Why I Rode An Amtrak Train for 46 Hours In One Weekend

There are a handful of things that a traveler such as myself can do to push the limits of their love of travel - take an 18-hour non-stop flight, sit on a boat for a week to get to Antarctica, do a roadtrip across America, and such. While Antarctica is still on my list (my original intention was to go for December/January 2019 but it looks like I'll delay it another year), my travel adventuring wanderlust fulfilling adventures tend to need to occur in the span of a weekend. That limits the general list of things I could do and pretty much all of them have been done! The only trip I could think of to push the limits of my wanderlust is a marathon Amtrak ride.

I got the idea years ago when I was severely under-employed and I saw an article that Amtrak was giving away free tickets to writers who wanted to ride the rails and have enough peace and quiet to get some real work done while watching the American countryside go by. It seemed romantic and a great way to pass all the new free time I had at the time. Unfortunately you had to have some kind of journalist credentials or be a published author, of which I have neither, and so the fantasy wafted to the back of my mind for another day.

After a misfire last year, that day had finally come on Friday March 9, 2018. I had done some research to try and figure out what to expect, finding only a slightly outdated YouTube video mini-series from a journalist for Amtrak who vlogged her way from New York to Chicago. When I told my coworkers and boss what my plans were for this weekend, they thought I was insane. "That's crazy! Well actually with a sleeper car it's not that bad I guess." NOPE! I did not get the sleeper car. Why? It was actually pretty expensive and would've taken my $160 ticket to about $500, and because it felt like cheating. When I was cramped in the back of my families car packed with way too many bags for a 24-hour straight drive to Chicago or Florida I didn't have a bed. When I flew to Australia and was in steerage for nearly 19-hours straight I didn't have a lay flat seat/bed.

For this to truly challenge my love of an adventure and travel it would have to be hard, and on a budget. This trip is going to be my version of a "Tough Mudder" or "Spartan" race. It might bring me to the brink of insanity but I look forward to looking out over the edge and seeing if it changes me upon my return.