It's official, we were in that train for too long. Remember how I said that the next time I would post it would be from New York? Weeeelllll, that didn't exactly work out haha. But there's a good reason for that!
Everything was going smoothly in the beginning. Our entire art history class met back at school at midnight, we caught our bus for Cincinnati and we even made good time getting to the train station in little over an hour and a half. All was swell and we were set to board our train at 3:30am. That is, until 3:00am rolled around and we get the news that we've been delayed until 4:30. Alright, an hour isn't so bad, we can deal with that.
Then comes 4:30...and we get delayed. Again. But still, it's okay. Sure the train statin floor isn't the most comfortable but hey we've got cards and snacks. And it's just two hours, we can deal.
5:30. Another delay. Now we're starting to get antsy. And grumpy.
6:30. Another delay. At this point, we're all ready to rip our hair out. We've resorted to curling up on the cement floor, or in the uncomfortable metal chairs, and using suitcases as pillows.
By 7:30 when the train finally rolled in, 4 hours late, all of us looked like zombies. All of us literally walked into our train car, collapsed into a chair, it didn't matter what chair or where it was, all that mattered was that it was comfortable. What followed next was The Great Sleep. How's that for exciting and drama-filled?
(Don't let the pictures fool you we weren't anywhere exciting -- they were taken as we were leaving Cincinnati in the morning.)
But if you know me well enough you'll know that I'm like a drama/disaster magnet and where there's some, there's always bound to be more. That's why our "exciting" train ride didn't end as we were pulling out of the train station. Also keep in mind that what was an eighteen hour trip had by now been extended into a twenty-two hour one.
So we're riding along - Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia - so far so good. A couple random stops to load fuel or fix something or another, and at this rate we're projected to get into New York at about 1/2am. But then, hold on hold on this is where it gets exciting, then our train just stops moving. Just like that. We stopped, in the middle of Virginia, amidst the cows and the fields (at this point it's probably nine or ten pm) and we do not move. And that's when the panic settled in...
Long story short, something had happened to the train, broken knuckle I think, and we were stopped for about 2 1/2 hours without any idea what was going on. We finally got into Penn Station in New York around 8am making our total train journey a full 24 hours and our entire journey somewhere near 30 hours.
Needless to say, I doubt I'll travel Amtrak up to New York again haha. Only flying for me from now on! Though I will mention this, take away the long hours, the delays, and everything els that went wrong, the train with all of us on there was positively entertaining and we kept occupied with copious amounts of food, movies, and wholesome conversation -- that aspect of the trip I didn't mind at all! :)
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