Stayed at a hotel last night as wanted to be near the train station and it's actually in Emeryville not San Francisco. I got to the train station all ready to check my bag when the ever so polite lady (hear my sarcastic tone here) told me I couldn't check my bag in because I wasn't there in time even though nobody had mentioned that before. Anyway, it didn't really matter because they had racks on the train as you got on so I just left my bag down there.
The train was super spacious and the chair tilted back and a foot rest popped up so it was definitely going to be more comfy than I'd had on some buses. I went to check out the viewing car which is one whole car that just has big windows so you can watch what's going by, I took a few pictures of the journey but it was so sunny that you got a really bad glare from the windows in all the pictures. I sat and enjoyed the scenery but the viewing car seemed to have super strong air con and was freezing so I went and had a nap in my chair.
I spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out and then at about 630, I went into the restaurant car and was sat at a table with a young lad and an old lady. They we're both travelling alone as well and so we all started chatting, the old lady was 83 and was the cutest little thing. I asked her where she was travelling to on the train and in response I got a 40minute story about how she'd moved to San Francisco, worked with a guy called Jack, they won an egg throwing competition and he went on to be her husband for over 60 years before dying a few years ago. It was the sweetest story and I was completely engrossed but I never did find out where she was going to on the train haha!!
The young lad was of native American descent, YES technically met an Indian!!! He was a really nice guy and he came to sit next to me on the train for a few hours which is when I found out he was very peculiar!!
He started asking me if I believed in Spirits and ghosts; he told me how he had a young girl ghost that looked after him and saved his life, then he told me how another spirit had tried to kill him and his friend but by meditating they defeated it and then he told me that he would one day become a wolf. There were many more stories but by god, was he an entertaining fellow, eventually he went back to his cabin when I said I was tired!
The following day the train got super busy and all the seats were filling up, I sat next to a young Filipino girl called Micheline so that a couple could sit next to each other. She'd been living in New York for a while so at first I thought she was American, she was really nice and had a laptop with films on it so I was more than happy.
We got talking to the couple who had sat where I'd been and they told us how he had several problems with his heart and lungs and that she had cancer which was terminal so they were both actually travelling while they were still reasonably healthy, it was really sad.
The rest of the train journey consisted of junk food, when Harry met Sally, while you were sleeping and Pretty in Pink. All very old school films that of course I loved and said the dreaded line of "they just don't make films like this anymore"
The train journey was really pretty and a fun way to travel the country but boy was I ready for a shower after two and a half days.