Acela - PVD to PHL roundtrip

I rode the Acela from Providence to Philadelphia on Thursday, 2/23 to visit my family and throw a baby shower for my sister. While I was excited for the party, I was almost just as excited for another acela ride!

Thanks to some excellent friends I have made on Amtrak Unlimited, a discussion forum for railfans, I was armed with two extra upgrade coupons to First Class. I had used all mine for the year, which goes from March 1 to the end of February, so I was grateful to them for the opportunity for a free upgrade. I had one 12 hour upgrade and one 48 hour upgrade, so I decided to use the 12 hour coupon for my trip on Thursday as I figured the train would be less crowded, and use the 48 hour coupon on the Sunday return home.

I was originally booked on a 3:15 acela from BOS - PHL, which I had hoped to board in PVD at 4 PM, right after work. However, after being at work until 9 pm on both Tuesday & Wednesday, I decided to take the day off, sleep in, and go railfanning. I bought myself a coach ticket PVD - BOS so I could hang out in Boston in the Club Acela and listen to some train noise on my scanner. I arrived in PVD ready to board a train at about 11:45 north to BOS, when I noticed a  southbound acela hitting PVD at 11:56 AM. I decided to talk to the ticket agent about the possiblity of changing my tickets and just boarding the southbound train. As luck would have it, I got a super nice ticket agent who changed me to the upcoming acela without even jumping the price to the next fare bucket for me.

I almost went down to the platform as the amtrak trains almost always board from the same platform, but I noticed that the track numbers had been removed from the solari board for the next few trains. About 5 minutes before scheduled departure, they announced that we would be boarding on track 5, which is the opposite platform from where we normally board. I went down to track 5 and noticed what appeared to be a stranded acela train set just outside the station on track 1. That explains it!

Two of us boarded the First Class car, which was at the rear of the train, in PVD. I was first on and luckily snagged the only remaining single seat. I was seated backwards but that was OK because I was in a single seat! Huzzah. The car was about half full, and the pleasant attendant immediately hooked me up with a cocktail and some lunch. I had the chicken enchiladas, which were pretty cheesy and not bad. They were served on a bed of rice. The ride was smooth and on time all the way to NYP.

In NYP a few people detrained, and then the car started to get hopping. We appeared to be completely full heading south out of NYP. Sadly they also ran out of bourbon out of NYP - I didn't even get one bottle as they were out of it by the time I placed my initial drink order. How strange! But the sweet attendant apologized and gave me some crown royal, so it was all good. We arrived in PHL right on time at 4 PM.

I had a great weekend with my family - and my sister's baby shower was pretty wonderful. She was surrounded by friends and family, and I think everyone had a nice time. I called amtrak at about 46 hours ahead of departure to upgrade my reservation to first class and also change to the 2252 train which leaves PHL at 12:37 PM, as I was originally booked for the last acela of the day, which leaves PHL at 5:37 on Sundays. I had to pay an additional $50 to change trains, but it was worth it to get home a little earlier.

However, I awoke early at my friend's house on Sunday and decided to head over to 30th Street Station and try to catch the 2250 if at all possible, which leaves PHL at 10:37 AM. I also love the crew that generally works this train. I checked the amtrak app on my phone which showed the train sold out, but I figured it was worth a shot. I immediately headed to the Club Acela in PHL, which is one of the best clubs in the entire amtrak system. It is located above the tracks and has these cool elevators that you can take directly from the club to the platform. It is nice because you can avoid the riff-raff. :)

The attendant at the club was super friendly, and informed that the train was showing as sold out. However, he told me to grab a seat and he would see what he could do to put me on the 2250. No more than five minutes later, he came by with a ticket for 2250! I have no idea what he did - as my iphone was still showing the entire train as sold out - but it was awesome. The guy was super friendly, and he spoke in slightly accented English. I think he might have been European. In any case, he also didn't charge me for changing trains. Normally with amtrak there is no change fee, but you do have to pay the current/prevailing fare for the train when you change. I can't believe how lucky I was to not get charged the high bucket fare on both my way down and my return home.

Anyway, the club attendant called the elevator for us and escorted us down to the platform a few minutes before the train came in. There was just two of us boarding in PHL, and I was surprised that the FC car only appeared to be about 1/3 full. I easily snagged a single seat on the water side, but unfortunately the person behind me insisted on having the drapes closed the ENTIRE RIDE. Oh well. I have seen the scenery before.

As luck would have it, my favorite crew WAS on that day. Well, it was my favorite lead attendant - the one who mostly takes the orders and brings the food - and she was accompanied by another guy that I had seen before as well as a new attendant that they were training. She told me it was her first time on the acela and she was a little nervous - but she did very well. The attendant definitely recognized me and joked that she was going to have to restock her liquor in NYP. UH OH! Am I really that memorable? :)

I was early enough for breakfast, so I got the stuffed french toast on the way north to NYP. We arrived right on time, and after a few people detrained, it started to get a little busy int he FC car. There were many announcements made over the loud speaker by the conductor that the train was 100% sold out and that every seat would be occupied. A family of three boarded and sat at the four person table across from my single seat. The mother was complaining for about 10 minutes that she didn't want to sit with a stranger. Luckily we appeared to have two extra seats in the FC car and no stranger was subjected to her complaints. I popped on my head phones to tune her out.

They came through to take orders and I asked to get the small plate of sliders after we departed New Haven, as I was still full from the French Toast. The service was great - as always with the crew on this train - and they brought me my lunch right as the train was entering New Haven. The sliders are cute - they are literally one bite apiece - and come with some potato chips. There were three different sliders with different varieties of cheese on each one. The new FC menus this year are pretty good - but I definitely miss the salads that they had last year on almost each menu, as well as the tiramisu. The dessert now that I have had on all my trips this year has been carrot cake. It has nuts in it - way to ruin a delicious cake!

We pulled into PVD right on time, and I waved good bye to the train. My next acela trip will be next month - when I go back to PHL for a bridal shower. I am armed with upgrade coupons and counting down the days until my next trip!

I have determined that at this point I am incredibly spoiled - the only way for me to go to NY or PHL at this point is via Acela. It is comfortable and convenient.

Next train trip booked!

So I haven't been posting much lately, because I haven't really been riding the train that much. But I am so excited to report that I have now booked my next cross country train trip for July!

I will be departing Seattle - King Street Station on Monday, July 16 on the Empire Builder. That train is two nights long, and then I will arrive in Chicago. After a few hour layover in Chicago, I will depart on the Lake Shore Limited again to travel to Springfield, MA. Hopefully we are on time to Springfield because after only about an hour layover there, I will take the stub train to Wallingford, CT which is where my in-laws live. So this train will be one full day and one night shorter than my previous trip, but it is much more direct.

The best part is that again I have used my amtrak guest rewards points to pay for the entire trip. The trip is 50,000 points and I actually booked it in two parts, SEA - TOL (Toledo, OH) for a two zone redemption and TOL - WFD for a one zone connection. This was necessary because at first I didn't have enough points for the whole trip, so I booked with points the first part and paid with cash for the second part. When I had enough points, I then called AGR and switched my paid reservation to a points reservation.

Additionally, I wanted this particular routing, and for some reason when one tries to book SEA - WFD, arrow (the amtrak software) forces one to take the Capitol Limited from Chicago to Washington, DC with a transfer to a NE regional train from DC to WFD. That is a long train ride on the regional up the coast, followed by a stub train trip from New Haven to WFD, so I was thrilled to be able to book the trip in two sections and thus achieve the routing I wanted, which means I get to ride in my private sleeper bedroom for 95% of the trip.