In my previous post, I mentioned that I might take a joyride on Amtrak; Jazzlet asked in a comment where I might go; and I responded with a couple of ideas, a big loop to the west coast, and a quicker trip to New York City and back.

I’ve come up with some fanciful itineraries.  I’ll probably do the trip to New York (way at the end of that link) first; but I’ve decided that, rather than take the Lake Shore Limited round-trip, I’ll take the Capitol Limited to D.C. eastbound and head to New York on one of the northeast trains.  I’ve ridden both the Lake Shore and the Capitol numerous times, but the latter not for a decade or more; and that’ll give me a much shorter layover in Chicago.

I’ll probably book a first-class seat on one of the Acelas from D.C. to New York; but weekday fares are over the top; so I’ll want to do that on a weekend, and Sunday gives me more options if the Capitol is late and misses the connection to the train that I book (likely).

I could also take the Capitol round-trip; but the nearest hotel to Washington Union Station is a bit of a hike which might be a problem with my current mobility issues; and the New Yorker Hotel is only one block away from the Moynihan Train Hall, Amtrak’s extension to Penn Station.

The good news is that I won’t have much luggage, just a camera bag and a roll-around laptop case with room for toiletries and a change of clothes.

We’ll see…

I’ve decided that I won’t be going to Wrocław, Poland in November.

First of all, my mobility problems are getting worse.  I’ve been using a walker for a while now because arthritis in my back doesn’t want me vertical unsupported for more than a few minutes at a time, so the walker was something to lean on; but for several weeks now, my hips have been complaining as well, and so the walking itself is also a problem.

I wasn’t worried about the parts of the trip west of, and across, the Atlantic:  all the trains I’d ride in the U.S. (except a couple of shorter rides between New York and Boston) have checked baggage service; all the stations where I’d change trains have “red cap” service (help with luggage); and I’d get wheelchair assistance in all the airports.

European trains generally don’t have checked baggage service; but one of my colleagues on the committee told me about a group called “Bahnhofsmission” that provides help with luggage at train stations in Germany, so that would be OK.

I was also worried about a tram ride from the Hauptbahnhof (central train station) to a hotel in Berlin; but I’ve found out that a taxi ride should cost a good deal less than €30; and since I splurge on these trips anyway, that would be no big deal.

But that leaves the fact that my hearing aids don’t work well in big meetings; and since the real reason for the trip would be to attend a meeting of the ISO standards committee for the C++ programming language, I would mostly be Zooming in from my hotel room*.  I would certainly enjoy the travel itself; but it seems difficult to justify the expense when I can attend the meeting just as well from home.

Oh, well; planning the trip was fun; and maybe I’ll take a joy ride on Amtrak some time later this year.

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*I have an accessory called a “TV adaptor” that plugs into a headphone jack and generates a bluetooth signal that feeds my hearing aids.  It gives me just enough quality to understand human speech.