NETrainfan
Lead Service Attendant
Hi- My sister and I just returned from our 7th Amtrak trip to Florida.
This year we decided to travel from Maine to Boston via Concord Coach bus the day before our departure due to predicted snow storms.
We treated ourselves to the Hyatt Regency near South Station- good hotel with fun restaurant-Avenue One.
The next day, we took a cab to the station, relaxed once again in the Acela Lounge at South Station (what a lovely place.)
Enjoyed our favorite NER trip along the Connecticut coast- found Spring there (we're from Maine) and arrived at NYPenn
to board the Silver Meteor to Kissimmee, FL. Preston was our car attendant and made our trip. We did find the roomette beds on this train (97) to be narrower than other Viewliner beds. Was this possible? We found out on our trip back.
The food (and company) were as good as ever: roast herbed chicken, steak, good cheesecake, and a chocolate cake which was decadent.
We had a few rough tracks here and there, but basically a good ride all the way to the land of Disney. Yup-we went to Animal Kingdom, then on to Port Canaveral a few days later (by shuttle) for a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas.
Kissimmee is just a small station- we didn't expect more- just wanted to stop somewhere other than Orlando this time and
see a different area. It is so flat- so few trees (unlike Maine.)
After the cruise, we shuttled back to Kissimmee where we had to wait quite awhile for the Silver Meteor to NYPenn.
Luckily there was a friendly guy from Indiana who was waiting- so we swapped train stories.
Yvers, our car attendant, made our trip on the return to NY. He was originally from Nassau, Bahamas and we had just been there- so that was fun. The beds on this train (98) seemed bigger. Is that possible? Next time we're bringing a measuring tape.
Running late, we had a small luggage displacement in NYP- but a good Red Cap found the suitcase just in time. Enjoyed the Acela Lounge and snacks and hopped onto the NER to South Station. This was the difficult part of the journey. The car was warm-very warm. I asked the conductor and he said he couldn't control the temp from the inside.
People started coughing from the dryness- it seemed.
Glad to get to Boston to cool off and to get the Concord Coach to Portland, ME. Not glad to get back to 34" of snow in our yard- but hey- we had a great 10 days in the warmth of Florida and the Bahamas and that will have to last until the real Spring arrives.
This year we decided to travel from Maine to Boston via Concord Coach bus the day before our departure due to predicted snow storms.
We treated ourselves to the Hyatt Regency near South Station- good hotel with fun restaurant-Avenue One.
The next day, we took a cab to the station, relaxed once again in the Acela Lounge at South Station (what a lovely place.)
Enjoyed our favorite NER trip along the Connecticut coast- found Spring there (we're from Maine) and arrived at NYPenn
to board the Silver Meteor to Kissimmee, FL. Preston was our car attendant and made our trip. We did find the roomette beds on this train (97) to be narrower than other Viewliner beds. Was this possible? We found out on our trip back.
The food (and company) were as good as ever: roast herbed chicken, steak, good cheesecake, and a chocolate cake which was decadent.
We had a few rough tracks here and there, but basically a good ride all the way to the land of Disney. Yup-we went to Animal Kingdom, then on to Port Canaveral a few days later (by shuttle) for a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas.
Kissimmee is just a small station- we didn't expect more- just wanted to stop somewhere other than Orlando this time and
see a different area. It is so flat- so few trees (unlike Maine.)
After the cruise, we shuttled back to Kissimmee where we had to wait quite awhile for the Silver Meteor to NYPenn.
Luckily there was a friendly guy from Indiana who was waiting- so we swapped train stories.
Yvers, our car attendant, made our trip on the return to NY. He was originally from Nassau, Bahamas and we had just been there- so that was fun. The beds on this train (98) seemed bigger. Is that possible? Next time we're bringing a measuring tape.
Running late, we had a small luggage displacement in NYP- but a good Red Cap found the suitcase just in time. Enjoyed the Acela Lounge and snacks and hopped onto the NER to South Station. This was the difficult part of the journey. The car was warm-very warm. I asked the conductor and he said he couldn't control the temp from the inside.
People started coughing from the dryness- it seemed.
Glad to get to Boston to cool off and to get the Concord Coach to Portland, ME. Not glad to get back to 34" of snow in our yard- but hey- we had a great 10 days in the warmth of Florida and the Bahamas and that will have to last until the real Spring arrives.
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