Auto Train

After spending Saturday night at my parents condo and Sunday night at my brothers house, on Monday we took the overnight auto train from Lorton, Virginia (about 40 miles from my brothers and not far from DC) to Sanford, Florida (near Orlando).

It was very easy. You pull right up to the station, they slap a magnet number on your car, and you put your carry ons onto a cart, leaving all your luggage in your car. Then you go inside and get your boarding passes. There is a huge waiting area and a shop with a place to sit and eat. You can see the train right outside the window where we were sitting, below. Straight ahead is where they load all the cars onto the train. we had enough time to relax, have some drinks and snacks, look in the gift shop (behind in the photo off camera), and for me to make some business calls.

At 2:30pm it was time to board the train. I was surprised to see it was a double decker and we were on the top level. Luckily, since everything was up there- the lounge and dining cars, etc. The bathrooms were downstairs. we were in coach, it was very roomy. here is Shayna in her seat:

Shayna and Skyler in the seat. The legrest comes all the way up to make it cozy:

when we first got on the train we walked around to see all the different cars. Maybe if we go again we'll get a sleeper car, as it was tough to sleep in coach. Skyler loved opening the doors between the cars and wouldn't let us press the button that opens them.

They had a really nice activity book and crayons.

Here is the lounge car. There are huge windows so you can see the scenery. In the booklet that comes with the boarding pass it gives you a timeline of where you will be at each time. They had some basic snacks like small pretzels, and coffee.

They also had bananas and oranges. Shayna took this photo:

Skyler fell asleep. I had brought a lot of things to read but spent most of the time talking and meeting the girl scout moms from south florida sitting in front of me. they were so friendly and came over to talk to me after hearing we were moving to Boca. They were all from broward and dade counties, fort lauderdale and miami areas (south of us). They had gone on a girl scout trip to DC.

At 7:30pm it was time for dinner, in the dining car. That was fun, although the food was just OK. Skyler wouldn't eat the chicken fingers and he almost always eats them, so that says a lot about the quality. They give you a whole carafe of wine with dinner...maybe to help you sleep!

At about 9:30pm, the lights go out, and about everyone goes to sleep. everyone except skyler, since he took a nap. I think by 10:30pm he and shayna - somewhat- went to sleep, as did I, as it was extremely uncomfortable, but we managed.

Around 6:00 or 6:30am the lights came on and the train came alive. I felt like I was in summer camp. Around 7:00 am or so, we meandered over to the dining car for breakfast, which was some warm bagels and cream cheese, muffins, juice, cereal, and coffee. Not bad and better than dinner.

I think the train arrived around 8:15am or so. After getting off the train, you wait for your car number to be called as they come off the train. This takes a little while, and we were one of the last to be called, but I didn't mind. It was nice and breezy in the station, and very bright and airy. It was so wonderful to be in Florida.

When our number was called, we went right out to the car (its like valet). Then off for the 3-4 hour drive to our new house in Boca Raton.