Trip Reports by our Clients:
CANADIAN WINTER -- COZY INSIDE, LANDSLIDES & -40 OUTSIDE
BY O. PETERSON
Dear Ted and Sylvia,
You recently made reservations for me on a trip from Albany NY to Tacoma WA via Toronto and Vancouver on AMTRAK and VIA rail. What a wonderful trip. Everything was just great, no hiccups in anything except the return from Seattle to Tacoma (more on that later)
The hotels you booked for us were great. Much nicer than we could ever have gotten for the same price. (The Royal York is superb).
Traveling from Albany to Toronto on AMTRAK was great. No problems at all.
The trip across Canada on VIA Rail was unbelivable. The accomodations were very comfortable (for their size) and service was well above expectations. Meals were great. You could really get used to that cusine (belive me, it was cusine not just food). Even though the weather outside was cold (minus 40 in Winnipeg - but what else is new) the train was toasty warm and very pleasant. Since the refitted those Budd cars with electric heat instead of steam heat, its evidently much better.
What amazed me is that we were on or ahead of schedule the entire trip until we hit a landslide coming into Vancouver. BUT, even though they had to reroute the train through Vancouver (over the old Great Northern line) and I am sure get a lot of extra clearances, the train was less than 30 minutes late. Unbelievable!
The bus trip from Vancouver to Seattle was OK but seating was a bit too cramped to be comfortable. The drive got us through customs without a hitch in record time (only about 15 minutes).
When we got to Seattle, things broke down a bit. We arrived late afternoon to find out that the line south from Seattle toward Portland (and Tacoma on the way) had been blocked by a landslide (yes another one) 3 hours earlier and AMTRAK was struggling to get a bus bridge organized. They had at least five or six busses and our bus, one of the last ones left only a few minutes after the scheduled departure time. Of course we were quite late getting into Tacoma by the bus which is to be expected on the highways around here at rush hour. To the bus driver's credit he kept his cool and helped everyone else keep their cool with gentle humor. A truly pleasant trip in what could have been a real nightmare situation.
All in all a great trip. Met a lot of good Canadian folks and had many lively discussions over the dinner table and in the observation car. Our understanding is that winter is the best time to travel this route as its less crowded. Our consis was only about 9 cars whereas in the summer peak the train can have up to 30 cars.
Thank you very much for a job well done.
I am planning another train trip from Seattle to Minneapolis in the near future and will contact you. By the way, could you send me a couple of your business cards. As I tell people about the great trip and great deal you got for us, I would like to pass along your card. It saves me a bit a hassle as well.
Thanks
O. Peterson
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