Today is the first train trip my husband and I have ever taken together and I'm kind of excited about this. After taking this ride by myself off and on for the past two and a half years, its nice to have my husband sitting next to me reading War Stories of The Tankers while I'm typing this tread. We had a very nice time at our daughter's home and now our youngest granddaughter knows her Papaw alot better too. I hope this will be the first of many train rides we take together.
Traveling is always better with someone. All the train trips I took as an adult were alone. Only one trip I recall By train with a group was from Budapest to a city in Romania for a young woman's funeral. It was winter and very cold and the train's heat didn't work. We kept warm by drinking alcohol and sitting very close for body heat. I've always loved trains....
I will be taking my 5 year old grandson on his first train trip in August and I hope that will go well.
Well, you have a 50/50 chance with a 5 year old. He should be excited about the train at first. Also depends on the scenery and the length of the trip. I've been on flights with some of my grandsons but that's different, seats are more uncomfortable and not much to see when you reach altitude. I'm sure I don't have to tell you to bring snacks and things to do just in case.
In the late 1970s, I took a train from Fullerton, California to Chicago, in a sleeper car. That was before they greatly compressed the size of a sleeper car. While I still prefer a sleeper, they used to offer far more room. They would serve my meals in the sleeper car if I wanted, or I could go to the dining car. When I began the trip, the diner car was only two cars away from my sleeper. By the time we got to Chicago, I had to walk through seventeen or eighteen cars since they kept adding to the train along the way. I enjoyed the trip though. Trains tend to go through the worst parts of every town, so I could sit there seeing parts of each town where I might be afraid to walk. Then there were the mountains, and the mountain tunnels. Wonderful! A few years ago, we got a sleeper during a trip from Portland, Maine to Savannah, Georgia. I think that was the trip, although I sometimes confuse destinations. They had greatly reduced the amount of space in the sleeper. The toilet doubled as a chair and the step for getting up to the upper bunk, for example, and they would put the upper bunk up during the day, and the lower bunk became a table, I think. It was still preferable to coach, but it felt a little closed in, like traveling in a closet. Still a nice trip, however.
My longest trip was probably about 8 hours and that was when I was small and we'd visit my grandparents in Chicago from Pittsburgh. I would get so excited even though it was during the night we travelled and I slept most of it. I remember my mom buying us comic books at the train station and candy, even the train station was an exciting part of the whole experience. Fond memories for me. Then later when my daughter was in Dental School I would make weekend trips by train, that was about 5 hours. I did have a close call on one trip though. I smoked back then and I asked the conductor where the smoking car was. He told me but said to follow him and he would take me back to the car that all the conductors stayed in. They each had separate little compartments. We walked through quite a few cars and I kept thinking the smoking car would have been closer and that I'm not liking this but I kept following. He put me in his little compartment and pulled the curtains closed and left. I started a cigarette but didn't feel comfortable so put it out and went back to my seat. I'm sure he was just being nice but I wasn't going to risk it. On another trip, again to visit daughter I went to the smoking car and it had a glass roof and windows so a nice view. Then I see a man come in sit down and just started talking to everybody saying he just got out prison for murder. Didn't stay in there too long either and the rest of the trip I just hoped he wasn't crazy. I don't think I've ever had a boring train ride. Except for the trip in Romania the last train ride for me was when my daughter was in Dental school and she graduated in 1997.
My son and I took Amtrak coast to coast one time, as there was some kind of special going on , and he was young enough to qualify for getting a free ticket. We toured around Los Angeles and took the California Zephyr to Oregon to visit some relatives and then went back again via the train. The only problem is that I f didn't have a very good camera with me at the time...so I don't have many pictures from that trip. I have to say though, it was pretty awesome! I would love to take the Via Rail across Canada...because I think the scenery would be even more spectacular.
If I ever get someone to go with me, I'd love to do one of those scenic routes. I remember looking them up a few years ago and they aren't cheap!
The sleeper cars are much smaller now but I do like that they include all meals from the Diner, beverages (except alcohol) and basin and toilet in the sleeper, and shower facilities either in the sleeper or nearby. If I were going to take a long trip on the train, I would definitely get a sleeper. Even though they may be smaller now, they still give you privacy and you can always move to the Lounge car or Diner when you want more room. Since our trip was a short one going Coach was comfortable and just fine for us. Food and beverage on the train is expensive to me, so I always pack my own food, drinks, and snacks. And besides a good book to read, I always bring a long sleeved blue jean jacket and/or thin afghan, etc. as the air conditioning is usually on cold! Now that I have my Hot Spot I often bring my laptop or small tablet on my trips too. There have been some interesting incidents on my train trips but nothing scary. This trip I noticed that they are tightening up their security some. At the Stop in Beaumont they rescanned everyone's tickets...which they have not been doing in the 2 and a half years I have been making this trip, and there were employee's coming more often through the cars too. Since they don't check your luggage or do anything like they do at airports I am glad to see them making more of an effort in this area.
Something I never even thought of since my train trips were prior to 911. I would have thought they'd check baggage at least.
@Babs Hunt, it looks like a long train ride for you. Yes, it's wonderful to sit beside your husband in that trip, a kind of bonding for you two. As what my husband would usually say when the traffic on the road is heavy, it's all right since we are together in the car and we can talk of so many things. In the olden days, there was this train going to Baguio City, a good 6-hour drive but the train ride takes 10 hours. It would be fun if we could ride in that particularly with the interesting vista of rice fields and forests. But that's a long time ago and the railway has already been removed. I haven't taken a long train ride yet and the only trains I had ridden are commuter trains in the metro which is cheaper than the bus but has a very long queue to the entrance so I avoid that. We also ride trains in Hongkong and Singapore, we always take the train but only in the urban areas. This reminds me that we have a trip to Hongkong next weekend. Just a 3-day tour to avail of the cheap plane tickets courtesy of my credit card. But unfortunately, my nephew who always has space for us in his condo has moved to a smaller place so we need to stay in a hotel. I have already booked in Guangdong Hotel, right in the city.