Last month my husband and I decided to try train travel ... as an alternate to air. Arriving at the airport two hours ahead of time, high fares, little amenities, grumpy and grouchy people, taking off your shoes, getting wanded, pulling out your change or pins, throwing away anything you might have accidentally brought, extra fares for your bag or bags, sitting on runways for a LONG time, arriving late as a matter of course ... and many other things ... just didn't seem all that "vacationy". I'd never been on a train in my whole life ... so we thought we might give it a try. We had a blast! We had so much fun, in fact, we are going to do it again next month. Yes, the ride was long ... and we were novice riders ... so we didn't know that we should have brought our laptops, dvd player, food, etc. The first thing we noticed on the train was that everyone was pulling out pillows and blankets. We had none, but I wasn't worried about it as it was 8:30 in the morning! Soon, I realized why they had them. That train was air conditioned to about 20 below! People were pulling out clothing from their suitcases to throw over them. I saw a lady huddled under a skirt she had pulled out of her bag. The pillows were just a comfy item for later on.
I was truly envious when I saw people breaking out their own food, coffee and drinks. I know we had a cafe car about 3 or 4 cars back, but the fare was simple and not terribly plentiful. The cafe car would close many times during the train ride for supplies to be loaded in at the next stop.
Each seat set had their own electrical plugs for the electronics, camera recharge, dvd, or laptop! Who knew? There were mp3 players and IPOD's everywhere! The seats were large and comfy with much more leg room than a plane. Restrooms were clean and seemed to be 2 per car on the train. We noticed right away - a train absolutely takes you through the more "industrial side" of America! Often times the sights were not pretty ... some times they were. When we ran alongside the interstate, it was fun to see we were faster! The train didn't care what we brought with us ... but everything you do bring - you have to tote yourself. So be wise and keep it to a minimum. Keep your ticket stub handy, too, as it seemed every few stops along the way we might change Conductors ... and the newly boarded Conductor wanted to see your stub again. All in all the train ride was a pack of fun if you have the time. We were the "Milk Run" I am sure so we made a ton of stops ... but many of them were interesting. I've included pics of the trip in the Slide below.
Virginia Beach was a blast, too. We went to the pier and I longed to fish ... but had to settle for a couple new pairs of flip flops. The Boardwalk was immaculately clean and spilled out either way as far as we could see! Hotels and little hideaway places to get a snack or drink were plentiful. We were almost talked into going here and there by a cute gal hired to promote the local businesses - but we resisted much to her dismay. She gave it her all though. The sand was an odd color gold - but it was sand and it looked good to me. Winters in Maine are often long and hard and our spring was fairly dismal, too ... so sand of any color pleased me! We're going to try out the train again next month and head on down to the Outer Banks in NC. I'll be sure to take my camera along!
I was truly envious when I saw people breaking out their own food, coffee and drinks. I know we had a cafe car about 3 or 4 cars back, but the fare was simple and not terribly plentiful. The cafe car would close many times during the train ride for supplies to be loaded in at the next stop.
Each seat set had their own electrical plugs for the electronics, camera recharge, dvd, or laptop! Who knew? There were mp3 players and IPOD's everywhere! The seats were large and comfy with much more leg room than a plane. Restrooms were clean and seemed to be 2 per car on the train. We noticed right away - a train absolutely takes you through the more "industrial side" of America! Often times the sights were not pretty ... some times they were. When we ran alongside the interstate, it was fun to see we were faster! The train didn't care what we brought with us ... but everything you do bring - you have to tote yourself. So be wise and keep it to a minimum. Keep your ticket stub handy, too, as it seemed every few stops along the way we might change Conductors ... and the newly boarded Conductor wanted to see your stub again. All in all the train ride was a pack of fun if you have the time. We were the "Milk Run" I am sure so we made a ton of stops ... but many of them were interesting. I've included pics of the trip in the Slide below.
Virginia Beach was a blast, too. We went to the pier and I longed to fish ... but had to settle for a couple new pairs of flip flops. The Boardwalk was immaculately clean and spilled out either way as far as we could see! Hotels and little hideaway places to get a snack or drink were plentiful. We were almost talked into going here and there by a cute gal hired to promote the local businesses - but we resisted much to her dismay. She gave it her all though. The sand was an odd color gold - but it was sand and it looked good to me. Winters in Maine are often long and hard and our spring was fairly dismal, too ... so sand of any color pleased me! We're going to try out the train again next month and head on down to the Outer Banks in NC. I'll be sure to take my camera along!
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