Just One More Reason to Take Amtrak

I am, at the moment, in Alexandria, Virginia, attending a semi-annual meeting of the National Association of Railroad Passengers. My brother-in-law flew in from Hawaii this morning and tomorrow the two of us will take Amtrak’s high-speed Acela up to Boston where we’ll see four Red Sox games, then take the train back to the West Coast for our return flights to Hawaii.

When he walked in this morning, Peter had a glazed look about him … understandable, because air travel from Hawaii to the East Coast necessarily involves at least one red-eye flight. In his case, it was on United, non-stop from Los Angeles. Still, I thought Peter looked pretty beat and I asked if he had been able to get any sleep on the plane. Nope, he said … not a wink.

Turns out, there was a fellow in the seat immediately behind him, whom Peter described as well over six feet, of massive girth and with a look about him that instantly discouraged any conversation.

Furthermore, Peter said this behemoth spent most of the nearly six-hour flight singing or whistling either Engelburt Humperdinck’s “Please release me, let me go…” or “Santa Clause is Comin’ to Town.” Not surprisingly, no one – passenger or crew – asked him to shut up.

I’ve occasionally seen inconsiderate or disruptive characters on an Amtrak train, but invariably they are politely-but-firmly asked by a conductor to behave. If they don’t, there is no second warning and a couple of super-sized cops will be meeting the train at the next stop.

In the interim, you can always go have a beer in the lounge car.