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After spending two days at Disney (Epcot and Hollywood Studios) and experiencing some of their transportation options, including the water taxi to both parks from my hotel as well as the Skyliner gondola, it was time to head back to Miami. I ended up using the $10 Uber credit they gave for...

After West Palm Beach, we began the long non-stop stretch to Orlando. While we had a few slowdowns during the Miami-West Palm Beach stretch, most of the trip north of West Palm Beach was at higher speed. It does seem a bit weird to have no stops on this two hour stretch - I do get that there are...

After we made our way up the escalator to the tracks, I found my way to the premium car (which was car 1). Some of the Brightline cars were confusingly labeled - it seems some of them had multiple car numbers on them, and only one of them was correct. Eventually went to the end and boarded the...

I’m spending a couple months in Miami to escape the Michigan winter. While I ended up flying to Miami (I thought of doing the new Floridian from Toledo to Miami, but wasn’t going to pay $1400 for a roomette on that), I definitely wanted to do a full Miami-Orlando roundtrip on Brightline at least...

Cool. I used to live in San Diego for 4 years (2012-2016 - 2 years in the downtown Marina district, and 2 years in University City near UCSD). Was back last winter - I hope you enjoy your stay there! I do know certain parts of downtown tend to attract homeless people (and did when I was there...

After arriving, I made my way to the baggage area, which I remember from leaving bags there after checking out of my hotel the last day of the Gathering. Everyone from the Canadian was waiting, and eventually they unloaded all the bags on a conveyor belt. Grabbed mine, put the duffel inside the...

Today marked our arrival into Toronto - and while it was scheduled for 2:34pm, it came quicker than I thought. I got up, showered and got everything ready for arrival, and then went for the early continental breakfast. They were telling us around noon for the arrival, which I kind of wished was...

Yesterday was spent traversing Northern Ontario. The landscapes were perhaps a bit more interesting than Saskatchewan as there were a lot of lakes, but as the temperature was significantly warmer (above freezing) there was no snow. There was also no cell signal to be had except for in the...

Yesterday was a lot of flat land - as I remember from my last time on the Canadian, Saskatchewan looks a lot like Nebraska (though unlike Nebraska, Saskatchewan is served during the day). However, the addition of snow made it more interesting to look at - there were some huge snowbanks, and I...

The rest of yesterday went good. The brunch yesterday was pretty good - the menu was quite similar to what we had for breakfast this morning. I had the transcontinental - would have probably preferred a regular lunch yesterday, but figured I’d pick something with protein (in this case eggs and...

One thing I forgot to mention - yesterday I ran into a passenger that was headed to Ottawa same day as Toronto arrival and was waiting to book a ticket when we were close to arrival. That seemed a bit risky to me - was very tempted to do basically the same (book a ticket on the last train to...

One side note - despite being off-season, this train is still LONG. Only one diner and less cars than in summer, but we still have at least 15 cars or so. I pictured the winter consist being MUCH smaller - like the size of a California Zephyr consist or something like that. Also, I did notice...

Last night went pretty well - mostly hung out in the Park Car except to listen to our Skyline car attendant talk about railroading and eating dinner in the dining car. The other passengers onboard seemed to be almost all Canadian - a stark contrast to the summer when you had more of a mix. A lot...

After the Grey Cup, it was time for the main event - riding the Canadian from Vancouver to Toronto. Almost all the way home, though instead of taking the VIA Corridor (and some buses unless I got picked up in Windsor). I originally intended to stay in Toronto a while and then take the Corridor...

Last year I took a ride on the VIA Corridor to the Grey Cup (Canadian football championship), taking transit both ways to/from Michigan. This year the Grey Cup was in Vancouver, which provided an intriguing trip opportunity - go to the Grey Cup and take the Canadian during off-peak season. I had...

I just got back from a trip to Chicago and ran into the Chicago Union Station construction. I was running late for the 350 Wolverine (6:45am departure is rough, but it was the only option that got me home before evening), and called an Uber to get there at 6:20. I put in Union Station, and...

Does VIA have an equivalent to the infamous AmStew?

I called VIA back to see if they could add the connecting train to Windsor to my reservation, and they said they could only do that if I cancelled and rebooked at the current points value. Also said that train #2 has been running late and cautioned that I may not make that transfer (and that...

Yes, I remember that. At the time, a document from Amtrak was distributed (leaked?), which included a schedule showing Wolverine 350 being extended to Windsor to connect to VIA. I don’t recall anything showing VIA going to Detroit, though that makes way more sense.

The one thing that seems weird about the ideas floated for resumption of US-Canada train service through Detroit is that they seem to favor sending Amtrak trains to Windsor, as opposed to sending VIA trains to Detroit. It would seem that the latter would make more sense - more people are...