Olympia to Seattle
Olympia – Seattle
I caught the Amtrak Cascades 500 from Olympia to Seattle. These are ultra modern cars designed in Spain. The seats are more like airplane seats, and they carry a dining car and Bistro car in the trainset. One neat thing is that every seat has an outlet so working on the laptop and listening to some tunes wasn’t a problem. Just the trip was a little short.
And we ran into a little problem. The Olympia-Lacey station is unmanned. The people you see there are volunteers, and not really associated with Amtrak. They can’t issue tickets!
Now this is a problem because even though I have my Rail Pass, you need a ticket to get on the train! They have one of those automated ticket kiosks, but that did me no good. The Rail Pass has a special reservation number.
Bob, the station volunteer, dialed the Amtrak Info line. But that didn’t do me much good either as the Rail Pass has it’s own special telephone number….and they aren’t open on weekends! I was told that, when traveling on a Rail Pass, and boarding at an unmanned station I would have to buy a ticket to my next destination. Ummm…F*ck no!
Bob, being the ever helpful gentleman that he is suggest I talk to Vicki up at the Tacoma station. Vicki was great and had a ticket issued from there. I boarded the train and showed the Conductor my Pass and explained that there would be a ticket waiting in Tacoma. When the train passed through Tacoma she had someone run out and give the Conductor my ticket.
Later, when he wasn’t too busy he dropped off the ticket for my next leg of the journey. Vicki had issued the ticket for Seattle to Vancouver, BC also! I didn’t have to bother with any of those hassles in Seattle.
So, just as a warning to others who might be doing a Rail Pass trip, make sure the station is manned, or you have some other way to get your ticket!
I caught the Amtrak Cascades 500 from Olympia to Seattle. These are ultra modern cars designed in Spain. The seats are more like airplane seats, and they carry a dining car and Bistro car in the trainset. One neat thing is that every seat has an outlet so working on the laptop and listening to some tunes wasn’t a problem. Just the trip was a little short.
And we ran into a little problem. The Olympia-Lacey station is unmanned. The people you see there are volunteers, and not really associated with Amtrak. They can’t issue tickets!
Now this is a problem because even though I have my Rail Pass, you need a ticket to get on the train! They have one of those automated ticket kiosks, but that did me no good. The Rail Pass has a special reservation number.
Bob, the station volunteer, dialed the Amtrak Info line. But that didn’t do me much good either as the Rail Pass has it’s own special telephone number….and they aren’t open on weekends! I was told that, when traveling on a Rail Pass, and boarding at an unmanned station I would have to buy a ticket to my next destination. Ummm…F*ck no!
Bob, being the ever helpful gentleman that he is suggest I talk to Vicki up at the Tacoma station. Vicki was great and had a ticket issued from there. I boarded the train and showed the Conductor my Pass and explained that there would be a ticket waiting in Tacoma. When the train passed through Tacoma she had someone run out and give the Conductor my ticket.
Later, when he wasn’t too busy he dropped off the ticket for my next leg of the journey. Vicki had issued the ticket for Seattle to Vancouver, BC also! I didn’t have to bother with any of those hassles in Seattle.
So, just as a warning to others who might be doing a Rail Pass trip, make sure the station is manned, or you have some other way to get your ticket!
posted by HotShot at 5:10 PM
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