Introvert traveling most all the West - Boredom?

[TiredAutistic]

If your discomfort is purely aimed at willful jerks and not at the introverted but well-intentioned, then I would agree that willful jerks are bad and make me uncomfortable too, but your previous posts fail to make that clear to me. (Also, someone who struggles to say hello could just be dealing with a lot of anxiety, someone who needs to stare at a phone/book could just be feeling overwhelmed, there are many non-jerk reasons someone could appear detached from their environment, and these people could all still be getting something out of the experience (they also might not be, but even if they're not they could still be trying to).) At any rate, it seemed to me that the OP and the posters you were responding to were coming more from the well-intentioned category than from the jerk category.

And no, I don't think a train forum is starting an anti-autism movement. I don't think you wrote a manifesto against anyone. I do think that certain prevalent attitudes make things worse for autistic people and for people with mental illnesses, that anyone can hold those attitudes regardless of where they are or aren't on the spectrum/regardless of whether have or don't have mental illness, and that something should be said to try to point out those attitudes when they are expressed. Things don't need to be on the level of a manifesto to be crumby and harmful.

 

[JayPea]

Count me in as one of those amongst the very introverted crowd. The dining car, however, presents very little to no problems. My long distance trips have always been with my uncle and he is the type that never met a stranger. He engages with and talks to everyone he meets. I didn't inherit that tendency. So I can count on him carrying the conversation with me chiming in occasionally. On the coach trips when I've been on my own I still enjoy eating in the diner. I find myself able to join in and enjoy the conversation though it's not always easy. I do recall on one occasion while going to Seattle from Spokane when four of us, all solo travelers, were seated together at breakfast. And it was the most uncomfortable meal I've spent in the diner. One young man never said a word, a young gal spent all her time on her phone, and the third besides me was an elderly gentleman who carried on a rambling non-sequitur in which even the most seasoned coversationalist would have found impossible to follow. Add to that the food was horrible and the dining car crew a bunch of jackasses and it wasn't a good time, to say the least.

But my solo experiences in the diner have been by and large very positive. I look forward to the whole dining car experience. I do find Johanna's story very troubling. I mean, what kind of narcissistic jerk makes a remark like that??? I have enough trouble in social situations and remarks like that would make it worse. I recall an instance I college when I went to a get-together involving an interdenominational Christian fellowship I was involved with. I was much worse than I am now, stuck for an answer when someone would say hello to me. The other members of this fellowship accepted me as is. This particular get-together however involved other groups and at the end of it one guy went up to me and said "It was sure nice TALKING to you!" He couldn't have been more sarcastic, more cutting. Some of my friends rushed to my defense, but I was put off enough to reply "If you want to be entertained, go hire a trained monkey!!" That went over about as well as you would expect. :lol: I do enjoy the dining car and will do my best to be a part of the conversation but it won't work if I'm expected to carry it.

 

[tonijustine]

I am an introvert as well. It's been a long time since my last Amtrak trip and it was my first in a roomette. Mostly, I like to relax, let my wander and watch the world as it passes my window. But in the event I am flirting with boredom, I also take: reading materials, music, writing material (laptop on my upcoming trip), a few games on my IPhone.

I also like audio books. That way you can listen to a story while still being able to watch the scenery. It would be especially cool to find a great book about the area of the country through which you are travelling.

My husband loves podcasts, but I haven't found one that I really like yet.

 

[dogbert617]

Like the others said, bring things like a tablet/e-reader, portable video game system, physical book(or more), laptop, or other electronic devices to keep yourself occupied during the lulls of scenery or the nighttime travel parts. At the longer station/fresh air/smoking stops(and this especially goes if you're struggling to fall asleep), I always found it fun to go inside the station houses to get a very brief look and a pic, IF you have enough time to do so. Toledo, OH surprised me the most(when I rode Lake Shore Limited, and Capitol Limited also goes here), in this regard! If it was a regular looking station like an 'Amshack', I wouldn't bother photographing the inside. Of course if you go through a historic looking downtown and the train stops there, I always found it fun to get a brief picture of the downtown to the degree I can.

ALWAYS of course ask an Amtrak employee how long the station stop will be before getting off, so that the train doesn't leave you behind. Just be aware that you won't hear the announcements for train stops between 10pm to 7am, hence why it's EXTRA important to ask this to an Amtrak employee for the overnight stops if the length of the stop isn't spelled out in your Amtrak train's timetable. I was never worried I'd be left behind in Toledo(since the timetable for LSL spells out that it is a 20 minute stop), but for the shorter ones that might be a smoking/fresh air stop I wouldn't step off the train for very long(i.e. Buffalo, NY). Heh, I remember there when I was taking a pic outside the train, I surprised an Amtrak employee when I explained I was taking a brief pic outside each of the 'fresh air' stops! In hindsight looking back had I known Buffalo would be an 'Amshack' like station, I may've skipped taking a pic there. It's too bad when I looked up the original station for Buffalo, that the trains don't board and depart from the original pre-Amshack station a little outside of the current Buffalo-Depew station. At least I've heard the historic Buffalo station is opened up for occasional tours, and that some parts of the inside have been restored.

The train will not leave a station before the time published in the timetable (with certain very limited exceptions, such as stops coded D or L), but it may not stay in the station for the full published dwell time if it is already running behind schedule. If the Lake Shore Limited is running late, that 20 minute stop at Toledo might very well be shaved to 7 or even 5 minutes, possibly even shorter. My own practice when the train is running behind is to never leave the platform, even if the crew has indicated that the train will be there long enough to take a fresh air break.

I know what you mean. The westbound LSL was on time in Toledo when I passed through that stop en route from NYC to Chicago, hence why I did go inside the station for a quick look. And since I knew it wouldn't leave before that departure time.

If the LSL was running late and the Toledo stop(then) was shortened to like 5 minutes, I probably wouldn't have run inside that station house for a quick look. But hey if you have enough time to do so, why not? It wasn't like I was running to a bar across the street from the Amtrak station, to drink. Now that'd be stupid as heck, and I wouldn't risk doing that! I'm amazed that I've heard some stories(thanks to this board and also other ones, of Amtrak trip reports), where a few people were stupid enough to do that. But you can't fix stupid....

 

[ehbowen]

I know what you mean. The westbound LSL was on time in Toledo when I passed through that stop en route from NYC to Chicago, hence why I did go inside the station for a quick look. And since I knew it wouldn't leave before that departure time.

If the LSL was running late and the Toledo stop(then) was shortened to like 5 minutes, I probably wouldn't have run inside that station house for a quick look. But hey if you have enough time to do so, why not? It wasn't like I was running to a bar across the street from the Amtrak station, to drink. Now that'd be stupid as heck, and I wouldn't risk doing that! I'm amazed that I've heard some stories(thanks to this board and also other ones, of Amtrak trip reports), where a few people were stupid enough to do that. But you can't fix stupid....

Not directed at you at all; I've taken a walk through downtown Albuquerque myself when the Southwest Chief was ahead of schedule. But many new riders see this forum, and when they see your remark about a 20 minute scheduled stop some might think that the stop will always be 20 minutes. I felt it appropriate to clarify.

 

[Lonestar648]

The only thing you can depend on is the departure time on the schedule, so if the train arrives after that departure time, it will depart as quickly as possible, trying to make up time.

 

[dogbert617]

I know what you mean. The westbound LSL was on time in Toledo when I passed through that stop en route from NYC to Chicago, hence why I did go inside the station for a quick look. And since I knew it wouldn't leave before that departure time.

If the LSL was running late and the Toledo stop(then) was shortened to like 5 minutes, I probably wouldn't have run inside that station house for a quick look. But hey if you have enough time to do so, why not? It wasn't like I was running to a bar across the street from the Amtrak station, to drink. Now that'd be stupid as heck, and I wouldn't risk doing that! I'm amazed that I've heard some stories(thanks to this board and also other ones, of Amtrak trip reports), where a few people were stupid enough to do that. But you can't fix stupid....

Not directed at you at all; I've taken a walk through downtown Albuquerque myself when the Southwest Chief was ahead of schedule. But many new riders see this forum, and when they see your remark about a 20 minute scheduled stop some might think that the stop will always be 20 minutes. I felt it appropriate to clarify.

I understand what you mean, totally. That's cool if you want to clarify that, since yep for sure the stop length on the Cap and LSL won't always be 20 minutes at Toledo. Especially if the train were to be running late!

I was certainly thinking about whether it'd be possible to take a very quick walk, in downtown Albuquerque if I took the SWC. But I'd only do that if the train was on time, and that on the PA announcement they made it clear that it'd be this usual length, and not a shortened stop where I'd be reluctant to do that.