Worldcon 2021 Trip Night 24/Day 25: Back to Chicago
When we got to New Orleans Union Passenger Depot on Wednesday, I asked about any room upgrades available. The station agent checked, and was able to upgrade us to a bedroom for the trip on the City of New Orleans to Chicago. It was Room A, which is the least-good of the bedrooms (it's smaller and oddly shaped due to having to make room for a kink in the aisle at the end of the car), but it's still better than a roomette.
Our trip north was uneventful. I can't include pictures because they're still on my phone and not yet uploaded to Flickr. I Tweeted a lot of stuff on the trip. Despite a number of minor train issues like the Positive Train Control going out (which reduced our speed until they could get it fixed) and times when the Head End Power failed and had to be reset), we arrived at Chicago at 9:40 AM, five minutes early. We stored our luggage at the Metropolitan Lounge and found an area where I could look through messages.
Not only are there no upgrades available on the California Zephyr, there is nothing on that train today. Every seat, every roomette, every bedroom is filled, today, tomorrow, and the next day. The Metropolitan Lounge agent says it's due to so many flight cancellations and people trying to get places by train instead.
So we have a 2 PM scheduled departure today from Chicago, and are scheduled to arrive back in the Bay area on the evening of January 1. We'll ring in the New Year in a roomette somewhere between Chicago and Emeryville. I'll be surprised if we get back to Emeryville even close to on time, but in this case, I hope to be surprised.
Once again, I don't expect to be online except in a limited way through my phone until we get back to the west coast late on January 1.
Our trip north was uneventful. I can't include pictures because they're still on my phone and not yet uploaded to Flickr. I Tweeted a lot of stuff on the trip. Despite a number of minor train issues like the Positive Train Control going out (which reduced our speed until they could get it fixed) and times when the Head End Power failed and had to be reset), we arrived at Chicago at 9:40 AM, five minutes early. We stored our luggage at the Metropolitan Lounge and found an area where I could look through messages.
Not only are there no upgrades available on the California Zephyr, there is nothing on that train today. Every seat, every roomette, every bedroom is filled, today, tomorrow, and the next day. The Metropolitan Lounge agent says it's due to so many flight cancellations and people trying to get places by train instead.
So we have a 2 PM scheduled departure today from Chicago, and are scheduled to arrive back in the Bay area on the evening of January 1. We'll ring in the New Year in a roomette somewhere between Chicago and Emeryville. I'll be surprised if we get back to Emeryville even close to on time, but in this case, I hope to be surprised.
Once again, I don't expect to be online except in a limited way through my phone until we get back to the west coast late on January 1.