Ft. Lauderdale to Chicago with Amtrak - Days 1/2 (w/Pictures)

Note: The first picture (train arriving in Ft. Lauderdale station) was not taken on this trip. Rather it was taken a little earlier when I went to the station to pick up the tickets. It was, however, made up identically.

This first entry is being started somewhere between Orlando and Jacksonville and we are currently in a holding pattern and something over 30 minutes behind schedule.

The Silver Meteor left Ft. Lauderdale on time and maintained the schedule until West Palm Beach. Between there and Sebring we lost 25 minutes and a few more were added later.

Upon boarding we were directed to our roomette and a little later the car attendant came by and explained how everything worked. The Viewliner Roomette is about 6.5 feet by 3.5 five feet and includes two lounge chairs, some small storage areas and a commode with a folding wash basin. There is absolutely no privacy for the commode whatsoever so your partner better be a pretty close one! If not it would be necessary to leave the room while the other was taking care of business!

Shortly after boarding we headed to the dining car for breakfast where the found the staff to be friendly and the food to be, well, adequate! The seating was four to a table with the tables occupying about half the car. The other half was the galley area along with a server/take-out counter. If you are traveling in coach you have to pay for your meals; if you have sleeping accommodations all meals are included.

Once finished we checked out the adjacent Cafe car. This car is something that Amtrak could do a lot with but doesn't seem to want to. A counter area is in the middle with very basic booth type seating on either side making up the car. The fair consists of microwavable food and a variety of snacks and beverages including alcoholic ones.

Because we had a late breakfast we skipped lunch and will have dinner as part of the first sitting (of which there were three).

This entry is now being continued in the AcelaClub lounge in Washington DC's Union Station.

The afternoon went by fairly quickly but we did find the ride to be on the rough side (not as smooth as we expected) and one really does need to get their "sea-legs" in operation.

One thing that really struck us was the number of citrus groves! Mile after mile of lines of trees stretching off into the distance as far as the eye could see.

  Dinner was offered with three sittings and since we had skipped lunch we opted for the first sitting. There were four or five choices which isn't too bad considering the limited space available. We shared our table with a young engaged couple who live in Boston but had been in Miami looking for an apartment to buy! As with breakfast, the food was adequate but certainly wouldn't win any awards. Dessert and coffee finished the meal. The second sitting was scheduled for 45 minutes after the first and as a result there was some overlap but luckily there was enough space for everyone.

Not long after that our roomette was converted into its nighttime configuration. The two seats were merged together to form a lower berth and an upper berth was lowered from the ceiling. Once in place, the amount of room is diminished by quite a bit! Getting ready for bed proved to be quite a challenge!

Sleep was hard to come by. At that time we were traveling through Georgia and the Carolinas and I have to wonder just how old the tracks were. It was a real rock 'n roll experience and laying down seemed to make the movement even more intense! Once we moved into Virginia things became noticeably smoother but it was now getting up time!

When we arrived in D.C. all lost time had been made up and we actually arrived 15 minutes early! We spent the first part of the morning walking up to The Capital and then took the Metro to a shopping center in Virginia. We also upgraded our roomette to bedroom for this next leg. (Both legs back will be remaining roomettes). Right now we are back in the AcelaClub lounge waiting to board but there is still a awhile to go yet. However, it is much better waiting here than outside in the main station area!

We will actually board the Chicago train directly from the lounge which will be a good thing!

I took quite a few pictures during this first day and had hoped to be able to include a couple here but the battery in my camera died this morning and I am just recharging it now so the pictures will come later and I'll add a comment indicating this!