Vente

Time to cross something else off of the good ol' bucket list! And time to update my readers on where I'm at!

On Tuesday morning I boarded the bus bound for Milwaukee. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a trip! Wisconsin is lovely in the spring! I had so many mixed emotions about leaving, but I'll explain all of that another time. =) This post is about number 20 on my bucket list: Take a trip by train

In Milwaukee I switched from the bus to the train. The first part of my train trip was relatively short, going from Milwaukee to Chicago. Once I boarded in Chicago, though, I spend the next 21 and a half hours on the train. I learned a lot in that time. lol

First off, trains *are* better than buses. Traveling by bus feels like you're traveling mostly with lower class or even low-life people. Traveling by train feels more upper class. Even if not all of the passengers were high class people, they behaved like they were! (Read: much less swearing, no smoking, etc)

One problem that I had with the train was the price of food and such. I didn't bring as many snacks with me as I should have. I spent $6 on a tiny pizza. So on my next train trip I am going to pack more of my own food and definitely bring a couple of bottles of my own water.

Another thing that I learned is that if you want to be on time, Amtrak is probably not the best way to travel. My train ended up being over an hour late pulling into Charlottesville. The people working on the train as well as other passengers confirmed that this was normal. Apparently, the only destination that they make on time is either Philly or DC.

For overnight traveling, I really think that it depends on circumstances. If you can only have one seat to yourself, trains win for comfort. But if the seat next to you is empty, I was actually more comfortable on the bus than on the train. I suppose it really varies, though. Different buses/trains have different seats.

Trains definitely win in the luggage department. The first three checked bags are free, unlike buses and airlines. HUGE bonus there! They also transfer your luggage for you, while Greyhound does not. I found that to be very nice. It's not always fun to be lugging around two suitcases along with whatever carry-on items. Furthermore, Amtrak treated my luggage a lot better. With the exception of one of my suitcase handles getting ripped, my bags were fine. Whereas Greyhound? Don't even get me started. Mom and Dad bought me a great luggage set for Christmas and the bus trip was my first time to use it. Both suitcases suffered various rips and tears as well as getting completely filthy.

So that's the run-down on my recent travel experiences! I'm going to go see if I can get a few other posts in the works and get back into blogging!