Departure to New Orleans

The arrival to the train station was quite a spectacle. It took me down to the last second to pack my bags and I quadruple checked to make sure I had everything in my bags that I had on my checklists. Grabbing hold of the zip ties, I zipped my suitcase closed. My backpack was stuffed to the brim with my laptop, iPad, little fuzzy blanket, and my inflatable neck pillow (yes, inflatable). I even had just enough room to fit my umbrella that I just bought yesterday that has flowers in different shades of blue. It was near impossible to shove what was a baggy backpack under the footrest, since it was now a perfectly round bag. If the hole in the front of the bag were to rip just a little more, the whole thing would burst I’m sure.

            Sleeping was extremely tough. Even though the seats reclined to about a 35-45 degree angle, it was not like my mattress at home that I can just sink into. And I didn’t have my memory foam pillow with me either which is so puffy that no one likes it, which is just fine because then I don’t have to worry about people wanting to steal it. Anyway, it was cold on the train. At least I think I was the only one that was cold. I wore a sweater, leggings, socks and shoes to sleep as well as covered up with my blanket and I was shivering. It was difficult to get into a comfortable position. I was sleepy, but my body doesn’t ever let me sleep anywhere that I don’t recognize. Any little thing will wake me up. With my eyes closed I could feel the train swaying back and forth, giving me the sense that I would fall over at any second. I could hear the tapping of conductors’ feet as they walked up and down the aisle, then going through one car to the next which allowed all the sound from outside to come blaring in to the train car. How no one else woke up from that I have no idea. The worst part was whenever those doors opened, only a second later, it would go from the car feeling like spring to it feeling like winter. I should tremble in the cold every time those doors opened. I knew I needed to get some sleep, so I took three sleeping pills and put in my headphones, listening to The 1975’s new album. I would have to stop myself from dancing when Love Me came on. After plenty of adjusting and moving around, I was able to get in a decent position to sleep. It was 1am by the time I fell asleep. I was then up every couple of hours because I would have a sharp kink in my neck or back and would need to readjust. Then classmates woke up and would chatter, sounding like a fly buzzing near my ear. Luckily those pills kept me drowsy and I was able to keep falling asleep until I felt fully rested around 10am.

I packed a few snacks to hold over until arrival into New Orleans. This morning for breakfast I had a Nature Valley bar in Oats ‘n’ Honey. With each satisfying crunch I could feel it melt in my mouth. Though delicious, the crumbs that get all over me is pretty annoying. I am now in the observatory, surrounded by windows to the side and above me as I type this blog, surrounded by barren trees and small glimpses of green grass through them. There are only 5 more hours left on this 17 hour trek on this train ride. I hope to be able to find enough to keep me entertained to hold me over until I can finally see the light that is the city of New Orleans.

Traveling to the train station was an interesting experience. I had agreed to take some peers along with me to carpool. I was packing to the last second. I ended up running to Target 10 minutes before I had to be on my way to pick them up. I was going frantic at the store getting what I needed, and struggling to find the one item I was mainly concerned about: hand warmers. After searching the entire store, I just gave up and sped-walk to the check out. I shook my legs and tapped my finger against my debit card minute after minute while the lady in front of me asked for as many coupon deals as she could. In my head I was saying, Why did you not do your coupon research beforehand!?!? Of course if I was not in a rush I would have had no problem with it, but I could not stand still for the life of me. I ended up getting to pick up my peers 15 minutes after I told them I would be there. The drive to the train station was an hour and 30 minutes, so we had some ways to go.

            The drive did seem like it took a while, but the three of us in the car passed the time with talking. Once we arrived to the station, I was so relieved. We were finally there and it was almost surreal because I had been waiting for this trip for months. Time surely flew by. I thought it was bad that we showed up a little late, but we sat there for the time being until the train came. I could have taken some of that time to blog, but I chose not to for some reason.

            Boarding the train was not much of a spectacle for me. I was one of the first people on the train and got a seat with a friend so we could sit next to each other. I felt more at ease to be around everyone that I knew, especially sitting next to a friend. The seats were not as comfortable as I hoped they would be. The seats were pretty stiff. I did resent them in the sense of them being uncomfortable, not reclining very far, and not much room for my legs to go. I am a short person, so hearing there would be a great gap between seats was heaven, but once I tried to adjust myself it was a challenge. The trip did go by seemingly quick, or at least quick enough, considering I slept for 10 of the 17 hours.

            I did not do much eating on the train. I had a Nature Valley bar for breakfast which was delicious. Then closer to the end of the train ride I had some gummy worms, though they were not the best. I was excited to dig into the bag of candy and came out disappointed. But they were good enough so I kept eating them anyway. I know that once I get into New Orleans there will be much better food that I will forget all about the gummy worms.