Jaunted

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Surviving an 18-Hour Delay on Amtrak's Coast Starlight

Usually when we think of late December Amtrak travel through the Pacific Northwest, vivid nightmares come to mind, such as the possibility of being stranded in a snowdrift or having the dining car run out of hot chocolate. For Flickr members Lee and Mary, however, their journey on the Coast Starlight route up from SoCal to Seattle seems to be quite comfy thanks to a private room and plenty of old-timey movies.

In the end, however, Mother Nature decided to flex her muscles and dig them a serious delay:

Our trip northward was hampered by blizzard-like conditions which kept freezing the track switches. We lost many hours on these unscheduled stops while they un-stuck the switches. Then in Portland we had mechanical issues with one of our cars which required them to rearrange the order of the cars. This meant that we ended up spending a second night in the Portland station while they straightened all this mess out. In the end...we were 18 hours late arriving into Seattle!

Not cool, Mother Nature, not cool at all. Thankfully, their full review and video room tour did not include any tales of the cannibalism we'd expect from such a situation. Just for added kicks, let's check on the typical rates for two adults traveling the entire route in a private room: $594. That's what we thought; it's back to the airport for us.

[Photo: TangerineTreeHouse]

Related Stories:
· Lee and Mary's Coast Starlight Review [Flickr]
· Train Travel Coverage [Jaunted]