Cairns to New Orleans

Wed 11 April 2012

It was an early start with the alarm going off at 3am to get me going for what is going to be a very long day. The cab picked me up for the airport at 4am for a quick check-in and security procedures before brekkie at the Qantas Club.

I had a good aisle seat 8D and no one was in the middle seat so heaps of room. It was a good flight down to Brisbane. On arrival I transferred from the domestic terminal to the international. All good until security, as I forgot flights to the USA still insisted on the liquids etc being put in the little plastic bag. Well a female security officer assisted me and confiscated my can of underarm spray deodorant and a tube of toothpaste as they were just a bit too large for the regulations. I think it is a plot to get you to buy up on arrival in the States. After that it was clear sailing and up to the Qantas Club for the 2 hours before the flight.

The Qantas Club guy has blocked out the seat beside me in the first row of economy which is a bulkhead row so I will have heaps of room.

So with this good news I settled down to enjoying the facilities of the Club. I caught up on my emails and called a few friends. There is a half hour delay with the flight so I will not have as much time to fill in when I arrive in LA before catching the train to New Orleans.

Well well well!!! The half hour delay turned out to be 3 hours and a different aircraft with different seat configuration. So Mr Smarty Pants (Me) was allocated a new aisle seat right in the heart of the back of the aircraft and in the middle seat was a 6’5’’ very large Yankee that spread out into my seat as well. I and he could see this was not going to work for the next 14 hours of the flight. After take off he was moved to a exit row so the middle seat is now free for me and the lady by the window to share. The flight is very full.

The Capt announced we could expect to arrive in LAX about 10.30am so I should still make my train that departs LA at 3pm.

About 2 hours before landing the Big Yank bloke returned to his seat, how inconvenient because by this time the lady by the window and I has claimed half his seat each as well as the space under the seat in front of him. So here we were in the darkness trying to reclaim our gear and he was not amused, actually I thought he was a big bully and reminded me of a idiot boss (Capt Haggis Guts) I once had.

Brekkie was served in the cramped seats with Capt Haggis Guts taking up part of my space and the other lady was up against the window. The final part of the flight he had to get up twice so I felt a bit like a Yo yo.

I was impressed with the immigration and customs officials and It only took just under an hour which would have been a record compared with times up to 2 hours on other occasions. I had a leisurely coffee and then got the shuttle to the Union Station. So the late arrival of the aircraft worked to my advantage as I had less time to wait at the railway station.

The Train

I was delivered to my carriage by the Red Cap Man in his little golf cart ute and the attendant took my bags up to my upstairs cabin so I should have great views of the countryside. I unpacked and made myself at home and even kicked off my shoes to wait for the train to depart. OMG the carpet was soaking wet and it looked like someone had made a mess and it had been cleaned up but not dried. There was a strong smell of disinfectant. So I went down to see the Conductor and ask if they could move me to another cabin. My bloke was talking to another train official who turned out to be the train supervisor and he had me in another cabin so fast with a million apologies. They even packed me up and moved me.

The new cabin is great and there is a young Aussie lady (Clem) over the hall from me so we are going to go to dinner together tonight. She works for Fairfax Press (Entertainment Section) and is based in LA.

It was beaut to have a hot shower and shave and get into fresh clothes. It is now 30 hours since I left home.

The country side as we approach Palm Springs is very dry and brown looking. There seem to be hundreds of windmills on the hills. All that Green Power being generated.

It will soon be dark so I will take some photos at the Palm Springs stop. Wow, what a dry place and I guess very windy so they would have erosion problems. I don’t know how far away the town is because we seem to be out in the sticks and no houses at all. The town is south of the station.

We had a beaut dinner and were joined by a local guy that is going home to Phoenix, so it was a great conversational meal. I even had a little bottle of local red to help me sleep. I hope to be in bed by 9pmas that will be 33 hours since I got out of my bed at home.

A good thing has come out of the cramped seating in so far as my kinked neck seems to have righted itself and is feeling a lot better. I nearly stuffed up badly on the plane by going to put Deep Heat on the tooth brush by mistake. My yells of a burning mouth would have livened up the sleeping folk early this morning.

Thur 12 April 2012

What a beaut 9 hours sleep I had last night and to wake up in New Mexico in a town called Deming. I made a coffee, got changed and went down to the dining car for Brekkie.

I was seated with an old Texan man who was a wealth of knowledge as he had worked the railways for 35 years before his retirement. He now uses his rail pass to travel on trains about 4 times a year. There was a time change overnight by 1 hour and now we are on Mountain Time. Anyhow Mr Texan gave me a great commentary as we went along the Mexican border and the Rio Grande River and through the range to El Paso. We are now in the State of Texas.

After Brekkie I went to the observation car with Mr Texan and he continued to give me a commentary as we approached El Paso. To my shock Mr Texan pulled out a huge cigar and started chewing it. Thank God he didn’t light it up as I would have had to leave him as the smell of cigars make me sick and it is a non smoking train. I had heard of folk chewing tobacco but never chewing cigars.

It is a beautiful clear day with the temp in the low 20’s C (70F) I was able to get off the train for about 30 minutes to stretch the legs at El Paso. The handsomely restored Railway Station was well worth the visit. The popular drink ‘Margarita’ was first mixed at Tommy’s Place Bar in 1945 in El Paso.

I have come away without my US power adaptor however Clem my Aussie friend lent me hers to recharge my batteries. I must have picked up the European adaptor by mistake when I was packing. I will try to get another in New Orleans.

We were joined by 2 American ladies for a very enjoyable lunch with great conversation. We left the dining car nearly 2 hours later. The Amtrak Trains are great for long distance travel in the USA and I always meet so many nice and down to earth friendly people on board. They all seem to want to talk to me when they hear the Aussie accent. There is no doubt that the Americans in the USA are a very friendly mob.

This arvo’s travel was mainly in the desert and scrub type trees so it was a pleasant surprise when we crossed one of the far and in between rivers. Our watches went forward by another hour after lunch making it a short afternoon.

Clem and I went to dinner at 7pm and were seated with an elderly couple on there way home to Houston. They had never met Aussies before so there was much to talk about. They could not get over the fact that we had seen much more of the USA than they had. They had only seen about 7 of the Southern States.

Tonight we will have about 2 hours stop over in San Antonio and one of the lunchtime ladies is going to take us on a walking tour. Not much will be open because it will be about 10pm when we arrive. Maybe we will find a bar open anyway it will be good to stretch our legs.

Fri 13 April 2012

Well I have just woken up in Houston this predawn morning after about 5 hours sleep since leaving San Antonio. Going by the timetable we are nearly 2 hours behind schedule as we leave Houston.

We left San Antonio about an hour late but we were not allowed to leave the station so we only could have a little stretch of the legs and utilise the very weak wifi signal. I hope the email update got through.

The black coffee fix is doing wonders as the day breaks. Looks like it may be an overcast morning as we head east. I will meet the girls for brekkie about 7.30 am so I better go and have a shave and smarten up a bit. I think the track needs an upgrade because for the last section has been very bumpy and jerky compared with the early parts of the trip.

It has turned our to be a beautiful fine day with the temp in the low 20’s C (73F) and Clem and I went to Brekkie and were joined by a guy who just got out of the Marines having spent the last 2 years in Iran and a young lady on her way to New York to work. Once again the company was great and they had to chase us out of the dining car as there were of heaps of folk waiting to get in to eat.

We have now crossed the State border from Texas to Louisiana so that’s the 5^th State I have been in over the past 40 hours.

It is very green here in the low flat countryside of Louisiana a vast contrast to the dry brown desert of the past 27 hours of Texas. Lake Charles was very impressive with its large Casino on the lake side. My Aussie mate Clem left the train at Lafayette just before lunch time. I have enjoyed her company during the trip.

I had lunch with Jeanne an American lady a couple of cabins up the hallway from mine. We had a meal together earlier on the train ride.  Jeanne was full of local knowledge and a great travel guide as we went from Texas to Louisiana and on to New Orleans.

Two young Japanese ladies also had chats with me in the morning and again in the afternoon.  I shared a cab with them to my Hotel and they went on to there’s a few blocks away after our arrival.

After settling into the hotel and having a hot shower I then went off to explore New Orleans and to find a place that sold adaptors from the USA to the Aust power plug so I could recharge phone etc. I also got 2 bottles of medicine to discretely have in my cabin on the ship.

I had a snack at a place up the road from the hotel and the owner sat down and had a long chat with me as he had spent some time in OZ as a Marine many years ago.  There is a Jazz festival on with free concerts so I will go to one tomorrow morning before going to the ship. The trolly car leaves from right outside the hotel.

 Well I think I will call it an early night as it is now 10pm.

Over all I would recommend the rail trip as a very relaxing way to travel across the USA.