You read that title right!

Here we begin on leg 2 of my 30 day Amtrak USA Railpass.  If you are new, you can find my itinerary HERE.

I last left off in High Point, NC, which you can read about HERE.  My next leg takes me to Birmingham, AL.  Hotels in Alabama in general are very expensive, maybe due to hurricane damage in New Orleans?  Birmingham had the cheapest (although still expensive) choices so Birmingham it is!

Since my train is leaving at like 1:00 AM, I have the realization that I boarding a train in the middle of the night and people will be sleeping, stretched out into an empty seat next to them.  The Amtrak website shows me the train is 70% full.

So you know what?  Fuck it. I am going to purchase a sleeper ticket so I can have a room to myself.  WOO HOO.

My train is an hour late but I get to the station on time anyway.  I figure I may as well sit outside and smoke, rather than stand outside my hotel room and smoke.

I get to the train station in time to catch the train at the originally scheduled time, ignoring the delay.  I cannot get down to the platform.  The stairs are locked and the elevator is not working.  There is someone inside the station.  I try and ask him if he will unlock the stairs when the train is coming.  I don’t know that he knows the elevator is not working.  I knock on the locked door and see him.  He sees me.  He actually starts shaking his head “no.”  I have not asked him anything, he is too faraway from the door.  But refuses to come to the door, or open the door.   So I throw him my ever reliable middle finger and walk to the nearby bench to sit down and talk to my cute little stuffed dog about how much I fucking hate this person.

After about 45 minutes, he comes outside and acts as if this had not happened and offers I can sit inside.  I don’t want to sit inside.  I just want to make sure you know the elevator is not working and will unlock the gate to the steps.  He assures me the elevator is working, he just needs to turn it on.  Okay cool, could have told me that 45 minutes ago rather than shaking your head at me.

Time comes for the train and he turns on the elevator and brings me downstairs to the track.  I have to stand with him alone on this track, I am the only person boarding this train.

Train comes and YAY.  I walk towards the sleeper car and the conductor is yelling “HI JENNIFER” to me.  Cool.

I board the train and my room is not ready since I had booked so late.  Not really sure what this means but okay.  They put me in the dining car with other Amtrak workers, half of which are not wearing masks.  Wonderful.

The sleeping car attendant comes and gets me.  He tells me my room is taken but has a different room for me.  I enter and realize YAY I have gotten a toilet room.   If only for having an interesting blog post, this room was worth it.

Here is the room.  Those salmon colored things are steps to the top bunk.

They are also the lids to a sink and a toilet, right next to my bed.

So gross, so fascinating.  I slept with my feet near the closed toilet.  These room types are only available on the superliner routes.  I have read that Amtrak is doing away with these.  I will give you a spoiler alert that while tiny, this was the biggest room I had this entire trip.

I had packed an eye mask, which I packed for my last Vegas trip.  This thing was the greatest thing I packed. The light in the room does not fully turn off but with the mask, I fell asleep in pitch black darkness.

I woke up along the way to Birmingham. The room attendant took my breakfast order and brought it to me.  That was also the only time that happened during my entire trip.

We (that would be me and my cute stuffed dog) arrived in Birmingham in the rain.  I stayed at Springhill Suites.  This was the only perfect hotel I had this entire trip, which I am glad about because I had booked my next train leg during a very important work meeting so I ended up having to book an additional night to be in the room during it.

First stop after checking in was Waffle House, OBVIOUSLY.

I spent 3 nights in Birmingham.  It poured rain most of it.   As a reminder, I was not on vacation and was limited to evenings outside, while being up and out at like 6:00 am to get coffee before going to work.

I didn’t get to see much other than Railroad Park.  It is gorgeous.  I sat on a bench watching the sun go down, with adorable dogs out for their evening walks all around me.
One weird (to me) thing was that masks are not mandated in Alabama.  You could be in the hotel without a mask.  I have not been in public without a mask in so long it seemed so completely fascinating to me.  I began not wearing one when going outside to smoke.  I am vaccinated.

Next stop will be New Orleans.