Seaboard92
Engineer
Prologue
We booked our trip in March for Luftansa from JFK to Frankfurt on the new A380(more on that later). Round trip fare was 700ish dollars a person. We then paid an additional 200 a person for an exit row. We booked our amtrak tickets when the Silver Star restarted sleeper sales. Booked the star and used the offer to switch to the Meteor for the same price for a better departure time.
Day 1
After saying good by to the love of my life at home we drove to the Florence Amtrak station. Right before we got to the station we stopped at Longhorn for a good dinner. When we got to the station my travel partners stayed in the station. And I went to a picnic table outside to watch trains. I saw quite a few trains which is unlike my usual A Line experience of one. Apparently while I was out of the building a fight broke loose in the actual station so my partners were happy to have our sleeper while the fighters went to coach. The train was forty minutes late arriving to Florence. About fifteen minutes before it arrived the conductor scanned everyone's ticket in. Then we proceeded to wait inside for five minutes after the train arrived. We only had three minutes to board in. The ride was fairly rough all night but that's just CSX and being in room H over the trucks makes that more pronounced. We arrived in Washington about thirty minutes early. And I was really happy to see a train led by an AEM7. Never thought I would say that. We had one ACS sprinter for our power. The ride up the corridor was par the norm. Our diner am ex Southern Railway diner. Needed new shocks. At 110 I thought we might just come off the raid. But I had the French Toast. While it isn't the best it isn't the worst. The train pulled in about thirty minutes early to Penn Station. Which meant we ended leaving Penn on the LIRR at our original arrival time. The LIRR was enjoyable and new millage. I saw Sunnyside Yard for the first time ever. We had a little bit of trouble finding our hotel shuttle as he went to a different place then we were told to go to. But I chased him down. And we went to our hotel in Rockville Centere. It was a nice hotel the Executive something or other. Right next to the track. We walked back into town to eat at the Starlight Diner. And that was amazing I recommend it. Great food. Oh and track view. I spent the afternoon in Lynbrook station Railfaning. Trying to get their diesels. And I missed the only one that came by because I was on my phone. On the way back I went into Train World. That was very nice and enjoyable. I then called my fiancée for a few hours.
Day 2
We got up around ten and walked across the street to Key Foods. Which was amazing and got our food for the plane. As we don't like airline food that much. Then we went to the airport after that. And had mcdonalds for lunch in terminal one after checking in. I watched our plane come in. We went by security which wasn't bad and I talked to my fiancée while watching planes and the A train. While talking to my A Train (her nickname). We had a weird issue with the plane. It had two lines Row 1-74 left and Row 77-104ish right. We were row 75 and 76. We got to our seats and had amazing legroom. The plane left exactly on time. And with our exit row we had the stewardess facing us. And we got to know her she was super super nice. And she took amazing care of us. Took photos with a Polaroid of us and framed them. Made us feel at home. I watched one or two movies. Slept a little. And then we were down a half hour early. More to come.
We booked our trip in March for Luftansa from JFK to Frankfurt on the new A380(more on that later). Round trip fare was 700ish dollars a person. We then paid an additional 200 a person for an exit row. We booked our amtrak tickets when the Silver Star restarted sleeper sales. Booked the star and used the offer to switch to the Meteor for the same price for a better departure time.
Day 1
After saying good by to the love of my life at home we drove to the Florence Amtrak station. Right before we got to the station we stopped at Longhorn for a good dinner. When we got to the station my travel partners stayed in the station. And I went to a picnic table outside to watch trains. I saw quite a few trains which is unlike my usual A Line experience of one. Apparently while I was out of the building a fight broke loose in the actual station so my partners were happy to have our sleeper while the fighters went to coach. The train was forty minutes late arriving to Florence. About fifteen minutes before it arrived the conductor scanned everyone's ticket in. Then we proceeded to wait inside for five minutes after the train arrived. We only had three minutes to board in. The ride was fairly rough all night but that's just CSX and being in room H over the trucks makes that more pronounced. We arrived in Washington about thirty minutes early. And I was really happy to see a train led by an AEM7. Never thought I would say that. We had one ACS sprinter for our power. The ride up the corridor was par the norm. Our diner am ex Southern Railway diner. Needed new shocks. At 110 I thought we might just come off the raid. But I had the French Toast. While it isn't the best it isn't the worst. The train pulled in about thirty minutes early to Penn Station. Which meant we ended leaving Penn on the LIRR at our original arrival time. The LIRR was enjoyable and new millage. I saw Sunnyside Yard for the first time ever. We had a little bit of trouble finding our hotel shuttle as he went to a different place then we were told to go to. But I chased him down. And we went to our hotel in Rockville Centere. It was a nice hotel the Executive something or other. Right next to the track. We walked back into town to eat at the Starlight Diner. And that was amazing I recommend it. Great food. Oh and track view. I spent the afternoon in Lynbrook station Railfaning. Trying to get their diesels. And I missed the only one that came by because I was on my phone. On the way back I went into Train World. That was very nice and enjoyable. I then called my fiancée for a few hours.
Day 2
We got up around ten and walked across the street to Key Foods. Which was amazing and got our food for the plane. As we don't like airline food that much. Then we went to the airport after that. And had mcdonalds for lunch in terminal one after checking in. I watched our plane come in. We went by security which wasn't bad and I talked to my fiancée while watching planes and the A train. While talking to my A Train (her nickname). We had a weird issue with the plane. It had two lines Row 1-74 left and Row 77-104ish right. We were row 75 and 76. We got to our seats and had amazing legroom. The plane left exactly on time. And with our exit row we had the stewardess facing us. And we got to know her she was super super nice. And she took amazing care of us. Took photos with a Polaroid of us and framed them. Made us feel at home. I watched one or two movies. Slept a little. And then we were down a half hour early. More to come.
