Tag Archives: amtrak

Amtrak: Omaha, Nebraska

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Ah, Omaha.

So many people asked me why I wanted to go here.  This includes my Uber driver from the airport, the nice guy who checked me into my room, and my former manager who grew up in Omaha.

Plain and simple, I wanted to get closer to having slept in all 50 states.  Much like most of the stops on this trip, this was the perfect time to do this.  I am not on vacation.  I am simply traveling around and working remote.

Omaha was the sole reason I packed gloves.  It was supposed to be in the 30s here.  Imagine me arriving and finding it 70 degrees outside.  What the hell Omaha.

I stayed at 402 hotel.  Poor 402 hotel.  I arrived and walked into the lobby, immediately hit with beautiful cool air from the air conditioning, wiping away the 70 degree weather I had not been expecting.  The lobby was cool, clean and wonderful.  That’s where it all ended.

I am told the hotel had recently had a flood and the elevators aren’t working.   Cool.   Came to figure out that the flood had been months ago and there is zero action being taken to fix the elevators.  Honestly, I am not even convinced they were really broken as I could swear I could hear elevator dinging from my room a couple of times.

First bonus:  The room smelled like pee.  And would not cool down.  I ended up taking the air conditioner filter out and wiping off the thickest layer of filth.  Then I sprayed it with my “I am traveling for 30 days in a carry on sized bag” Febreeze.   Killed two birds with one stone.  Cool air, no pee. Continue reading →

Amtrak: New Orleans

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I left Birmingham in the rain.  The train to New Orleans was relatively empty.   It was very nice to stretch out.

After arriving in New Orleans, I got an Uber.  The driver didn’t pick me up in the correct spot. I know I was in the correct spot because I saw quite a few people getting picked up there. I had to walk and find her car.

Then she could not find the address of my apartment.  I don’t blame her for this.  But it was pretty chaotic because she kept driving around.  The streets here are weird and there can be 2 street names parallel to each other.   I finally told her to let me out at an intersection that Google maps said was a 2 minute walk to my apartment and I found it.

I was staying at Sonder Suites.  I was supposed to check in yesterday and did not because I had to stay another night in Birmingham to be at an important work meeting today that I did not trust my hot spot for (there is no WiFi on Amtrak west of Chicago) and who wants to be talking in a work meeting on a train like an asshole anyway?

My apartment was non refundable, no changes, so I could not change the dates.  I did have a tiny fear that since I had not checked in last night, it would have voided me out of the system, but it did not.  You do not speak to any actual person with these types of stays.  They email you a code to the building and a code to  your room.  No reception desk, nothing.

My room was really nice.

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Amtrak: High Point, NC to Birmingham, AL On the Toilet Train

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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. Continue reading →

Amtrak Trip: From New York City to High Point, NC

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I took a 30 day trip on Amtrak back in September/October.  You can find the itinerary HERE.

I have been a total lazy slob with getting these posts up.  I feel like I am forever apologizing for this. I wonder if you were to Google “lazy slob blogger” if mine would come up first.

So in preparation of this trip, I decided to book a hotel near Penn Station the night before leaving.  I haven’t been riding the subway since Covid made my job remote.  I have probably taken it 5 times total since March of 2020.   I didn’t want to deal with leaving my apartment at 6:00 AM and dealing with train delays.  So I booked a night at the New Yorker hotel.

I had matched from Total Rewards Diamond to Wyndham Diamond for absolutely no reason other than I could.   Well it turns out I got a free upgrade to a suite.  Although this is wasted on me, I loved the view.  My only trips to Manhattan since March of 2020 are to the first stop on the subway, down in Chinatown, to get my roots straightened.

I was also offered, as Diamond, a late check out.  I couldn’t take advantage though as I had to leave early to catch my train to High Point, NC. Continue reading →