7 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

Use this thread to report on your travels home after the Fest concludes in Chicago on Wednesday, July 20th. This includes any Amtrak travel east of Chicago after that time.

[BillMagee]

My going home report sadly did not have to wait until after July 20.

 

I left my hotel at 8:35am (Thursday, 7/14), took the light rail to Sea-Tac airport.  I was through security and in the Alaska Airlines lounge (AA partner) at 9:30am.  55 minutes from hotel room to airport lounge.  Pretty darn good.  The light rail was pulling in as I got to the Westlake platform and TSA Precheck was fast.

 

I boarded my flight at a little before 11am and we pushed back on time at 11:25am. So far, so good.  Then, after about 20 minutes sitting in a remote part of the airfield, we went back the gate.  Seems there was an anomaly with the number 1 engine, and the engine shut down.  While a tad annoyed, I am all in favor of having both engines working.

 

Long story short, they ran diagnostics, concluded it was an issue with conflicting instrumentation data, restarted the engine to test what had to be tested, and everything checked out.  After the paperwork was signed (paper, what's that?) we got off the ground at SEA about two hours late. Had the flight been canceled due to mechanical issues, I might have been enjoying a second night in Seattle or, worse yet, been on the red eye.

 

Right now, I'm at 33,000 feet over northern Iowa. We're due to be on the ground at PHL at 9:19pm. I hope so. I've promised a dinner out to someone waiting at home, and I always fulfill my promises (as long as they can get both engines running).

 

It was great seeing everyone. Enjoy the rest of the Fest.

[pennyk]

I am on my way home beginning with the Capitol Limited.  The boarding was a bit disorganized, but better than boarding the Empire Builder.  At least we were given the correct gate number.  However the train had not yet arrived when we were sent to the gate and we were directed to the general waiting area for a while.  Eventually, we were pre-boarded.  

 

There are 2 of us on train 30 and we ate a 7pm dinner together.  We sat with 2 women who were on their way home from an interesting America by Rail trip.  Coincidentally, the 2 women are retired teachers from the same college where Alan's niece now attends.  They retired before she started school, so they did not know her.

[KevinKorell]

A couple hours behind you, three of us are on the Lake Shore Limited headed east. Boarding wasn't perfect but it was better than Empire Builder last week because they gave us the correct track number. We were held up a little until it was ensured that the train had backed into the station, and then we pre-boarded. Left on time 9:30. So far have only interacted with my sleeper attendant but I will report impressions of the rest of the crew tomorrow.

[KevinKorell]

The Lake Shore Limited, when we woke up Thursday morning, was a little late, having taken some delays before it even got to its first stop at South Bend. All kinds of things happened en route, including a defect detector being set off, an emergency braking when the engine passed a red signal, freights in our way, and a longer than normal stop in Buffalo which I later found out was a medical emergency.

However with all that thrown in front of it, Train 48 arrived into New York's Penn Station at 6:50 PM, which is just 27 minutes down. Not at all bad.

We were lucky to get a dining car on this trip, as they have become a dying breed for now on the Lake Shore Limited. However, it would have been nice to have a perfect crew as well like we did on two of the three western long distance trains. One of the waitresses named Joyce was in our charge for breakfast. She was OK, personable, but not excellent. The other waitress we encountered for lunch who did not display her name anywhere, did not seem to care much for prompt service or helping out when there was a spill at the table. Another vocal café attendant, Dominique, disappeared in Albany. Since there is now a stub train #448 from Albany to Boston, we assume that she changed trains and resumed working in the Amfleet I dinette on the way to Boston. We got a new male café attendant who had the very tough job of keeping the café car open from Albany to Rhinecliff, and then shutting it down for the remainder of the journey.

Those travelling on the Capitol Limited and Silver Meteor, as well as taking the Coast Starlight northbound and Empire Builder eastbound, and any other Amtrak train to get home can still respond with their experiences in this thread.

[pennyk]

The trip on the Capitol Limited went very well.  We arrived in WAS a little late, but not bad.  We both were connecting to the Silver Meteor and had plenty of time to spare.  I am on the Silver Meteor now, in Georgia, one state away from my home state.  Because I travel on the Silver Meteor quite often, I am usually familiar with my attendant.  My attendant is Jean, who I think I have had a half dozen times this year.  Bianca, who is the attendant in another car, is extremely personable and we usually chat for a while during her breaks.  On a previous trip, I had told her about my then upcoming trip.  She was curious to see how it went.  I gave it a "thumbs up."

 

After being in bedrooms on (refurbished) Superliner equipment, my viewliner bedroom seems cramped and shabby, but I am not complaining.  I am extremely happy that I had the opportunity to take this trip and had enough AGR points to do so in bedrooms.  

[KevinKorell]

On the Lake Shore Limited, it was interesting after getting used to living in Superliner roomettes for 5 nights (2 on Empire Builder, 1 on Coast Starlight, 2 on Southwest Chief).  I found the Viewliner to be spacious.  I like the cubby hole over the hallway to stash my belongings, and enjoy the challenge of climbing up to put it up there or retrieve it.  On the Superliners, my large luggage remains in the storage area downstairs by the door..... which was less of a worry on the Chief when my room was downstairs too.    As for the Viewliner commode issue, there are things I will do and things I won't do.  For the latter the presence of an adjacent Business Class car on the Cardinal made the walk much shorter than it otherwise would have been.  But on the Lake Shore with the Boston and New York cars temporarily combined, it was a hike to one of the coaches.

 

I am now on my final day of travel.  After staying at the Doubletree Newark Airport (which I found to be sub par and clearly the worst of the 6 hotels I stayed at on this journey), I did the hotel shuttle, AirTrain monorail to the rail station, and am now on Regional #185 to Philadelphia, which will be followed by the final rail leg, NJ TRANSIT to Cherry Hill.

[jis]

My trip back from LAX went very smoothly. I had booked the return trip in First Class on United via Denver. Both legs were on various models of 737, and as it turns out, both with Sky interior.

 

Left the LAX Airport Embassy Suites on the hotel shuttle at 6:30 am for 8:25am flight. The checking area in T7 was an unholy mess, but thanks to Electronic checkin machines, I managed to avoid the crazy lines at the counters, self tagged my checked bag and dropped it off at the bag drop and proceeded to the TSA Pre-Check line. Fortunately there were only about 10 or so people on the line and it cleared quickly, and I headed into the the United Club. There was a pretty reasonable breakfast spread with bagels and fruits and such, but there was no point in eating too much as breakfast was awaiting me on the plane.

 

Boarding the plane was timely and following the usual 5 separate lines for 5 boarding groups. Once on the plane a pre-flight drink was offered and I opted for Coffee. After departure on time and a smooth takeoff it was time for breakfast and I opted for the quiche, which was quite good. Then I buried myself in one of the books that i had started reading on the Coast Starlight, until the approach into Denver, where we arrived 10 mins early.

 

I proceeded to the gate for the connecting flight, which had the same flight number but was on a different aircraft two gates down, and spent the connecting time watching planes. Did not go to the United Club since the viewing of planes was much better from the gate area. The flight to Orlando loaded pretty much on time, again the usual 5 lines for 5 groups. This time I opted for Diet Coke (Yes Coke!) for pre-flight drink. departure was on time and take-off was smooth. After takeoff lunch was offered. I chose the Salmon Salad with the usual accompaniments. Lunch done it was back to the book. In a little while my favorite treat came by - freshly baked Chocolate Chip Cookie. Approaching Florida there was some mild turbulence. After bouncing around a little we landed in Orlando about 20 mins ahead of schedule.

 

After collecting my checked bag headed off to the shuttle to the Wally Park off airport parking facility to pick up my car and head off home.