Monday, September 19, 2005

Travelling first class

(Please read the previous post (All aboard!) before reading this one.)

When we got to Chicago our situation changed dramatically for the better. We had purchased coach tickets for the first half of the journey, but we got a good deal on sleeper cars for the ride from Chicago to Dallas. That meant we were now first-class passengers! When we got to the ticket counter, though, there was a message for Cary. "Mr. Sawatsky, you're going to need to go to passesnger services and speak to Eddie." Eddie was the manager of Chicago's Amtrak division. He told me he had bad news for me. Then he showed me one of our large luggage pieces which had been crushed and completely destroyed. He asked me to go through the bag to see if anything was damaged or missing. Praise the Lord, everything was there and nothing had been damaged apart from minor scratches and scrapes. Eddie was all too happy when I told him that everything inside was okay and that I would feel satisfactorily compensated with $50 to buy new luggage.

With our mishap under control, we boarded the train where we were led to our deluxe first-class accommodations. We had to laugh at what we saw. The room that slept two was smaller than most broom closets. and it had nothing more than two chairs (which converted to a bed, and a top bunk bed that was only about two feet wide. The "deluxe" room that slept three was a little better. It had two beds (one that could sleep two people) and an extra chair plus its own bathroom and sink. The bathroom was a tiny phone-booth like room that had a toilet and a shower. They actually recommended that you sit on the toilet seat as you took your shower (due to the movement of the train.) We had quite a good laugh over it all, but we sure did appreciate having a shower and a place to sleep. We slept for most of the trip between Chicago and Dallas.