Train Travel Diaries: 24 Hours on the Amtrak Texas Eagle

I enjoy a good adventure and while I travel by plane quite often, sometimes it is nice to enjoy a road trip, or in todays case, a train trip. Train travel is nice if you aren’t under any time constraints and are looking for a more laid back experience. No assigned seating, you can move around whenever you want and depending on the time and leg of the trip, you could virtually stretch out onto two different seats. Plus you get to see parts of the country that are virtually unseen from the highway

My trip has me leaving from Chicago Illinois and goes all the way to San Antonio, Texas and while I will get off before the train reaches its final destination, It will still be a total of 24 hours before I get to my stop.

10 hours into my trip I’ve already written two future blog posts, finished one and a half books and listened to all of Hamilton twice. Everything has been moving right along wonderfully! That is until ‘quiet time’ hit and the conductor lowered the car lights so that long distance passengers such as myself can attempt to sleep. That is when my nightmare began. Please watch the following video clip to get a taste of the midnight action I have been treated two for the last 2 hours…(spoiler alert, it lasted until 6 A.M.) Now if you have ever had the privilege of having me over to your house or you to mine, you know that I, too am ‘snorer’ and this admission adds a certain level of “pot calling the kettle black” here, but seriously how is this possible.

I never ever promote physical violence at all, but how much trouble would I get in exactly, if I were to gently throat punch a sleeping adult on a train? Are we talking community service or jail time? Normally I’d say ‘no’ to jail time, but is this really any different?

I honestly can’t decide if its the pitch and sound level that bothers me, or the fact that he can’t pick a rhythm. He settles on a melody and rolls with it for a bit then nothing for a minute and I think he has woke himself or maybe died and then just when you think its safe to remove the 10 pieces of chewing gum you’ve shoved in your ears, BAM. Its truly unsettling. Now I realize that my over dramatic reaction to this situation could be fueled by my lack of sleep the night before and the mounting exhaustion of almost two full weeks of travel, so I am still recommending train travel, just bring noise canceling head phones or a baseball bat and an alibi just in case!