If you could pick your seat/dining mates, they'd be:

[SP&S]

Eva Marie Saint :wub: More seriously; just plain, personable folks.

 

[caravanman]

I don't have much interest in celebrity culture, and find most ordinary folk have at least one intersting thing to impart, if one can get them started. Most of my train rides have been made memorable by chatting to the ordinary Joes and Jills... Folk a few years on in life tend to have more varied experiences, and the time to chat. Paul Theroux would be an entertaining companion with his wide travels and interest in trains.

If I could choose from the past, I think Gandi, Karl Marx, Che Guevara, Martin Luther King, and Maryln Monroe would be interesting companions.

If David Beckham sat next to me I would throw myself from the train... Great footballer but he is not the brightest bulb in the chandelier....

Ed

 

[Guest]

Or, the Golden Girls. That would be a fun train ride.

Psss, excuse me LSA, but I see dead people at my table.

If I remember my Twilight episodes well, if you are on a train with dead people, you want to get off (jump off?) ASAP.

 

[Frequent Traveller]

People with brains who can talk about something other than their grandchildren.

 

[Amtrak Customer]

There are wonderful people to share a table with, but I get very tired of people who ask intrusive questions ("are you married?" "How many grandchildren do you have') or talk non-stop about their uninteresting lives, or go on and on about how awful the trip is.

 

[SarahZ]

There are wonderful people to share a table with, but I get very tired of people who ask intrusive questions ("are you married?" "How many grandchildren do you have')

THIS. We got stuck with a couple like that for lunch and dinner. I got so sick and tired of being grilled about personal things, including why we weren't married, why we didn't have kids, why we voted for so-and-so, why we support random political things, how much we're saving for retirement. We'd only given the most basic answers to those questions (and didn't answer the political stuff - he just assumed), but it was still painful. Lunch was Question Time. Dinner was Here's How You Should Live Your Life. They told us where/when to get married, how many kids to have, etc.

 

[Ryan]

If you would just get married and have kids already, you wouldn't have to listen to that. h34r:

 

[Golden grrl]

Or, the Golden Girls. That would be a fun train ride.

Hi Sarah, I'm guessing you really weren't talking about me....

Since I'm nearly always training in a shared roomette, my preferred meal companions are plurals. That is, I'm happier when we have 4 individuals at the table rather than 3 or just us two. I really enjoy it when the other two at the table hadn't met before they were seated. A lot of my enjoyment of the train experience is the community seating and dining with new people.

On the other hand, last year we were riding the Zephyr from Chicago to CA and we waiting for lunch seating after passing through Denver. To our surprise, a friend [and former boss] and her hubby had come aboard at Denver and were headed to Reno; they were already dining. We ate the rest of our meals with them, and probably never had more fun on a Zephyr than that trip.

 

[SarahZ]

If you would just get married and have kids already, you wouldn't have to listen to that. h34r:

:angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

Golden Grrl - I meant the ones from the TV show, but I wouldn't mind sharing a table with a fellow AU member.

 

[roomette]

Since the convo has turned to who you DON'T wat to sit with, I'll say that I hate those "I ride Amtrak all the time know it alls" The first dead give away is "Amtrak doesn't own the tracks, the freight companies do". It just goes south from there. They feel the need to educate all the noobs on the finer points of passenger rail travel in America. "Be sure to tip!" They are most often overweight, unattractive and wear glasses.

 

[WICT106]

Admiral Ray Spruance, General Dwight Eisenhower, Norman Shwartzkopf, Leo Thorsness, Buzz Aldrin, Winston Churchill, Dr. Robert Zubrin, Dr Neil De Grasse Tyson. Leah Cairns, Luciana Carro. Hmm, the possibilities are extensive . . . . .. .

 

[the Other Mike]

Anyone who doesn't pass gas :angry2:

 

[Trainmans daughter]

My Dad. This time, I would listen more attentively to his train stories.

 

[jebr]

If you would just get married and have kids already, you wouldn't have to listen to that. h34r:

She'd have to listen to corrections on whether we'd see a lake or not instead!

 

[SarahZ]

If you would just get married and have kids already, you wouldn't have to listen to that. h34r:

She'd have to listen to corrections on whether we'd see a lake or not instead!

omgyouguysshutup

 

[Ryan]

If you would just get married and have kids already, you wouldn't have to listen to that. h34r:

She'd have to listen to corrections on whether we'd see a lake or not instead!

oh_snap.gif

 

[the_traveler]

Dwayne Johnson on one side and Chris Hemsworth on the other. :giggle:

Am I showing my Age when I ask Who these People are??? :help:

Well I'm 1/2 with you. Dwayne Johnson was the wrestler formerly known as "The Rock". The other I don't know either.

 

[the_traveler]

For the dining car, I like a good story teller, even if the stories aren't true! :giggle:

You must be talking about Jim Hudson! :giggle:

 

[lionelhoguy]

I love hearing other peoples stories. I hate being the only one talking at the table, it makes me feel like I am babbling and boring other people. I would rather hear about other people. We have sat with people from England, Germany and other countries, but my favorite was the couple that owned the granite monument company, great stories there.

 

[the Other Mike]

Admiral Ray Spruance, General Dwight Eisenhower, Norman Shwartzkopf, Leo Thorsness, Buzz Aldrin, Winston Churchill, Dr. Robert Zubrin, Dr Neil De Grasse Tyson. Leah Cairns, Luciana Carro. Hmm, the possibilities are extensive . . . . .. .

Well, i we are gonna play " Steve Allen's MEETING OF THE MINDS", I'd say : Vandervilt, George M Pullman, ME, Casey Jones and let the #### hit the fan.

 

[Golden grrl]

Golden Grrl - I meant the ones from the TV show, but I wouldn't mind sharing a table with a fellow AU member.

I knew you meant the TV show, just used my screen name as a reason for commenting. A lot of AUers think my name came from admiration for the TV show, but really it has to do with the town in Colorado where I lived when I first signed up with AU.

You're right--it is fun to eat with other rail enthusiasts=e.g., riding the Tehachapi Loop and sharing the Parlor Car with a bunch of people who are doing the very thing that makes them happy.

 

[TrainRider]

Sometimes I prefer no seat mates. This filling up every table--with eight people in the entire diner at only two tables--is an Amtrak phenomenon. Before Amtrak you were often asked if you wanted to share or be alone (with the caveat, of course, that if the diner filled up you would always share). Nothing is worse that being with a babblemouth first thing in the the morning, and you're the only two people in the diner, but you're forced to share a table.

 

[railiner]

I travel solo, so I enjoy meeting interesting people on a long distance train. The communal seating in the diner is one of the best opportunities to socialize. I most enjoy conversations, where the other passenger's have interesting occupation's or experience's, and are open to talking and sharing. I love to learn about different things....not just railroad history and operations, but everything.

As far as celebrities, my favorite was former NFL football coach and TV commentator John Madden. After starting his television career, he traveled only on Amtrak between his weekly game broadcasts for a few years, until he was given a motorhome-coach and driver by various sponsor's. The reason was he had a terrible claustrophobia syndrome that made it torturous for him to fly. He only flew while he was coaching.

He is a down-to-earth person, who did not hibernate like most celeb's in their bedroom. He enjoyed "holding court" to his fans in the lounge car, drinking his Miller-Lite, and talking football. He knew all the crewmember's. I rode the Zephyr on three different occasion's with him aboard. One time, he led an entourage of fans accross the street at McCook, Ne. into a local tavern, to the delight of the owner and local patrons, for a quick one, during the crew change. I believe he did similar at other points around the system, as well.

 

[buddy559]

Golden Grrl - I meant the ones from the TV show, but I wouldn't mind sharing a table with a fellow AU member.

I knew you meant the TV show, just used my screen name as a reason for commenting. A lot of AUers think my name came from admiration for the TV show, but really it has to do with the town in Colorado where I lived when I first signed up with AU.

You're right--it is fun to eat with other rail enthusiasts=e.g., riding the Tehachapi Loop and sharing the Parlor Car with a bunch of people who are doing the very thing that makes them happy.

Which train goes over the Tehachapi loop?

 

[Bob Dylan]

Golden Grrl - I meant the ones from the TV show, but I wouldn't mind sharing a table with a fellow AU member.

I knew you meant the TV show, just used my screen name as a reason for commenting. A lot of AUers think my name came from admiration for the TV show, but really it has to do with the town in Colorado where I lived when I first signed up with AU.

You're right--it is fun to eat with other rail enthusiasts=e.g., riding the Tehachapi Loop and sharing the Parlor Car with a bunch of people who are doing the very thing that makes them happy.

Which train goes over the Tehachapi loop?

None are Scheduled, it's all Freight but occasionally the Coast Starlight is Detoured ( it will be be Announced in Advance Usually!)over this Route! Worth the Trip if you haven't been on this Route!