DC to Chicago – 2nd Day, Tuesday
At last it was light out, and we got up and went for breakfast. We had just ordered our food when the attendant told us there was a problem with our train connection in NY, and we needed to call Guest Services to see what changes were being made in our plans, and it couldn’t wait, because we were only ½ hour away from DC, which was the possible place we could change trains. So I sat there, calling Guest Services. First the line was busy, then I was on hold. Time was ticking by. The attendant came back and said the conductor had called for us, and we were to get off at DC, which was now 20 minutes away.
We forgot about breakfast and hurried back to our room to gather our stuff. The attendant was very helpful in helping us get our stuff off the train and onto the platform. She even took our claim check to the baggage car and got our 1 piece of checked luggage so it would travel to NY without us.
Not knowing what else to do, I left Hubby on the platform with all our luggage while I went off to find the ticket counter to ask for help. The ticket people gave me new tickets for the rest of our trip, and one took me to show me where the lounge was at. Apparently, since we had sleeper accommodations, we were entitled to use the lounge! Furthermore, we had gotten an upgrade for the next leg of our journey and would have a bedroom rather than a roomette.
As he was about to leave me, I asked him for help in rescuing Hubby, who was still down on the platform with too much luggage for both of us to carry, let alone him. He asked another employee for help, and that employee, whose radio was chattering away at him, said yes, there was a Red Cap helping him get to the lounge. I thanked them and wandered back toward the gate I had come from, expecting to see them somewhere on the way. I didn’t find them, but my phone rang. Hubby was wondering where I was, he was at the lounge.
I went to the lounge.
I saw him as soon as I entered, and all our luggage was in the temporary storage room. The lounge attendant could have printed our new tickets for us, but couldn’t check luggage, so I took Hubby carryon and went back to the ticket counter to get it checked in.
It was not quite 9. Our train wouldn’t leave until 4.
The DC station was huge; multi-leveled, with lots of hallways, doorways to the outside, stores galore and signs all over the place. I was glad to get back to the peaceful oasis of the lounge, where we could have our pick of coffee or soft drinks and a variety of snacks. It wasn’t breakfast, but it helped soothe our jangled nerves. Hubby pulled out the laptop and worked on his WiP until about 2. I worked in my notebook until he got done with the laptop, then I switched and started working on a short story I had barely begun.
We did leave the lounge once, about lunchtime, to go to the food court in search of ‘real fool’. All that was available was fast food, so we each picked something and went back to the lounge to eat.
We had been told to be in the lounge at 3:00 to be ready to catch our train. I packed up the laptop and put it back in our luggage about 2:45. At 3:00, they announced there was a problem with the displays, they weren’t updating as needed, but the lounge employees and the red caps could see the correct times, and they would get us to our trains on time.
About 3:30, a red cap came looking for my party of 2. He helped us get our luggage out to his golf cart and zipped us out to our train. We were in a 2-level car, so we had to climb a tiny square staircase. The train’s attendant helped get our stuff upstairs and to our room. It was at least twice as big as our roomette had been, with a couch along one side, and a bathroom, sink and chair on the other. We put our carryon bag on a shelf above the single chair, piled the boxes and cpaps on the sofa, and we both got to sit near the window.
Soon the attendant arrived to take our orders for supper. There was no dining car, only a café car, so their choices of food were limited, and everything was microwaved. (Okay, I suppose the bread, salad and drinks were not.) What I had wasn’t great food, but it was edible. And it came with a complimentary alcoholic drink. (Try getting complimentary drinks on an airline!)
We ate at 5:45, and it was dark by the time we got done. Hubby had finished his word count for the day and he hadn’t brought anything to read, so he decided it was time to turn in! After all, we had to get up by 6 to get breakfast before he hit Chicago. We had the attendant make up the bottom bed, which we’d been told could hold 2 people ‘snugly’, and place all our boxes on the upper bunk.
Okay, we tried, but after 40 years of sharing a CA King bed, we couldn’t make a not-quite-full bed work for us. After a couple hours, I climbed out and told Hubby I would sleep in the chair. I’ve slept sitting up many times and didn’t think it would be a problem. It was.
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