The Train Ride

Outer Journey

As I packed up the last of my bags and said goodbye to Dexter (my 106lb German Shepherd baby) I began to get a bit anxious at the fact that I was leaving for a week and leaving my 20 year old son in charge of what I feel is quite a bit of responsibility. I place my large suitcase, my carry on bag, my large fuzzy blanket and body pillow and my backpack full of snacks, medicine, my laptop and chargers into my snazzy white challenger and as I sit in the drivers seat I take one last deep breath before starting it up. Right before I back out of the driveway I look up at my house and of course I see my sweet furbaby peeking at me under the blinds as to wave goodbye :(
The drive to the train station was long as I drove by myself. The radio station playing Christian music as I talk to God asking him to watch over us all and ensure that we are safe.
Once I arrive at the train station it is all very new to me, it seems dirty and unsafe. I drive up the wrong way into the bus terminal and was quickly approached by two men who smelled of marijuana and booze tried to lean in my cracked window to advise me to move quickly and go around the building. As I finally found the correct place to park I found friends to help me carry my luggage into the terminal. The first floor was were people sat and waited for the bus, this floor seemed to have quite a few people who seemed homeless because they were either sleeping on the benches or their hygiene was not the best. The chairs were metal and hard which seemed very difficult to sleep on but if you have nowhere else to sleep this may be your only option. As we got to the second floor, which was the train station the atmosphere was different.The smell was better, it was cleaner and there was no one there sleeping or lounging waiting around. This is where we waited until we got to board the train. From when we checked our luggage, which was 8:30 p.m. we had to keep ourselves entertained until we could board the train at 10:30 p.m. This could have been the longest two hours since waiting for paint to dry in my bedroom. We were all tired and anxiously awaiting a trip we had all been so excited about.

Finally, it is time to board the train! We are all in a line with our carry-on luggage, looking like newbies with our pillows, blankets and loads of carry-on bags. Looking at the train it looks just like what it would look like in the movies, the conductors in their hats directing the guests to which car to get on as the smoke from the train billows out from underneath the train just like in the movies. Once inside the train we find our seats which are very roomy, unlike in an airplane, there is plenty of leg room. The seats were quite close together but there is much more room then on an airplane and there is no armrest in between one another to separate to two of you. Once we placed all of our belongings above us I pulled out my large gray fluffy blanket, a black smooth bubble eyed well fitted eye mask that was perfect for blocking out the light that lit up the train car and my life saving cpap *wink* and tried my best to get some sleep. The rocking back and forth of the train and the sound of the train on the tracks was soothing and could be the perfect sound for a sound machine. I couldn't sleep very well because to me the seats were not comfortable at all, I am tall and the seat didn't allow me to stretch all the way out. I enjoy curling up a little and because I am a bigger woman if I would have curled up I would have used my classmate as a body pillow because of the seats being so close together. So I had to sleep on my back with my knees slightly bent and my feet were sometimes on the floor, which for me is not comfortable. So I fully took advantage of the many opportunities I received throughout the entire train ride to take as many naps as I could.

After approximately 17 hours of sitting on a crowded, hard, uncomfortable train seat anxiously awaiting our arrival, like I was going to Disney World as a child, it was time to finally meet the city of New Orleans.  Waiting for our uber you could hear the sounds of the city already. The music, the excitement and the fast pace of the city life. You could feel yourself holding on tightly to your belongings as you knew who to watch as they came a little too close to you, it became quite apparent that they could smell the newbie travelers quite quickly.

Inner Journey

I have been anticipating this trip and wasn't really worried about any of the drive over to the station, the possible wait time or the train ride but I was completely surprised at what I actually felt when it came down to it all. I got more nervous the closer it came to leaving my house, the closer I got to the train station the more anxious I got and as we got settled on the train I was not as comfortable as I thought I was going to be so it was a very long ride. Sometimes when you expect the best of the best it doesn't turn out to be as great as it seemed to be but I made the best of the situation.