retirement trip of a lifetime...............riding on the City of New Orleans....

---

'Good morning America how are you?
Don't you know me I'm your native son,
I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.'

The USA is quite sparse on train routes now and people prefer to take a plane.

But there seemed something quite romantic about a journey on a train with a great contemporary song attached to it.

However, there were a couple of problems.....
1) We were doing the journey in the opposite direction to the song ie FROM New Orleans TO Chicago
2) There was a huge queue of people at the station so although I’d always believed that Americans didn’t stand in lines (that’s a quirk of us Brits) we did have to stand in a queue for about an hour despite having a booking
3) The check in man was very officious and told me my case was too heavy and I needed to put 3kg of belongings into my hand luggage.

The first 2 problems weren’t really anything to worry about and the weight issue was solved by a much nicer AMTRAK employee who said that if I had 2 pairs of jeans in my case (I did) that would do it, no prob.
Then he reweighed my case and John says he didn’t even look at the scales and let it go through!! Thank you Mr NiceMan, I will post your photo on my blog for posterity!!

So........our thoughts on AMTRAK......very comfy seats which recline and have leg rests, need a blanket as the aircon is fierce, great views outside New Orleans as we travelled through swamps, even alligators to be seen!!

A couple of stops where you could get off and stretch legs, have a smoke – but I was constantly thinking the train was going to leave as it kept making very loud engine noises.

Eating in the dining car is fraught with danger as things slide around but it’s fun (only try to get an early booking as they run out of salad!)

It would be cool to sleep onboard but sadly we travelled through the day so didn’t need a bed.

It’s fun to travel upstairs!!

We reached Memphis bang on time. Well done AMTRAK!!!

'Good night, America, how are you?
Don't you know me I'm your native son,
I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.'

---