On 2-6-08 my wife and I drove from Central Kentucky to IND. Strong winds had me concerned about our flight to LAX the next day as I had heard a lot of flights in the Midwest had been cancelled.
We had a hotel at the airport so we could turn in early as we needed to be up at 4:00 AM to be at the airport at 5:30 for our 7:00 AM flight. Everything worked out and the plane only left 10 minutes late for the nonstop flight to LAX.
The plane was completely full but we had very good service and exceptionally nice attendants. There were several small children on the plane but they were very well behaved. No problems with them at all. We had a smooth flight until the Rockies where we had some turbulence, but nothing bad.
We arrived at LAX on time and claimed our luggage with no problems. We took the Fly-A-Way bus to LAUS. There were only 8 people on board. How can they make money? They did raise the price to $4.00 one way.
Traffic was very light at 9:30AM which allowed us to arrive at LAUS about 10:15 where we claimed our tickets and checked our bags for SBA on the 12:30 train.
LAUS Main Waiting Room
The agent weighed our bags at check in. So the 50 pound limit was going to be enforced, I guess.
Since I had some time to explore the station I was able to walk around and take some pictures and rest some in the very nice seating in the main waiting room. Here is a sample of those really good Union Bagel goods.
Union Bagels
I was also able to go out to track level and see some of the action going on.
The first thing I found was the Sierra Hotel car. Someone said it had come in on the Coast Starlight. Wish I could have gotten inside. Lots of other trains coming and going, too.
There I am on the Sierra Hotel Car
Amtrak 503 was placing a sightseer car.
This will be our motive power as we head north in a little while.
The boarding process is interesting for the Surf liners. There are two gates – E & F for South and Northbound.
But, after you walk through those gates you are simply back out in the main tunnel. There is nothing to stop you from going early other than not knowing which track the train will be on. They never post it. They just announce it at the gate. Many more people lined up for a south bound than north while we were there.
They called us right on time, we walked out to 11B, boarded, and we departed on time.
Business class on the Surf liner was a BIG disappointment. The BC car is the exact same car type as regular coach. In fact, our car interior looked in worse shape than the interior of the coach next to us. And, the attendant was not good. A lady named Shirley who couldn’t remember anything she was doing. She took drink orders and then forgot to bring them to us. I had to go remind her she had forgotten us. Very slow, unorganized service. She wanted to stop and chat with people and then, again, she forgot what she had been doing and had to start all over again. She messed up several passengers’ orders and this caused delays. We were supposed to have a newspaper – never saw one.
The snack they provided wasn’t much, either. We had delayed not having lunch in the station as we wanted to eat on the train just to experience it. I knew it was a café car, but not anywhere as nice as on business class on a Midwest regional train café car. I had the Angus Burger and it didn’t compare to the ones I had last year traveling in and out of Chicago in those café cars.
Lots of snow on the mountains as we headed north. They had some bad storms recently.
Just south of Ventura we had to wait for two UP freights ahead of us. Sat for about 10 minutes and then were able to move. So, 10-15 minutes late into SBA.
And here is the beautiful SBA station.
We will be in the SBA area until 2/12 and will then take a Surf liner back to LAUS to catch #4 to Chicago and #50 to IND. As we will have about 6 hours in LA, WhoozOn1st will be our tour guide for some of the tourist sights in the area.
More reports later on the upcoming parts of the trip.
I must say, LAUS looks like a great place to have The Gathering in October. Lots of trains coming and going, Metro Link, Metro Rail trains, many Amtrak trains in and out all the time. We won’t want for things to do and see.
To see all the pictures from this first day of our trip, visit this Link
We had a hotel at the airport so we could turn in early as we needed to be up at 4:00 AM to be at the airport at 5:30 for our 7:00 AM flight. Everything worked out and the plane only left 10 minutes late for the nonstop flight to LAX.
The plane was completely full but we had very good service and exceptionally nice attendants. There were several small children on the plane but they were very well behaved. No problems with them at all. We had a smooth flight until the Rockies where we had some turbulence, but nothing bad.
We arrived at LAX on time and claimed our luggage with no problems. We took the Fly-A-Way bus to LAUS. There were only 8 people on board. How can they make money? They did raise the price to $4.00 one way.
Traffic was very light at 9:30AM which allowed us to arrive at LAUS about 10:15 where we claimed our tickets and checked our bags for SBA on the 12:30 train.
LAUS Main Waiting Room
The agent weighed our bags at check in. So the 50 pound limit was going to be enforced, I guess.
Since I had some time to explore the station I was able to walk around and take some pictures and rest some in the very nice seating in the main waiting room. Here is a sample of those really good Union Bagel goods.
Union Bagels
I was also able to go out to track level and see some of the action going on.
The first thing I found was the Sierra Hotel car. Someone said it had come in on the Coast Starlight. Wish I could have gotten inside. Lots of other trains coming and going, too.
There I am on the Sierra Hotel Car
Amtrak 503 was placing a sightseer car.
This will be our motive power as we head north in a little while.
The boarding process is interesting for the Surf liners. There are two gates – E & F for South and Northbound.
But, after you walk through those gates you are simply back out in the main tunnel. There is nothing to stop you from going early other than not knowing which track the train will be on. They never post it. They just announce it at the gate. Many more people lined up for a south bound than north while we were there.
They called us right on time, we walked out to 11B, boarded, and we departed on time.
Business class on the Surf liner was a BIG disappointment. The BC car is the exact same car type as regular coach. In fact, our car interior looked in worse shape than the interior of the coach next to us. And, the attendant was not good. A lady named Shirley who couldn’t remember anything she was doing. She took drink orders and then forgot to bring them to us. I had to go remind her she had forgotten us. Very slow, unorganized service. She wanted to stop and chat with people and then, again, she forgot what she had been doing and had to start all over again. She messed up several passengers’ orders and this caused delays. We were supposed to have a newspaper – never saw one.
The snack they provided wasn’t much, either. We had delayed not having lunch in the station as we wanted to eat on the train just to experience it. I knew it was a café car, but not anywhere as nice as on business class on a Midwest regional train café car. I had the Angus Burger and it didn’t compare to the ones I had last year traveling in and out of Chicago in those café cars.
Lots of snow on the mountains as we headed north. They had some bad storms recently.
Just south of Ventura we had to wait for two UP freights ahead of us. Sat for about 10 minutes and then were able to move. So, 10-15 minutes late into SBA.
And here is the beautiful SBA station.
We will be in the SBA area until 2/12 and will then take a Surf liner back to LAUS to catch #4 to Chicago and #50 to IND. As we will have about 6 hours in LA, WhoozOn1st will be our tour guide for some of the tourist sights in the area.
More reports later on the upcoming parts of the trip.
I must say, LAUS looks like a great place to have The Gathering in October. Lots of trains coming and going, Metro Link, Metro Rail trains, many Amtrak trains in and out all the time. We won’t want for things to do and see.
To see all the pictures from this first day of our trip, visit this Link