Amtrak

Tag Archives for Amtrak.

Virgin Atlantic Sucks- COVID19 Fail

II try and avoid these type of posts but I have become so disillusioned with Virgin Atlantic. Imagine if in December, I had bought a non refundable airline ticket through Virgin Atlantic.  Imagine if I changed my mind about the dates and wanted to change or refund it Would I deserve that option? A big fat “no”.  I get that. I support that. Imagine, however, if since I bought the ticket that the world changed completely?  Imagine that a new and scary virus emerged. A virus that results in thousands of deaths airports being shut…

Continue Reading »

Airline closures and suspensions- Status of Key Airlines

The travel industry is in a really tough place right now. I can’t see how airlines will survive without government financial aid. Every airline is making major changes. The tally is one airline shut down forever, six who have suspended all operations for a period of time and several who have made massive cuts to operations. What do you need to do? Whatever they are doing, if you are tickets, then you and/or the airline will probably be making some sort of changes to flight time, date or destination. If you have booked through a…

Continue Reading »

Eighty Times around the World

Jules Verne’s character Phileas Fogg traveled by steamer, train, elephant and horse around the world to demonstrate it was possible to do so. It took eighty days. Today, I completed my 80th navigation of the globe. This is a touch over two million miles (3.2 million kilometres), a feat which has taken me just over half a century of flying. This is what it looks like: I have flown to 62 of the 80 countries, I have visited. The rest I have reached by bus, train, car and in one case foot. Importantly, my travels…

Continue Reading »

2019 End of Year RTW Trip- lets go!

This is my Christmas-New Year Round the World trip. Flying out this week for an intensive few weeks. Five European Cities, five Asian cities, four in the Americas with an Australian start and finish. I would love some suggestions for Tallin (never been) and Berlin which I have not been to for five years. Christmas markets, two weddings and lots of catch ups with friends will be all part of the experience. I go from 37 degrees Celsius (99F) to minus four (25F) so packing all in one carry on bag is always a challenge.…

Continue Reading »

Amtrak goes Electronic

Amtrak, the US Rail system has some of the most archaic ticketing systems of any rail system in the world. One element of their system is that you have needed a paper ticket to ride. Not anymore. As of last Monday,  Amtrak passengers may print out their own tickets at home or download them to their smartphone or tablet. Yes, E tickets have arrived on trains, only years after airlines abolished paper tickets. The system was trialled in California and had a massive uptake. I have been generally using the electronic ticketing machines at stations which…

Continue Reading »