London to Baja California ~ across America
Our hoped for schedule, here's what we know so far...
Part I
14 December 2018 - Friday morning ~ South Woodham Ferrers (SOF) to Southampton Central... via local 2 car train to Wickford, Essex ~ mainline train to Stratford, London ~ Tube to Waterloo, London ~ mainline train to Southampton Central
14 Dec - Friday afternoon ~ local bus to hotel central Southampton
15 Dec - Saturday noon ~ Taxi to the QE2 Cruise Terminal, Dock gate 4, Southampton
15 Dec - Saturday 15:00 ~ Queen Mary 2 embarkation
15 Dec - Saturday c.18:00 ~ set sail across the North Atlantic in winter. From our cabin (stateroom) low down on deck 5 we'll have a close-up of the sea through panoramic windows. This is going to be 7 days of contrast to where we come from and our daily lives, can't wait... especially Rosie.
16 - 21 Dec ~ North Atlantic
For those interested here is a nuts and bolts description of what this QM2 Transatlantic crossing entails, it's all new to us. Some of you will recognise the author as better known for compiling his worldwide rail website, Mr Seat 61. He brings the same matter of fact detail to this traditional Liner crossing too.
https://www.seat61.com/queen-mary-2-transatlantic.htm
22 Dec - Saturday ~ Arrive in New York Bay early, c. 05:00 - 07:00 am. Past the Statue of Liberty, past Ellis Island, round Governors Island and into the Red Hook Brooklyn Cruise Terminal berth. We can elect to dis-embark very early or mid morning. Too early doesn't work well for where we are headed that morning so will try to grab breakfast before we go and leave later.
22 Dec - Saturday morning. If the weather is poor, raining or bitterly cold we take a taxi to our hotel in Tribeca. If it's fine winter weather we take the local NYC South Brooklyn Ferry from right next to the Cruise terminal to the Wall Street Pier, apparently some very good views?
Turn left out of the pier and walk along the East River walk to Whitehall St and the subway entrance just a few meters/yards to the north. Subway through to Canal St, check into and leave a couple of small bags with the hotel then back to a different Canal St subway station/system about 300 m away (apparently there are 5 station/systems in Canal St) for a train to Penn Station where we'll check our large bag in for the next day's Amtrak Cardinal.
Then we're off to discover New York City at Christmas, with all the razzmatazz that goes with it. We're not usually interested in Christmas, at home will often see no-one or do too much, but we are interested in how this city celebrates it's Christmas so have planned a walk through an eclectic mix of sights in mid Manhattan.
22 Dec - Saturday afternoon/evening ~ walking mid Manhattan to some or all of these places... Houdini Museum - New York Times Building - Times Square - Rockefeller Plaza (Radio City) - Trump Tower - Bergdorf Goodman - Bloomingdales - Urbanspace on Lex for food maybe - Chrysler Building - Grand Central Station - Empire State - Macy's - now booked for the last show of the day Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular.
23 Dec - Sunday ~ Up early, leave for Penn Station at 04:45, ouch! Hope we can get a hot drink in the Acela Lounge before the real adventure starts, trains to LA.
New York Penn to Chicago Union Station - Depart 06:45am Amtrak 51 Cardinal - Sleeper ~ Arrive CHI 10:00am Monday 24 Dec
24 Dec - Monday ~ Chicago. If we arrive on-time leave carry-on bags in the Metropolitan Lounge, then another walk this time to the lake at Millennium Park. Back to Union Station and if time lunch at Lou Mitchell's (if open) on Jackson as there'll be no lunch on the Southwest Chief.
24 Dec - Monday ~
Chicago Union Station to Los Angeles Union Station - Depart 14:50pm Amtrak 3 Southwest Chief - Sleeper ~ Arrive LAX 08:00am Wednesday 26 Dec
25 Dec - Tuesday ~ We deliberately chose to be on a long distance train on Christmas day, just for the fun of it. As mentioned above we rarely mark Christmas day but hope this one is memorable.
26 Dec - Wednesday ~ LA. We've asked Milton not to be met at Union Station. He's not a morning person and would have to leave home at 06:00am if the Chief is on-time, and that's not fair. So it is the Ventura County Line train or even a Pacific Surfliner up to Chatsworth station, from there a short bus ride down to Roscoe / De Soto close to Milton's home.
All day for a catch-up on all our news, plenty to talk about.
If this plan works we will have travelled with minor stop overs from central France via the UK to Los Angeles without flying - 7710 miles / 12408 km
Part II
27 Dec - Thursday ~ Deja vu. Outside forces have
'encouraged' us to book a night onboard the Queen Mary I at Long Beach CA. Yes it's a tough life sometimes, although at this rate we wont be travelling for another 3 years to give us time to recoup our finances. It will be strange only 5 days after leaving one QM to board another, but this time with known great company.
28 Dec - Friday ~ leaving the QM I and visiting Laguna Woods
29 Dec - Saturday ~ LA area ? undecided
30 Dec - Sunday ~ Volunteering for float building. Afternoon /evening at the La Canada Flintridge Tournament of Roses float building event. It's under the I 210 San Fernando Freeway at Hampton Rd and Foothill Blvd. If you are in the area come along and one of us will try to sell you a T shirt, all for a good cause. One of us will be working at the Floatique!
31 Dec - Monday ~ Recovering
1 January 2019 - Tuesday, New Year's Day. Milton has pre-booked grandstand seats for the Rose Parade for the 5 of us, we have to get there very early. He has all the arrangements in hand which is very nice not to have to plan that day. Heard there's a sort of football match on later too, aiming to find a good sports bar to watch the match in. Any suggestions of a good venue vaguely near to Roscoe Blvd?
2 Jan - Wednesday ~ Taking it easy and getting ready to head north
3 Jan - Thursday ~
Van Nuys Station to Monterey Transit Plaza - Depart 10:40am Amtrak 14 Coast Starlight - Business Class ~ Arrive Salinas 18:28pm same day. Transfer at Salinas Station to Amtrak 3614 Thruway Bus. Depart 18:35pm ~ Arrive Monterey Transit Plaza 19:25pm same day.
Transfer to hotel with a short taxi ride.
4 Jan - Friday ~ We like Monterey based on one out of season visit, Milton has never visited and is curious about our glowing description. Four things on the agenda for today. Walk through downtown, visit the seals in the harbour again, visit the aquarium (neither Rosie or I have visited an aquarium), and collect a car from the airport in the evening.
5 Jan - Saturday ~ Off after breakfast down to the coastal Redwood stands in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. This, for all of us is the highlight of this trip. The remainder of the day a drive down the Big Sur to our lodgings at San Luis Obispo, possibly our favourite town in the USA.
6 Jan - Sunday ~ A gentle amble south sticking with the coast as far as possible, with at least one detour from Hwy 1. That's to Surf Station to the west of Lompoc, ending with returning to Milton's place in Winnetka.
7 Jan - Monday ~ Catch up with chores and return the car, getting ready for the off tomorrow
Part III
8 Jan - Tuesday ~ Pack light for the next journey starting today in the late afternoon. Now it's buses. The initial journey from LA up to Denver is across the Rockies by road, a first for us and even better as it's winter.
LA Greyhound Bus Station to Denver Greyhound Bus Station - Depart 18:40pm Greyhound Schedule 1684 ~ Arrive Denver 17:45pm Wednesday 9 Jan
9 Jan - Wednesday ~ Arrive early evening, eat then to hotel
10 Jan - Thursday ~ Leave bags at the hotel and spend the day on two visits we missed out on last time. History Colorado Museum and the Colorado Capitol. The US has some magnificent capitols which we try to visit if we are nearby. Eat early as another evening Greyhound to catch.
Denver Greyhound Bus Station to Austin Greyhound Bus Station - Depart 19:35pm Greyhound Schedule 7309 ~ Arrive Austin 17:05pm Friday 11 Jan
11 Jan - Friday ~ Arrive Austin and if it all works out we get to take Bob Dylan to dinner after dropping our bags at the hotel, we are both looking forward to that.
12 Jan - Saturday ~ Various we'd like to do in Austin as Rosie wasn't too well during our first visit.
13 Jan - Sunday ~ Adieu to Bob and off to the airport. An afternoon flight to Dallas where we transfer to the San Jose del Cabo plane.
Austin to Dallas Fort Worth - transfer
- Dallas Fort Worth to San José del Cabo ~ American Airlines Depart AUS 16:34pm - Arrive SJD 21:28pm
13 Jan - Sunday ~ Shuttle from airport directly to hotel in San José del Cabo (SJD). At last we are in Baja California (Sur), this is a staging post to travel further north over the next few days.
14 Jan - Monday ~ San Jose to La Paz. A quick look around San José del Cabo then a bus through to La Paz. Maybe another few hours walking some of La Paz and arranging a trip for the following day out to the Isla Espirito Santo, Rosie has her heart set on this.
15 Jan - Tuesday ~ La Paz. The Island(s) hopefully, then relaxing and preparing for the bus up to Guerrero Negro the following morning
16 Jan - Wednesday ~ La Paz to Guerrero Negro. Undecided at the moment which of the 3 buses to choose, mainly it's what time we want to arrive than leave on the 12 hour bus ride. We are told Mexican LD buses are often quite superior to Greyhound, sounds like a touch of luxury to us. Of course if we are not happy with the general Baja situation we could be heading back to the airport at SJD instead?
17 Jan - Thursday ~ For the next 5 or 6 days everything is provisional, this part of the itinerary will only be known on the day, so the next part of this schedule is how we hope it will turn out, reality may be different. At this point our main future deadline is the 23 January when we are due to ride the Amtrak 422 Texas Eagle from LA back to the north.
17 - 22 Jan - Baja / LA area, no fixed plans as yet
Part IV
23 Jan - Wednesday ~ Preparing to leave Milton and LA, never know if we'll be back again. Evening train to Normal, what a destination.
23 Jan - Wednesday ~
Los Angeles Union Station to Washington Union Station - Depart 22:00pm Amtrak 422 Texas Eagle - Sleeper ~ Arrive Bloomington-Normal 11:01am Saturday 26 Jan. The Amtrak station is actually in Normal, not Bloomington.
26 Jan - Saturday ~
Bloomington-Normal Station to Indianapolis Station - Depart 15:20pm Amtrak 8890 Thruway Bus ~ Arrive IND 19:30pm Saturday 26 Dec. We have been warned about Indianapolis station, some folk are for and some against. Soon have our own opinions.
26 Jan - Saturday ~
Indianapolis Station to Washington Union Station - Depart 23:59pm Amtrak 50 Cardinal - Coach ~ Arrive WAS 18:19pm Sunday 27 Jan. Think we will get to see the gorge in daylight?
27 Jan - Sunday ~ Evening. Arrive Washington DC, subway across to our hotel very close to the Watergate Building. This is turning out to be a tour of major past and present political sights and events, and now we are at the epicentre!
28 Jan - Monday ~ Today we hopefully get to visit the National Museum of African American History & Culture, something we are looking forward to. It's obviously popular as it's difficult to book a visiting time due to being so busy. Here's hoping...
Update 4 December: In January timed visits are only required at weekends, weekdays are 'walk in' days. Advice from a member of the Washington visitor center who has visited this museum more than once is arrive early. Apparently at any time this is a very popular museum and visitors spend quite a lot of time there.
29 Jan - Tuesday ~ It's the day for the Capitol and another peek at the White House. Currently Europe is fascinated by American politics so having a chance to visit such an important parliament and view one of the most important homes on the planet is a must.
30 Jan - Wednesday ~ Leaving Washington late morning with an NER train.
Washington Union Station to New York Penn Station - Depart 10:10 am Amtrak 174 Northeast Regional - Coach ~ Arrive New York 13:35pm same day
By this evening we should be on a plane back to London, England, but we think we have enough time to visit Juanita and Bradley in New York for a cup of tea. We met Juanita on the Australian LD train The Ghan a few years ago now, what a happy thing this long distance train travel is.
... to be continued
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