bobnjulie
Lead Service Attendant
After a nightmare “flucation” where I got hit with a Norovirus variation on the first flight on the first day, I really needed to get away before my job gets really busy again. We talked about multiple trips, including the California Zephyr but it was so overpriced, that we finally decided on a 3 day trip.
We arrived at San Jose International Airport at 4:45 for our 6:30 Alaska Air flight to Vancouver, checked our bag and waited for a wheelchair for me. We waited and waited and finally gave up, wanting to get through security and relax before the lines started to get really long and since the gate was fairly close to security I thought we’d be fine. We got through the initial paperwork inspection quickly since I use two crutches but that’s when things got bad. I took off my mobility vest and put that and my crutches through the xray machine but kept my shoes on since my ticket had the precheck and I’d kept my shoes on before. Then I approached the scanner and they asked if I could go through. I thought I’d have to try since the traditional scanner was blocked off. I go in and they tell me to raise my arms above my head. No way would I be able to do that. With my best effort and almost falling, they told me that they would have to pat me down since I was bent over. Fine. Then they told me to sit down for some reason and rubbed my legs, foot drop braces and shoes. They discovered “bomb” residue and started searching my bags and took me to another room for yet another pat down and more searching. By this time I’m nearly in tears…. and was finally released to get to the about 5 minutes before the flight.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10207612301922364&l=9fa974c2ac
I was ready to just go home but actually had the best flight of my life, sitting with Mark who works for Google and Mary who works at Stanford. We talked about everything including Trump and laughed and even got the stewardesses to join in and laugh with us. Luckily I had a wheelchair when we landed at Seattle and made a very easy transition from the terminal where we landed to the terminal where we took off. That flight went very quick and again, with an angel with a wheelchair we were quickly through customs and the airport and off to the SkyTrain. I was amazed at how much I remembered from our trip in May and we quickly made to Pacific Central to store our luggage and back to Canada Place to catch a “free” bus to visit the Capilano Suspension Bridge. The bus driver was actually wonderful and pointed out sights along the way and was very enjoyable. After a quick ride, we arrived at the park and paid the steep price to go in. Since I don’t do stairs well, we did the Suspension Bridge and the Cliffwalk. Was it worth the price? We think so but we are easily pleased. It was fun to oh and ahhh… easy to get to and tromp around in the rain but you should be fit and leave a couple of hours to fully enjoy the park. We caught the bus back with the same and asked about grocery stores. We actually took the SkyTrain one stop past the train station and walked just around the corner to Safeway to stock up on peanut butter and get some treats for our Canadian neighbors, including Ruffles, smarties and mars bars! We popped back to the train station and caught the 5:35 Cascades train to Seattle. It was getting dark but you could tell how special this trip would be… we will be back. After almost forgetting the banana I purchased at Safeway, we easily made past our customs at the border and arrived in Seattle a few minutes before 10. We had not experienced the renovated King Street Station and were amazed at the difference from our last visit in 2012. They did an amazing job. A quick cab trip with an amazing driver who found a pharmacy for me and then dropped us off at the Executive Hotel Pacific just before 10:35. A quick check-in, organizing luggage and arranging a 6:30 wake up call finally found in bed around 11 p.m. What a day!
I woke up early, of course, so by the time 6:45 arrived, we were ready for our breakfast adventure. Let me just say that if your hotel gives you directions, FOLLOW them. I, of course, was terrified of Pike Place hill and so ended up going up and down tons of stairs, getting completely turned around and overshooting Pike Place Market… only to arrive on the bottom floor and climb all those stairs since the elevator was out! Our goal was finally achieve. Having read about Lowell’s from another trip report, I was determined to eat there. It was well worth the 30+ minutes of torture because it was amazing. Bob had the French toast and I had the Crab omelet. Delish! After admitting my error and buying breakfast, we (mister) decided to walk back with the directions the hotel gave us. A quick and easy walk back to our hotel, a call for a cab and away we went to catch the Coast Starlight. We’d been told last night that the Parlour Car was on the train but you never know, so you know how delighted we were when we actually saw her!
We had the best attendant….Louie. He was just great. When we first got to our roomette, I started nesting and kicked off my shoes and my socks got wet! I went down and let him know and he immediately shifted us to another room. Once we got settled in and Louie came by, we went to the Parlour Car. What was the most amazing is that while the 2 sleeper cars were full, at one point, Louie walked past, counted to 5 and said “These are all mine….” At some points during the trip, there were only 2 or 3 of us.
We actually got to have lunch in the Parlour Car after enjoying the scenery leaving Seattle. We actually got to make dinner reservations for the Parlour Car while we were eating. Once we ate, my husband popped back to the roomette for a nice nap and I settled in the Parlour Car to enjoy the view and Portland. They announced the wine tasting but I wanted to watch the movie so I actually got to have a taste of the wine and watched the afternoon movie as my husband napped.
Once the movie was over, we met back in the roomette for bit before we moved back to the Parlour Car where we waited for dinner. There were 3 of us in there so it felt like our own personal car. After dinner, we went back to our car to tell Louie so he could put our bed down for the night and then went to watch the movie and then to bed.
It’s so funny. I must know the movement and am determined to not peek, but I always wake up during the slow switchbacks that I was awake for on our first trip. Of course, I was determined not to watch the headlight of the train… and then of course, just had to watch…. I love this section so much. I finally laid back down… and heard the noise of first one tunnel…and then another.. and I knew that we were getting ready to go over the bridge at Shasta Dam…. Sure enough, after a couple of more tunnels, that magical metallic clanking as we crossed the bridge.
After being up in the middle of the night, I woke up at 6:38, in time for a shower and the realization that we were running about an hour late. I woke my husband up but since we’d arrived at Sacramento and there was no water, we decided to go to the dining car for a breakfast of pancakes and then have my husband shower after. We stayed in the Parlour Car until after Oakland and then moved back to our roomette to pack up for detraining. Before we left the Parlour Car, I reminded my husband that we were going to buy a bottle of wine and while there, I spotted a Snickers bar that had “Ornery” on it instead of Snickers… Well I know who that had to belong to. We bought it and then I went up to Louie and said “I have a tip for you” and handed him the Snickers bar. He had the biggest grin on his face. I had to take a picture of him with it and then my husband got a bunny-ears free picture of the two of us. We had been teasing each other back and forth the entire trip so it was really nice to have one more giggle with each other. Soon it was San Jose and time to detrain.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10207613101702358&l=15d7885878
Our trip was so perfect that the Starlight was late enough that we had to rush to catch the Caltrain to Santa Clara. That stop has a bus that goes right to the airport for free. The only problem is that there was a soccer game and there were a ton of fans that hopped on the bus which had the extra service and extra stop for the soccer stadium. Once they left, it was a quick left in to the airport and a stop close by for us to walk to the car and plan our next trip.
As a follow up, I did call to complain and a TSA supervisor called and gave me a phone number for TSA Cares. It’s a program for travelers who need extra help getting through security. You call 72 hours ahead of your flight and someone can help walk you through the process so if I ever fly again, I will definitely utilize this process…along with cleaning my shoes!!!
We arrived at San Jose International Airport at 4:45 for our 6:30 Alaska Air flight to Vancouver, checked our bag and waited for a wheelchair for me. We waited and waited and finally gave up, wanting to get through security and relax before the lines started to get really long and since the gate was fairly close to security I thought we’d be fine. We got through the initial paperwork inspection quickly since I use two crutches but that’s when things got bad. I took off my mobility vest and put that and my crutches through the xray machine but kept my shoes on since my ticket had the precheck and I’d kept my shoes on before. Then I approached the scanner and they asked if I could go through. I thought I’d have to try since the traditional scanner was blocked off. I go in and they tell me to raise my arms above my head. No way would I be able to do that. With my best effort and almost falling, they told me that they would have to pat me down since I was bent over. Fine. Then they told me to sit down for some reason and rubbed my legs, foot drop braces and shoes. They discovered “bomb” residue and started searching my bags and took me to another room for yet another pat down and more searching. By this time I’m nearly in tears…. and was finally released to get to the about 5 minutes before the flight.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10207612301922364&l=9fa974c2ac
I was ready to just go home but actually had the best flight of my life, sitting with Mark who works for Google and Mary who works at Stanford. We talked about everything including Trump and laughed and even got the stewardesses to join in and laugh with us. Luckily I had a wheelchair when we landed at Seattle and made a very easy transition from the terminal where we landed to the terminal where we took off. That flight went very quick and again, with an angel with a wheelchair we were quickly through customs and the airport and off to the SkyTrain. I was amazed at how much I remembered from our trip in May and we quickly made to Pacific Central to store our luggage and back to Canada Place to catch a “free” bus to visit the Capilano Suspension Bridge. The bus driver was actually wonderful and pointed out sights along the way and was very enjoyable. After a quick ride, we arrived at the park and paid the steep price to go in. Since I don’t do stairs well, we did the Suspension Bridge and the Cliffwalk. Was it worth the price? We think so but we are easily pleased. It was fun to oh and ahhh… easy to get to and tromp around in the rain but you should be fit and leave a couple of hours to fully enjoy the park. We caught the bus back with the same and asked about grocery stores. We actually took the SkyTrain one stop past the train station and walked just around the corner to Safeway to stock up on peanut butter and get some treats for our Canadian neighbors, including Ruffles, smarties and mars bars! We popped back to the train station and caught the 5:35 Cascades train to Seattle. It was getting dark but you could tell how special this trip would be… we will be back. After almost forgetting the banana I purchased at Safeway, we easily made past our customs at the border and arrived in Seattle a few minutes before 10. We had not experienced the renovated King Street Station and were amazed at the difference from our last visit in 2012. They did an amazing job. A quick cab trip with an amazing driver who found a pharmacy for me and then dropped us off at the Executive Hotel Pacific just before 10:35. A quick check-in, organizing luggage and arranging a 6:30 wake up call finally found in bed around 11 p.m. What a day!
I woke up early, of course, so by the time 6:45 arrived, we were ready for our breakfast adventure. Let me just say that if your hotel gives you directions, FOLLOW them. I, of course, was terrified of Pike Place hill and so ended up going up and down tons of stairs, getting completely turned around and overshooting Pike Place Market… only to arrive on the bottom floor and climb all those stairs since the elevator was out! Our goal was finally achieve. Having read about Lowell’s from another trip report, I was determined to eat there. It was well worth the 30+ minutes of torture because it was amazing. Bob had the French toast and I had the Crab omelet. Delish! After admitting my error and buying breakfast, we (mister) decided to walk back with the directions the hotel gave us. A quick and easy walk back to our hotel, a call for a cab and away we went to catch the Coast Starlight. We’d been told last night that the Parlour Car was on the train but you never know, so you know how delighted we were when we actually saw her!
We had the best attendant….Louie. He was just great. When we first got to our roomette, I started nesting and kicked off my shoes and my socks got wet! I went down and let him know and he immediately shifted us to another room. Once we got settled in and Louie came by, we went to the Parlour Car. What was the most amazing is that while the 2 sleeper cars were full, at one point, Louie walked past, counted to 5 and said “These are all mine….” At some points during the trip, there were only 2 or 3 of us.
We actually got to have lunch in the Parlour Car after enjoying the scenery leaving Seattle. We actually got to make dinner reservations for the Parlour Car while we were eating. Once we ate, my husband popped back to the roomette for a nice nap and I settled in the Parlour Car to enjoy the view and Portland. They announced the wine tasting but I wanted to watch the movie so I actually got to have a taste of the wine and watched the afternoon movie as my husband napped.
Once the movie was over, we met back in the roomette for bit before we moved back to the Parlour Car where we waited for dinner. There were 3 of us in there so it felt like our own personal car. After dinner, we went back to our car to tell Louie so he could put our bed down for the night and then went to watch the movie and then to bed.
It’s so funny. I must know the movement and am determined to not peek, but I always wake up during the slow switchbacks that I was awake for on our first trip. Of course, I was determined not to watch the headlight of the train… and then of course, just had to watch…. I love this section so much. I finally laid back down… and heard the noise of first one tunnel…and then another.. and I knew that we were getting ready to go over the bridge at Shasta Dam…. Sure enough, after a couple of more tunnels, that magical metallic clanking as we crossed the bridge.
After being up in the middle of the night, I woke up at 6:38, in time for a shower and the realization that we were running about an hour late. I woke my husband up but since we’d arrived at Sacramento and there was no water, we decided to go to the dining car for a breakfast of pancakes and then have my husband shower after. We stayed in the Parlour Car until after Oakland and then moved back to our roomette to pack up for detraining. Before we left the Parlour Car, I reminded my husband that we were going to buy a bottle of wine and while there, I spotted a Snickers bar that had “Ornery” on it instead of Snickers… Well I know who that had to belong to. We bought it and then I went up to Louie and said “I have a tip for you” and handed him the Snickers bar. He had the biggest grin on his face. I had to take a picture of him with it and then my husband got a bunny-ears free picture of the two of us. We had been teasing each other back and forth the entire trip so it was really nice to have one more giggle with each other. Soon it was San Jose and time to detrain.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10207613101702358&l=15d7885878
Our trip was so perfect that the Starlight was late enough that we had to rush to catch the Caltrain to Santa Clara. That stop has a bus that goes right to the airport for free. The only problem is that there was a soccer game and there were a ton of fans that hopped on the bus which had the extra service and extra stop for the soccer stadium. Once they left, it was a quick left in to the airport and a stop close by for us to walk to the car and plan our next trip.
As a follow up, I did call to complain and a TSA supervisor called and gave me a phone number for TSA Cares. It’s a program for travelers who need extra help getting through security. You call 72 hours ahead of your flight and someone can help walk you through the process so if I ever fly again, I will definitely utilize this process…along with cleaning my shoes!!!
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I'm glad the trip got so much better after the annoying start.
