Our Train Trip to KC - Part 1
Day 1 – Orlando to NewYork
For a change of pace,we decided to take a train trip. Why? Well, a cruise ship would not get fromOrlando (inland) to KC (even further inland). The trip was to meet our latestgrandchild. We didn’t want to sit for hours in a brew of germ soup before wemet her, so we didn’t want to fly. Ditto for a bus. We thought about driving,but didn’t look forward to it, what with stopping every hour for a restroombreak, finding a motel every evening, and the big cities with their maniactraffic.
So I took a look atrailroads. I wanted some kind of room for us, so we could cut back on the # ofgerms we’d face and have a place to lay down and sleep. So I asked for a roomettefor the two of us. It seemed a little expensive, but maybe not, if youconsidered that not only were they transporting us and our luggage, but feedingus and providing lodging as well. We decided to do it, just so we could say,“Yes, we’ve ridden a train, and we remember doing it.”
The day came for us tostart our journey. The dishes were in the dishwasher, getting cleaned.Everything was packed. The taxi was on its way to get us. The Amtrak stationwas in a part of Orlando we didn’t know, and it didn’t have any long-termparking there, so I had hired a taxi to take us there.
The taxi driver wassurprised at the amount of luggage we had; 2 carryon suitcases, 2 mixer setsand a juicer still in their boxes (Christmas gifts), and 2 cpaps, but we got themall in his car, and got us to the station about ½ hour before I thought hewould.
It was a nicealmost-winter day in Orlando. The sky was deeply overcast, a soft breeze blew,and the temperature was in the low to middle 70s. We got Hubby settled on abench on the platform, the luggage piled around him, and I went inside to theticket window to ask questions.
That was when I got thenews; they could not accept the boxed kitchen equipment as checked luggage.Even though I had called and asked if I could substitute Christmas gifts forsome of my checked luggage, and was told yes, this guy said they did not acceptboxes as checked luggage. So we put our heads together to figure out how to geteverything to our destination with us. The solution was to pick one of thecarry-ons, take out our medications, and take the bag to be checked luggage.Everything else had to be carried onto the train by us and stored in ourroomette.
Our roomette wassmaller than we had imagined. If you see some youtuber on traveling on trainsand their ‘roomette’ has a tiny bathroom in it, that’s not what we got. Ourtrain had that type of room, but our room was even smaller: Two seats facingeach other, a small sink beside one seat and a trash can beside the other.There was a cubby hole way up at ceiling level that could be used to store someluggage. Hubby managed to shove the carry-on bag and 1 cpap in there, but itwas hard to reach, and none of the boxes would fit in it.
The train left thestation at 1:36 PM. We were informed we could go to the dining car at 2 andhave lunch. We had purchased a quick bite at the hot dog stand at the trainstation; we hadn’t thought we’d get any lunch otherwise. But lunch soundedgood, so at 2 pm, we lurched our way to the dining car. (Those movies that showpeople nonchalantly walking down train hallways and confidently stepping fromcar to car don’t take into account the swaying and jolting that an actual traindoes.) As we plopped down in a booth, I told Hubby I didn’t have my sea legs.He replied that the sea doesn’t usually toss you around this much.
Later, as we sat in ourroomette entertaining ourselves, we asked each other how we liked the trainride so far. Despite the snafu with the luggage, I thought that gettingourselves to the mode of transportation was far less intense than gettingthrough the airport. And despite having luggage piled up around us, the seatsare bigger and more comfortable on an airplane. It had gotten dark, and we werestill traveling (we would have stopped by then if we were driving). And it’snot as far a walk to the dining car as it was to the dining room on our lastcruise.
I think I like it.
After a supper thatHubby said was at least as good as, if not better than, cruise ship meals, wehad the attendant make our roomette into a pair of bunk beds. The steps to getonto the top bunk were at least 2 steps tall, maybe more, but I eventually gotup there.
It was, I think, thelongest night I’ve ever experienced. The train was rocking, which I thoughtwould help me fall asleep. Instead, it kept me awake as I feared rolling offthe bed, despite the safety harness intended to keep me in the bed. I clutchedthe safety harness for reassurance and finally fell asleep, but I woke up sooften, it must have been a light sleep.
