Our Train Trip to KC - Part 1

Day 1 – Orlando to New York

For a change of pace, we decided to take a train trip. Why? Well, a cruise ship would not get from Orlando (inland) to KC (even further inland). The trip was to meet our latest grandchild. We didn’t want to sit for hours in a brew of germ soup before we met 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 restroom break, finding a motel every evening, and the big cities with their maniac traffic.

So I took a look at railroads. I wanted some kind of room for us, so we could cut back on the # of germs we’d face and have a place to lay down and sleep. So I asked for a roomette for the two of us. It seemed a little expensive, but maybe not, if you considered that not only were they transporting us and our luggage, but feeding us 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 to start our journey. The dishes were in the dishwasher, getting cleaned. Everything was packed. The taxi was on its way to get us. The Amtrak station was in a part of Orlando we didn’t know, and it didn’t have any long-term parking there, so I had hired a taxi to take us there.

The taxi driver was surprised at the amount of luggage we had; 2 carryon suitcases, 2 mixer sets and a juicer still in their boxes (Christmas gifts), and 2 cpaps, but we got them all in his car, and got us to the station about ½ hour before I thought he would.

It was a nice almost-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 a bench on the platform, the luggage piled around him, and I went inside to the ticket window to ask questions.

That was when I got the news; they could not accept the boxed kitchen equipment as checked luggage. Even though I had called and asked if I could substitute Christmas gifts for some of my checked luggage, and was told yes, this guy said they did not accept boxes as checked luggage. So we put our heads together to figure out how to get everything to our destination with us. The solution was to pick one of the carry-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 our roomette.

Our roomette was smaller than we had imagined. If you see some youtuber on traveling on trains and their ‘roomette’ has a tiny bathroom in it, that’s not what we got. Our train had that type of room, but our room was even smaller: Two seats facing each 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 some luggage. Hubby managed to shove the carry-on bag and 1 cpap in there, but it was hard to reach, and none of the boxes would fit in it.

The train left the station at 1:36 PM. We were informed we could go to the dining car at 2 and have lunch. We had purchased a quick bite at the hot dog stand at the train station; we hadn’t thought we’d get any lunch otherwise. But lunch sounded good, so at 2 pm, we lurched our way to the dining car. (Those movies that show people nonchalantly walking down train hallways and confidently stepping from car to car don’t take into account the swaying and jolting that an actual train does.) 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 our roomette entertaining ourselves, we asked each other how we liked the train ride so far. Despite the snafu with the luggage, I thought that getting ourselves to the mode of transportation was far less intense than getting through the airport. And despite having luggage piled up around us, the seats are bigger and more comfortable on an airplane. It had gotten dark, and we were still traveling (we would have stopped by then if we were driving). And it’s not as far a walk to the dining car as it was to the dining room on our last cruise.

I think I like it.

 

After a supper that Hubby said was at least as good as, if not better than, cruise ship meals, we had the attendant make our roomette into a pair of bunk beds. The steps to get onto the top bunk were at least 2 steps tall, maybe more, but I eventually got up there.

 

It was, I think, the longest night I’ve ever experienced. The train was rocking, which I thought would help me fall asleep. Instead, it kept me awake as I feared rolling off the bed, despite the safety harness intended to keep me in the bed. I clutched the safety harness for reassurance and finally fell asleep, but I woke up so often, it must have been a light sleep.

 

Italian Cruise 2021 - Day 9

Sunday, 10/24 - Getting Home

Remember, I said we had to get up by 5:30 on this morning? And that that was the equivalent of 11:30 the night before at our hometown? This truly was to be a lo-o-ng day.

We went to the only place to eat that early; the Irish pub in the casino. We got there before the big rush as others came in to eat before getting off the ship. After eating, we left the ship and claimed our luggage. The Barcelona port actually had luggage carousels for claiming your luggage.

After that, we took our bags outside and got on a bus to go to the airport. It was, of course, very dark. The bus dropped us off outside the ticketing center for the airport. We went inside and had visions of 'Grand Central Station' in our head, though we've never been there. I'm not sure 'Grand Central Station' does the place justice. Each airline had 1-2 windows to take luggage and issue tickets, and hundreds of them were packed into peninsulas sticking into the lobby. But we couldn't figure out where to find the window we needed. Thankfully, John wandered off to the restroom, and when he came back, he had found the window we needed! Hooray!

I honestly don't remember how we got to the gate to wait for our airplane. From the time we left that window until the time we boarded the plane is a big blank spot in my memory. Did I fall asleep? I doubt it. I vaguely remember getting up out of a chair to try and figure out if it was time for us to get into line to board the plane. It's hard when you don't speak the local language, but the airlines made it easier by holding up signs as to what group could now get in line.

The economy class of this plane had 9 seats across; 3 on the left, 3 on the right and 3 in the middle. John and I were in the middle seats. I wanted to sleep, but I don't think I did. Shows I had been watching on one airline going over were not available on this airline coming back. In fact, there was very little of interest for me to watch. I know they fed us once, but I don't know if they fed us twice, like the trip over. Maybe it was a meal and a snack.

Anyway, we got on the plane about 11 AM, and we got to the Atlanta airport about 6 PM. We had about an hour to get to the gate we needed for the next leg of our journey, and it seemed to be on the opposite side of the airport. Before that, we had to claim our luggage, take it to the next room and turn it over to catch our next plane, then we had to go through another TSA checkpoint. Then we walked forever (with memories of Rome going through my head) and then I finally convinced John to take the train, or we would never make it to our gate. We barely had time to sit down when we reached our gate.

Times are approximate here; I've thrown out the paperwork that would have confirmed them for me, and we were very tired, having been awake for about 18-19 hours. But we got on the next plane about 7 PM and probably got to the Orlando airport about 8 PM. It probably took us an hour to claim our luggage and grab the bus to where we had parked the car. I remember it was rainy in Orlando, and when we got to where we had parked our vehicle, it was standing in at least 4 inches of water. The 'pond' was bigger than just our vehicle, too, there were several cars sitting in it.

So about 9 PM, we got in our car with our feet all cold and wet, and the windows quickly steaming up, and we started home.

We stopped for hamburgers to go on our way, and ate them when we got home, then watched a little television to relax. We finally got to bed about 11:30 PM - 24 hrs after we had gotten up!

And that was our trip to Spain and Italy, mostly Italy.

PS. Remember when this journey began, and we were rushed to get through TSA, and lost John's shoes and my belly bag? We couldn't claim them when we got in on this day, because the Lost and Found department had already closed. But we drove back the next day about noon, and I was able to claim both items. Phew! What a relief!