Our Train Trip to KC - Part 3

 

In and Out of Chicago – Tuesday, Nov 14

I don’t think I got any sleep sitting in that chair. It wasn’t comfortable; it didn’t recline or rotate. The arm of the chair was so far from the window and wall that if you tried to prop a pillow on the armrest, the pillow would slowly slide down in the gap. Hubby didn’t have much better luck; he thought the rocking of the train was too unpredictable and jolting.

We got up about 5:40 AM and were soon off to the café car for breakfast. We were a little early and had to wait for the server to get there. While we were eating, we were the only ones there. Then Hubby remembered Chicago was in Central time zone, so he set his watch back. Now it said we were eating at 5:20 and had plenty of time before we got to Chicago at 8:45.

Back in our room, we watched daylight progress. I thought I saw frost on yards and cornfields but wasn’t sure. Mostly I saw naked trees, something you don’t see in Florida unless the tree is dead.

Hubby wanted to lay back down, but the bed had been put away. He stacked the boxes between the sofa and the sink, I moved back to the uncomfortable seat with the cpaps, and he lay down on the couch and dozed for another couple of hours. During that, the attendant took those stacked boxes downstairs and put them by the door so they were ready to go.

We arrived at the Chicago station on time. A Red Cap loaded our luggage in a cart and took us and another lady to the lounge. The lounge people notified us what train we were on and what time 2 be ready to board (2:20). We put our luggage into temporary storage and looked to see what they had to eat. Again, it was snacks, and not a lot of variety.

Hubby settled in to work on his novel, and I worked with pen and notebook. About noon, he decided he was too tired to work anymore, so he wandered off. I jumped onto that computer to work on the short I’d just started the day before we started this trip. Finally got the word count over 1K! It’s been slow going, but until that, I didn’t know where I was going with it. Should move much faster, now.

At 2, I started shutting down and packing things up. Hubby and I went to the temporary luggage storage and put away all the things we had gotten out, then started collecting our luggage just as they called over the PA for our group to go.

Another Red Cap took us to the train where our attendant greeted us. He had us leave our boxes on luggage storage shelves downstairs. When we got to our roomette, we found this one was even smaller than our first one! At least we wouldn’t have to sleep in it, because the train was due to arrive in KC at 10 PM.

Still, we hadn’t been sleeping well, and KC was still hours away. At first, Hub pulled out the laptop and tried to write, but the train was swaying and jolting so much it kept messing up his file, so he gave up and put that away. Then he went walk about for a while, and I made our dinner reservation for 5 o’clock, because we’d never really gotten anything for lunch.

Eventually, it was time to go for supper. We differed on what appetizers we got, but we both had steak (very good) and the cheesecake (also very good).

After dinner, Hubby tried to get some sleeping done. We had 3-4 hours before we had to get off. We turned off all the lights in our roomette and closed the curtains to the hallway, to make it as dark as possible. Hubby took a pillow and leaned into the corner of his seat, but he just could not doze off while sitting up.

The train was moving slowly. They announced we were behind a congestion of freight trains and could only move slowly until the tracks ahead cleared up. Sometime later, we began to move faster and they announced that due to the delay, we would get to KC about 10:42. About 9:45, we got too nervous for Hubby to try to sleep. This was not a major stop where everybody would get off, like DC or Chicago. This was a scheduled 42-minute stop that they were trying to cut down to 10 minutes. Finally, we headed to the door on the lower level so we’d ready to get off.

The train stopped, the attendant help us off with our luggage and flagged down a red cap for us. The red cap was picking up the checked luggage, too, and one of the suitcases he picked up was Hubby’s carry-on. We couldn’t claim it yet, but as least we knew it was there. Then the Red Cap got stopped to help an older man who could barely walk. After several minutes of looking, the train attendant decided the older man had lost his black piece of luggage, that it possibly got left in Chicago. I don’t know how they decided to handle that.

Then we were off to the Central Terminal. We helped the Red Caps unload their cart, claimed our piece of checked luggage and asked questions like, “Do you have the number for a taxi service?” and “Where should we wait for the taxi?”

Now having more luggage than hands to carry it, we made our way through the lobby and out the front door to a bench, where I tried to call Ztrip at 10:50. The line was no longer in service. I went back inside, asked the same guy, and he corrected the number he’d given me. Then he scrolled through his contacts and also gave me a number Yellow Cab.

I went outside and call Ztrip again. I got through and made arrangements. They never showed. The night was chilly. I called Yellow Cab about 11:10. The night guard let us into the vestibule to wait because it was cold. Nobody showed up to get us!

About midnight, we tried to open a door to get out and couldn’t. Hubby went inside to try to find somebody to let us out. What he found was a door that would let us out, so we carried everything over there and went back outside. I called Yellow Cab again. A Ztrip van showed up about 12:30 and asked if we were headed for Independence. Yes, but where was Yellow Cab? We decided to take this guy. As he drove us to our hotel, he told us that Ztrip and Yellow Cab were the same company. Who knew?

He drove us to our hotel. I registered, we got everything up to our room, set up our cpaps and fell into bed somewhere around 2.

Thus our trip by train was a mixed bag of adventures, not all of them due to Amtrak. I probably should have looked up taxi services in KC before we left Florida, so that's something to keep in mind.

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.

 

St Thomas & St John's

Friday, 11/11/22 - St Thomas

Our shore excursion for the day was Kayaking, Hiking and Snorkeling. We were a little nervous about it, because neither of us had ever been Kayaking. I was worried the hike might become a forced march for me, since I walk so slowly and don't have much stamina. But the snorkeling would definitely be fun!

The 'bus' was a truck with lots of back seats in it, and no doors on the sides. Also, no seatbelts, so one had to be careful not to fall out. The bus took us to the other side of the island, where we received 10 minutes of instruction on how to kayak. Then we were loaded into the kayaks, usually 2 to a boat. (One family of 3 put their young daughter in the middle, and there may have been one woman in a boat by herself, I'm not sure.) I was nervous getting in, but I managed it with lots of help from a couple of the guides. I was in the front seat. John sounded just as nervous, getting into the back seat. The dock was in a small inlet, and I dutifully paddled around, trying to get a feel for this new mode of traveling. But it seemed like every time I paddled, I bumped into somebody else's boat or some bushes. I didn't feel like I had any control over getting it to turn or stop at all.

Soon everybody was ready, and we took off. I paddled left, right, left, right... but the boat kept turning left. I wondered if it was because John and I were both right handed, and those arms would push harder. Then one of the guides realized John was having problems, and came over to give him a second belt to help hold him upright. That was nerve-wracking for me, since I had no idea what was going on behind me, and couldn't turn enough to look. We took off again, already far behind the others, but the guide stayed with us. John said it was uncomfortable for him to sit in the boat, and if he tried to paddle, he sank down into the seat. So... I was paddling alone.

We caught up with the others, for they had stopped to talk about the local flora and fauna, and I bumped into other boats again, still unable to stop. As soon as a guide started out again, I was right there after him, trying not to fall behind again. But we did, and when we finally reached the end point of the kayaking, everybody else had moved on to the hiking stage. John and the guide did that, trying to catch up, but I was pretty winded, so after 100 feet or so, I decided to turn back and go to the tent, where there was a picknik table and benches for sitting.

Before long, everybody got back, and it was on to the snorkeling. Unfortunately, John didn't have any water shoes, and when he took off his clunky shoes, he couldn't walk on the rocky beach to get in the water. Everybody else was already a quarter mile away, so we decided to pass on the snorkeling and waited for them to get back.

Because we had taken so long to kayak to the finish, they sent us back to the starting point in a motor boat, our kayak tied up along side of us. I kind of wanted to kayak back, but in hind sight, there wasn't enough time for us to move back as slowly as we had moved outward. We would have missed the bus back, and would have missed the ship.

We got back to the ship about 1:30, where we changed out of our wet(!) clothes and went to O'Sheehan's for a late lunch. I guess we didn't get wet enough that morning, because after lunch, we changed again and went to the hot tub. Later, we went to the buffet for supper. There was no show in the theater this night, so we returned to our cabin to watch some tv. I slathered on moisterizer, because I was sun-burnt from my head right down to the tops of my feet.

 

Saturday, 11/12 - St John's

For some reason, I woke up tired this day, getting up at 7. Our shore excursion wasn't until 12:45, so after we had breakfast, I laid down for an hour and felt much better. Then I went to the Atrium bar on deck 6 for a coke and to write, while John went in search of a quiet place to read.

We met at the cabin at noon, and went to find our excursion, titled A Taste of Antigua (the city we were in). They loaded us into 3 extended vans to drive us around a little bit and see some of the sites, then we were dropped off at a night club venue for the tasting bit. We were given a half glass of fruit punch to help refresh us as we found seats around several tables. We listened to some history of the island and were given tastes of 3 different ages of rum. We were also given some sugar cane, some local dishes and a native fruit called a sweet apple (which was not an apple at all. It had a slight similarity to a pomegranate, but with bigger seeds.)

After that, we were loaded back up on the vans and returned to the dock. Did not notice any shopping locations at or near the dock, so we didn't get any souvenirs. We rested a bit and then went to O'Sheehan's for supper.

After that, we went to the theater for a musical play about Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis and the small recording company they all started with. I enjoyed it a great deal, since it was mostly early rock and roll. For that same reason, I don't know how John felt about it. Then back to our cabin to call it a day.

Getting to the Port & Getting to the Ship

Monday, 11/7 - Getting to the port

Another cruise! And this time, no long airplane ride to get to and from it, for this was a cruise of the Caribbean, where we've been several times. All we had to do was drive about an hour from our house to Port Carnaval. What could go wrong?

Well, we could wander around the city of Cocoa for about an hour before we found our hotel. Our computer-generated directions suddenly degenerated to nonsensical instructions, such as turn left, go 189 feet, turn right, go 50 feet. No street names, no landmarks... But we did have the address for our hotel, so once we got on the right street, and headed in the correct direction, we eventually found it and got checked in.

Once we got checked in and made arrangements for our car to be parked in a near-by parking lot during the cruise, we went to the ale house next door for supper. John was pretty happy with what he ordered, but the cook put chicken in my cheese quesadilla! I had to send it back for a re-do.

Well, back to the hotel to watch some tv. Not used to cable tv anymore, we managed to find reruns of a comedy we used to watch all the time, and watched about 4 episodes of it. At 8:30, John was ready to go to bed. (He's also an early riser.) Since he needs absolute darkness and absolute quiet to fall sleep, that meant I had to go to bed, too.

At 10:28, my phone went off with a severe warning for possible flooding within 36 hours. I confirmed that I'd gotten it and assumed it was due to Hurricane Nicole, which was headed straight for Florida.

 

Tuesday, 11/8 - Getting to the Ship

We got up about 7 and went to the lobby for our free breakfast. John was disappointed, as the only 'protein' available was yogurt, but we ate and made do. Then we took our car to the parking lot about 2 blocks away and walked back to watch a couple hours of tv.

We got another emergency warning on my phone, this one indicated Nicole was within 36 hours of our location. Then we got a text message from the cruise line that the ship was leaving early, and everybody needed to be aboard by 3:30 pm. We went to the lobby to wait for the next shuttle, which would be leaving at 10:30, an hour before we had booked rides for it, but they had room for us, so we got on.

Once we got to the dock and handed our luggage to the porters, we took a couple steps to get in the end of the line going into the building, which was about a block away. When we entered the building, the line split into 2 lines, and wouldn't you know it, the line they put us in didn't go anywhere very fast. Lots of standing and waiting while the other line passed us by. A woman in the other line fainted, and 2 or 3 husky guys carried her to the sidelines and got her some help.

Eventually, we got to the point where they would give us room keys and let us board the ship. BUT despite all the paperwork we filled out online in the previous 2 weeks, they still had one more form for us to sign. And John, being as cautious as he is, insisted on reading it before he signed it. He is not a fast reader, and it took him a long time to get it read, but finally we were able to get on the ship. It was about 12:30.

We only had 1 carry-on bag with us, but we couldn't get to our cabin to leave it there, as the cabins were not all cleaned yet. So we took it with us to the buffet and got some lunch. As we were finishing our desserts, they announced that the cabins were available now.

About 4:30, the ship started pulling away from the dock. Once we hit the ocean, the ship's motion was very unpredictable. At 5:30, we went to a bar to listen to music. At 7, we went to the theater to see 2 comedians. The first one was pretty normal, and fairly good. The 2nd was... strange. He seemed to specialize in extreme movements, if you can imagine what I mean.

About 8:30, we went to O'Sheehan's, which is an Irish pub located right in the middle of the casino. Since we were definitely out to sea by then, the casino was going full blast. We couldn't hear ourselves think, let alone talk. Then we called it a night, watched a little tv and went to bed.

Anticipated Cars

Anticipated Cars

When I was a kid, the next anticipated ‘improvement’ to cars would be hovercars. ‘The Jetsons’ cartoons also seemed to promise flying cars, but we figured they had to float before they could fly.

Floating cars were on our doorstep... almost. But they never arrived. Loooong before I could drive, I asked my dad what was taking so long to get hovercars ‘off the ground’.

Now, dad was a mechanic, with no formal schooling beyond high school, but his answer made sense to my less-than-10-years-old brain. The layer of air under the car had to support the car’s weight, so they had designed a rubber skirt around the bottom to keep the air from dispersing. However, they couldn’t control the car’s height precisely enough to keep the skirt touching the ground. I’ve accepted that explanation for over half a century.

Eventually, we stopped hearing about hover cars.

These days, the big thing is cars that drive themselves. Sounds good!

You see, I rather routinely drive to Orlando 2-4 times a year. In my car trunk, I have my suitcase, my husband’s luggage, my laptop, my cpap... sometimes I even take my sewing machine. Hubby flies down after a few days, and all he needs to bring is a bag of books to read and his cpap. By driving down, we don’t have to rent a car.

This is a 22-hour drive, straight through, but I can’t do that. I can’t even manage 11 hours of driving - between boredom and highway hypnosis - so it takes 3 days to get there. I love Orlando, but the drive is dreaded.

If the car drove itself, I could read, write, crochet, or just enjoy the scenery. The trip could be as enjoyable as the destination.

I imagine other transportation methods would undergo changes, if cars drove themselves. Flying is expensive, especially with luggage, so people may decide to use their car. Trains are as expensive as flying, take at least as long as driving, and the route might not be as direct, so why not take the car? As for buses... well, some things might not change that much.

Bring on the self-driving car! While you’re at it, make them electric, solar-powered, and re-chargeable in a few minutes, with plenty of recharge stations around the country.

Then we could really get somewhere.