Nightmare Christmas Travel

I actually had to talk to a representative to make my Christmas plans work this year:

-The CA Zephyr isn't running on Monday, Dec. 20.

-The only train east with a sleeper the week after Christmas is the LSL.

-I needed to get from Richmond to Iowa and back.

Since the Amtrak run through NYC wouldn't register on the website (the LSL's eastbound timing is so late in the evening that it doesn't show up with connections south...unlike the Westbound train). So I've made my plans.

Now for the fun part: I may end up flipping to an Acela, depending on when the train gets into NYC, and overnighting in DC instead of NYC. With the LSL's record, scheduling an Acela would probably violate the gaming laws in 25 states. I'll work this out when my train gets into NYC...worst case scenario, I know of a few Holiday Inns I can work with.

Was the agent able to accommodate you on getting to Iowa? The travel advisory I see for California Zephyr indicates that it's running on Dec. 20, but it's skipping stops between Chicago and Omaha due to BNSF track work. They're supposed to be providing bus-stitutions to Burlington, Mount Pleasant, Ottumwa, Osceola and Creston.

Ack! I'm glad I booked on the Southwest Chief for my trip to Iowa from California- it stops in Fort Madison if that gets you anywhere near where you want to be. Otherwise, Galesburg, Ill is served by several trains out of Chicago and is only about an hour from Burlington, IA.

RTOlson said:

Was the agent able to accommodate you on getting to Iowa? The travel advisory I see for California Zephyr indicates that it's running on Dec. 20, but it's skipping stops between Chicago and Omaha due to BNSF track work. They're supposed to be providing bus-stitutions to Burlington, Mount Pleasant, Ottumwa, Osceola and Creston.

Click to expand...

Like I said, I simply worked an overnight in Chicago into the agenda (I'll be staying over with friends, so it more than washes, and said friend wasn't going to be in their office on Monday, so had I gone straight through, we'd have missed each other). The website didn't list a "bustitution" option, so I picked the best one available to me.

As to coming back: The scary thing is that a night in DC is cheaper than the difference of the parking fees in Richmond and Washington, DC over a week (the difference tallies to about $150...in my experience, that's a Holiday Inn and dinner). The only reason I'm not doing the 3 AM Regional is that...well, I actually like to get a night's sleep, and I'd rather not be stuck in Penn Station for six hours. Ironically, if the LSL is catastrophically late (as in, one of those infamous six-hour delays), I'll probably just bag it and exchange my ticket (or buy a new one, "miss" the Silver train, and exchange that ticket for part of the cost of another run later).