Day 3, completed (finally)
Last night, my train finally arrived into Chicago at almost 10:00PM. The 30 to Pittsburgh had left the station a little after 7:00PM. I was hoping that we’d make it in sooner, and then they’d maybe hold the train. An assistant conductor had been announcing plans for everyone else’s trains, except for the 30 (Capitol Limited) and the train to New Orleans. Some of the shorter routes had been changed to busses. I was told that they might put me on the 48 to New York City. That train was leaving at 10:00PM. I figured that I would ask to do that, then take the Pennsylvanian back later that morning to Pittsburgh. That would at least get me home on the 3rd, and the ride would be spectacular. We arrived so close to 10:00PM that they were holding the 48. I tried to run up to grab it, but the agent at the gate wasn’t sure that I’d be able to get home without getting a ticket issues for the Pennsylvanian. He directed me to the customer assistants helping everyone else on the train who missed their connections. By the time I got to the front of the (long) line, the agent said that the train had not departed yet, but that they weren’t going to be able to get the ticket for the Pennsylvanian issued in time, so I was out of luck.
They put me up in the same hotel where they put the train crews. It wasn’t bad. It was really close to Michigan Ave., though, which made today a little nicer. They included a small stipend for cab fare (which actually covered the cab fare to and from the hotel) and a small food stipend ($12, which really doesn’t make sense for one meal in a big city, let alone three, since I was going to have a wait of almost 24 hours).
I explored a bit of Chicago today, and had pizza at my favorite pizza spot (Gino’s East). I then went to the station to get my ticket exchanged and enjoy the station a bit. Union Station in Chicago is beautiful. I wish Pittsburgh hadn’t axed the nice part of their station. Oh well.
After waiting around for a while and reading, I decided to try to get customer service to upgrade me to a sleeper for the night, because I really wasn’t relishing another packed train after having been inconvenienced by a day. The friendly customer service agent said it was done, and all I’d have to do is walk over to the ticket counter to get my new ticket. I walked over there, and was told that they could do it, but that I would have to pay for it. Argh. At this point, I just decided to do it. It was only about $150, and I was too tired to argue. I went ahead with it, and that’s that. At least I get to use the nice sleeper passenger lounge, which is what I’m using to post this entry.
Oh, one last bit about the Empire Builder, train 8 from Seattle to Chicago. I loved the ride. I can’t wait to do it again. The crews were nice, even through all the stress. They served us a complimentary dinner of beef stew over rice. Even then, though, some lady complained that she couldn’t get wine with her dinner. They weren’t doing any beverages other than apple juice, cranberry juice, water and milk, and that was announced multiple times. They were trying to get people in and out as soon as possible, so that they could get all 400-some people on the train through the diner. Some people can be so ungrateful.
I’m still probably going to write them about my experience. The meal voucher was silly for 20 hours of time in a large city, and I really think that everyone who was inconvenienced like this should have received accomodation upgrades or vouchers for future travel. I know that might be greedy, but there were a lot of people inconvenienced by this where there was no choice but to wait another full day to come home.
I almost left Vancouver a day later, but was originally told that the hotel night there wouldn’t be covered. It turns out that it would have been covered if I had stayed in Vancouver, but I didn’t want to come home on the 4th of July. Oh well. I guess these things happen.
It’s just about time to board the train here, so I’m going to pack-up the computer. I’ll be home tomorrow. Yay!
jonathan
