Day 3: 2/14/15. Los Angeles to Long Beach

Day 3:  Los Angeles to Long Beach

We got up at 5:00 AM because we were scheduled for early arrival in LA.  In a nearly empty dining card we ate with a couple from near Syracuse, NY.  They were also grandparents who enjoyed talking about them.  After breakfast we went back to our room to gather up our stuff.

The train was moving quickly..no more fresh air breaks for the smokers.   Getting off at this stop, be ready, because we are leaving as soon as you are off. The train was into making up time...an hour and half.  We arrived in Los Angeles only 12 minutes late.  Hooray for Amtrak.

We walked through a very busy LA station.  We called Jess, checked out the rose gardens, and waited for Jess and Terry to arrive.   We had an awful lemonade and were reading the paper when Jess found us.  We stuffed our luggage into her Mazda and set off for Long Beach.  We parked in Terry's old stomping ground.  We walked around, had some coffee, and walked some more.  We went to a restaurant called Islands for lunch.  I had a teriyaki chicken bowl which was excellent.  The rest of the group had chicken sandwiches.   Like New York sandwiches were a tad more expensive than in the Quad Cities. 

After a huge lunch, we walked back to the car.  Exercise was good.  Jess and terry superbly navigated to our hotel...the Residence Inn.   The hotel had been full the night before, and they had no rooms available yet, but we waited quite comfortably by the pool with a temporary key and a password to the wifi.  We were assigned to room 1009 which had a beautiful view of the harbor and the Queen Mary.  

We moved into our room and sat and watched tv.  We bought Stouffer's Mac and cheese  at the little market by the desk.  We watched tv until bedtime which was early.

Day 2: On the train

Day 2:  13 February 2015

We woke up around 6:30.   After getting ready we headed to the dining car, which was right behind our car.  We ate breakfast with a fellow and his third grade son from Kansas City.  They didn't seem to know much about the area.  The little boy and I talked about school.

We crossed into Mountain time as we crossed into Colorado.  The landscape began to change.   There were foothills.   Soon we began to see real mountains with snow on them.  They are always magnificent no matter if they aren't the really high mountains.   Southern Colorado does not have the really big mountains, but they were big.   The train wound up and down and around making my ears pop and pop.


We had dining car reservations for 7:00; however because of the electrical issues, dinner was late.  By the time our group was seated, they were out of rolls, salads and dessert, except for 4 sugar free vanilla pudding cups.  The petite steak with wine sauce was wonderful.

We ate with a couple from Albuquerque.  She was an excellent and talented art director for a company that published 17 magazines.   She old us that this was so.  Her significant other was either a musician or a student of "knowing everything about the human body."   They were headed to LA for Valentines day.   Interesting people.

The dining car and the windows and our car attendant provided most of the entertainment for the day.       The rest of the time we read our books and kept trying to take the perfect picture out of the train windows.

By the time we crossed into California we were about an hour and a half late.

The interesting dirt and sand in New Mexico.   This town looks like belongs in an old time western.

   A sand and scrubby treed foothill

 San Bernadino Amtrak Station

  Train station garden in Los Angeles

Inside LA train station 

Day 1: 2/12.....Leaving

Day 1:  12 February 2015

This morning we finished cleaning the house, doing the last of the errands, and I finally finished packing.  We, actually I, triple checked the trip notebook which has everything from tickets to visas to reservations.   Everything was done.  We were cleaned up ourselves and were ready to go when Ian came to pick us up.

We left for Galesburg too early, but Ian was quite patient with me and we left two hours before train time.  We got to the station an hour before the train, but we did get to see the California Zephyr go out on its way to San Francisco.

After the Zephyr left we went to the station to wait for our train. Our train came in on time.   Ian helped us with the luggage out to the train and our car attendant helped us with the luggage to our room which was upstairs.   Packing the suitcases to stay in our room was a mistake.....room not as large as it looked on website.  However, the room was amazing.  We had a couch that made into a bed...bigger than the usual cot size.  There was also a bunk that lowered from the ceiling.  In addition there was also a chair in the room.  We also had our own bathroom and shower facility.  Pretty amazing!  Granted we paid for the bigger room, but it was worth every penny for the long trip to Los Angeles.

Meals are included with the first class room.  Our meal reservation was for 7:00 pm.   When you eat in the dining car, you get to sit where there is space.   They don't break up couples.   Our first meal was with a young man who told us he was a real estate entrepreneur in Buffalo, NY.  He was traveling with his 14 year old son.  The father must have been 14 himself when the son was born.  Anyway, they said they couldn't take the snow and fled the scene.  They were pretty adamant about the weather.

Neil and I had steak, baked potato and green beans for dinner along with a roll, salad and dessert.   The food was first rate.

We went back to our room and found our beds made up at 8:00.  Guess our car attendant thought we looked tired.  No, we did not go to bed at 8:00.   We did decide the big suitcases needed to go downstairs to the storage area....a morning activity.  It got dark shortly after we left Galesburg.   In Fort Madison as we crossed the Mississippi, they pointed out the state prison.   Too bad that's the highlight of the area.  We crossed Missouri and most of Kansas during the night.   We were even on time.

Pre Day 1 of trip for 2015 adventure

Pre trip 

This trip to the South Pacific started as a joke.  Almost two years ago, Cunard sent me an e-mail about a trip from Los Angeles to the South Pacific and back to Los Angeles.  The fare for the 2014 trip was really inexpensive because it was last minute.  I showed to Neil as a joke and asked him if he wanted to go.  I didn't really thing he would say yes.  He did.  We couldn't go because we were still teaching.

I started investigating the trips for 2015 since we were still teaching .  In January of 2014 I booked the cheapest room for the trip.  We were going.   Excitement!   

In the March of 2014 we were able to book our first train.  We booked a bedroom, complete with its own bathroom, on the Southwest Chief.  We had to wait until May to book  our return train.   When the time came for those tickets, I found that the return trip was more twice the cost as the way out.   Investigation found that we could go from Los Angeles to Emeryville / San Francisco and then San Francisco to Galesburg for less money.  We also could go through the Rocky Mountains.  Booked that.

In July I was checking the Cunard website again for sales.   If you find your voyage on sale, Cunard allows you to request the lower fare.  Our voyage was on sale for $2,000 per ticket less than we had paid.  Our trip was rebooked at the lower fare with the same room etc. and we received free gratuities as well.   After saving all that money, we were able to select and book excursions at each of the ports of call over the next couple of months.  

The hotels were booked in Long Beach, Los Angeles and Emeryville.   We had enough points to book the two Marriott hotels on points....fun.

We began the countdown at 100 days.   We did our hepatitis and typhoid vaccinations, got our Australian visas and kept counting.  We arranged for the suitcase with our formal clothes to be sent through Cunard's White Star Service....FedEx from out house to the ship.

We officially retired on December 16 for a second time.  Not sure if the college has figured it out, but we have.

The real count down began with lists and everything after Christmas.

I put together the trip notebook of tickets, reservations, and the other documentation needed for the trip.  I printed our tickets and the luggage tags for the ship because in my mind they would not give us a free upgrade with the discounts they had already given us.   The next morning I got an email informing us of the first upgrade....an obstructed ocean view room.   Two weeks later I reprinted the tickets....next morning another upgrade to an ocean view room with a real view.  No more upgrades.....although there is still a $43,000 room still available.   Don't think we will get it.

More lists...have to figure to figure out how to pack formal clothes for 12 nights and semi formal clothes for 38 nights.  We also need daytime clothes for the ship, clothes for cold and warm weather and clothes for excursions.   The formal clothes and a few semi formal filled a 34" suitcase...a biggy.  That suitcase will be in our state room when we arrive, thanks to Cunard White Star Service which had FedEx pick it up at our house and shipped to the ship.  The other suitcases get to go with us on the train.  It left for Los Angeles on Tuesday, February 10th.

The last two days were quite busy trying to get anything done.

Sorry no pictures for this entry.