USA Rail Journey: Day 1 — NYC to Chicago
I am always early. I leave 1 hour before even though I know I need only 20 minutes to reach. I reached NY Penn Station at 2:30 PM and my train was scheduled to depart at 3:40 PM. The Amtrak receptionist gave a weird look. “Come back after 40 minutes and the track no. will be mentioned”, she scorned.
An hour later, I was comfortably seated. The recliner seats, I must say, are so much more better than economy class flight seats. The train chugged along the Hudson river. New York to Albany route is considered one of the best train routes in US. Across the Hudson valley, the train passed through and my phone camera couldn’t keep up with what I was seeing.
The interesting thing about traveling solo is the random discussion with fellow passengers. Behind me, a man aged about 70 is seated. He regularly travels from NYC to Chicago on this train. He reminisced about how American Railroad was 30 years ago and how it is now. A middle aged man, joined the discussion. He is traveling from NYC to LA via Chicago. He is taking the Southwest Chief train that runs from Chicago to LA. Our train is running 2 and half hours late and this gentleman has only 4 hours layover at Chicago Union station. Hopefully he makes it to the Southwest Chief. Last night at dinner, I spoke to a retired English Professor from Chicago. He told me stories about how he goes to France to teach English, every year for 4 months. He is interested in Architecture and asked me what places he should visit in India other than Taj Mahal. In return, he treated me with a Cheesecake. Here are some of the pics I took during the journey.
I can now see Lake Michigan on my left side. Looks like, Chicago is here! I am spending a day in Chicago and catching the California Zephyr train to Omaha, Nebraska tomorrow afternoon.
