Amtrak Auto Train or Bust!

Well, here we go! Of course I was still packing until the minute I had to leave to catch the Auto Train, courtesy of Amtrak, one of Biden's true loves somewhere behind Dr. Jill, Aviators, and ice cream.

When I decided to go on this trip I NOPE'd myself right out of driving the 17+ hours to Philly pretty quickly. I had driven to my place in Wilmington, NC in March to work on renovations and if I was remembering correctly it cost a few hundred dollars in gas alone, let alone all of that driving by myself gets dull even when I'm flush with podcasts and audio books (#pivot #podsavesamerica #somethingwaswrong #wecandohardthings #hysteria). So, I pulled up the Amtrak schedule and...$397 later, me and the CRV each had a ticket to ride.

The AAT (which it will henceforth be referred to) is a 2.5 hour drive from St.Pete, all highway - that cost me about another $20 in gas. I'll be left off in Lorton, VA (right outside of DC). I'm headed to Margate for a few days, but just for funsies if I was going to Philly we can guesstimate this trip would end up costing me $450. $450 for me to spend the bulk of my time in a comfy seat that reclines with a legrest and footrest, with a dining car, and wifi, so here I am, right here, on a train, writing this. I'm 3 hours in and I'm so happy I did this.

Speaking of, here's my seat. It's big! I have a nice sized window to watch the world go by, the tray table comes out and forward so it's easy and comfortable for me to sit back and type, and the rail under the window has two 3 prong plugs for charging. And, quite possibly the best part of all...I don't have a seat mate! I did check last night and saw that the train was at 80% capacity and I was a wishin' and a hopin' to be able to be aloooone. 17 hours is a long time to hang out next to a stranger in close quarters no matter the price point or convenience.

Another nice thing with the AAT is that you can bring a few pieces of luggage on board, including a cooler. I brought a backpack and a cooler bag. I'm a little beverage obsessed so I packed an abundance of Pepsi Zero and water along with my homemade snacklebox and I stopped by #Publix on my way and got a #pubsub for dinner/breakfast and stored it in my #Subsafe (hey, anyone wanna sponsor me?). I read that the food in the dining car is expensive and I figured "how good can it even be?" (sorry, Amtrak), and decided to just bring whatever I'd need.

So, here I am, 3 hours in, very happy with my decision. Only 14 hours to go! I hope I'm singing the same happy tune tomorrow morning, but to be honest I've already gotten so much done. Worked on my AirBNB guidebook, took care of some personal updates I needed to do, had a snacklebox break. I have my slippers and a blankie and my trtl neck pillow. I'm ready to snoozle. If you want to know what a trtl is just wait until I figure out how to set up an #Amazon storefront so I can share all of my favorite travel and other finds.

XOXO,

iamfunchris