In Birmingham, AL I have been known to stay at the Wynfrey Hotel at Galleria Mall. I have ridden in their shuttle to the airport, they go to the airport first (which is further away) and then swing by the train station on their way back and let me off.
They have also been known to pick me up at the train station upon arrival. I do this by callling them on the spot---they will usually do that, but will not make a formal--previously arranged-- scheduled stop at the train station.
Once they told me they only had about one request a year for the Amtrak station. It dawned on me that that one person per year was probably me!!!
Anybody here remember the "Storm of the Century" in 1993? I do---I was stranded in---yes----really---little old Birmingham AL for a---yes---really--- a blizzard. The winds were reportelly about 60 to 70 mph and probably about 19 inches of snow all around. I got to experience how a hotel staff on duty could not leave, new staff could not come in, and they slowly ran out of food. Each meal became a buffet and they cooked all kinds of food each of the three times a day. Forget all about whether something was for breakfast or dinner . You ate whatever they had. Period. And you had to pay for every night you stayed, as I recall. I am not sure , maybe they gave us some kind of break.
Transportation was screwed up everywhere. The night before I was to come home to Atlanta on the train, Amtrak said the train would not run that day. So I made plane reservations. So I rode the limo all the way to the airport, with a guy from England.
Got to Altanta, came home on the #23 bus, rode by the Amtrak station and there was the n.b. Crescent coming in, only about 40 mines late. This was the train which had been cancelled the night before, supposedly. I wrote
W. Graham Claytor just to see---one railfan to anther----if he would allow a refund on the $300 one way airpfare I had paid from BHM to ATL, based on being given incorrect info. He gave me a firm but polite "no".
Add this to my Hurricane Camille story in NOL, track being washed away on my first CZ trip,hitting cars on The Georgian and the South Wind, and the power outage in the Big Apple, maybe a couple of other things --gads, I must be living wrong!!!