair who appeared to be in his 60's. We were seated across from a Hispanic couple who didn't appear to speak English. Consequently, I ended up chatting with my seat mate, who was a very nice man who recently retired from a job working for a contractor that did work for NASA. He was riding the train for fun and hadn't yet decided where he would get off, since he had an open-ended ticket.

After dinner, he found me in my seat and handed me his return train ticket. He asked if we were returning on the same train, and I was surprised by the question and a bit flustered since I'd been reading and responding to e-mails. I looked at it and said, "Yes, I think so." He seemed satisfied with that response and returned to his seat.

A few minutes later, he was back. He sat down next to me and asked if he could ask me a question. I said sure and he said that he was thinking about the conversation we'd had at dinner and how I'd said I was going to Phoenix. He said that he'd love to go to Phoenix with me and wondered if he could join me on my trip. I was completely unprepared for that question and finally managed to tell him that I didn't know whether I was going to stay in Tucson or head straight to Phoenix and once I got to Phoenix I'd be in meetings and wouldn't have time to hang out, anyway. He then said that he was thinking he could get a hotel in Tucson and I could use it to shower if I wanted (!) and then we could hit the road (he wasn't trying to be insulting by suggesting I shower. If you're sitting in coach you don't have access to showers, and I'd mentioned how I needed one.) I thanked him for his offer but declined. Ultimately, I don't think he was a bad guy (he was a 60+ guy wearing glasses and Sansabelt pants, for crying out loud), but as a single gal, I certainly couldn't take any chances.

Once we arrived in Tucson -- four hours late -- I ran into a woman I'd eaten dinner with the previous evening. She asked how the remainder of my trip had gone, and I told her about the guy. She empathized and said, "You've had quite a trip, between the stalker-guy and that arrest last night." Huh? "What arrest?" I asked. She said, "You didn't hear it? I heard the conductor talking to some employees about a passenger who was drunk and disorderly, and then the train stopped around 2:30 a.m. somewhere in New Mexico, and the conductor dragged the guy off the train, handed him to local law enforcement, got back on the train and we kept going! It was crazy!"

All in all it was a good trip, but a little more than I'd bargained for.

Posted by Kitty at April 14, 2005 07:11 PM

Comments

Well that is thoroughly creepy... hopefully he meant no harm. I mean an attractive woman traveling alone and all, can't blame a guy for tryin ;)

Posted by: Big Daddy at April 15, 2005 02:20 PM

I'm the opposite of you. I prefer flying for the thrill and because I get extremely irritable if I'm confined to a car/bus/train/plane seat for more than a few hours. I've looked into a rail pass for vacations (The wife hates to fly and also gets severe motion sickness so we're not sure she could handle a train, either) but I'm just not the kind of traveler that likes the journey as much as the destination.

Posted by: Rob at April 17, 2005 09:12 AM

Rob, If your wife gets severe motion sickness, I would definitely advise you not to take the train. When we were travelling at top speeds, the train rocked back and forth pretty violently, jerking and lurching the whole time. I think she'd be very ill by the time you got to your destination.

Posted by: kitty at April 18, 2005 08:35 AM

Post a comment










Remember personal info?