NOW WITH PICTURES!

Edmonton Station

The food on the train was absolutely delicious. Via Rail wasn’t lying on their website when they mentioned the gourmet three-course meals. I ate everything from roast beef to grilled chicken sandwiches to wonderful “local” fish–all accompanied by fresh soup or salad, occasionally by a (purchased) glass of wine, and always followed by a nice dessert (my resolve was far too weak to be able to turn down dessert, despite promising myself that I would). One of the things I had been nervous about was the meals because, as a solo traveller, I would always be seated with three strangers. Of course, I had nothing to worry about: all of my fellow travellers were extremely nice and we had a ton of pleasant conversation at every meal. I met a LOT of Brits, one nice “elderly” Australian woman (travelling alone, but as part of a tour group), a German couple, and lots of fellow Canadians as well!

The Dining Car

As I said, the food was delicious. We were a bit rushed during service because there was generally three seatings for lunch and dinner . One time I had missed the call for the second seating (my assigned seating) and I had arrived halfway through dinner. The one curmudgeonly dinner-lady (who apparently had scolded a British lady for using the “wrong” fork–despite the fact that Via’s place setting was a little unusual) gave me shit for missing the call and told me to come back for the 9PM seating and she would see if she had room for me. She had gotten really defensive with me (and it wasn’t like I had gotten upset or was complaining–in fact, all I had said was “no worries”), which really ticked me off. Not to mention the fact that I seemed to be the only person tipping at every meal (gotta love the Brits!), which made me double-angry. At least I found out from other passengers that they had similar experiences with this lady, and I wasn’t about to let her ruin my vacation. By the end of the trip, she had warmed up to me (slightly), probably once she realized that I really wasn’t a pain in the ass, and that I was also a good tipper

Fellow passengers enjoying their meals

Taking a cross-country train trip has been a dream of mine for quite some time. I am so happy (and fortunate) to be able to cross this off my “bucket list”–although technically I suppose I still need to take the train from Toronto to Halifax. I was extremely lucky to have gotten such an amazing deal on my ticket; a single “touring class” (ex-Silver and Blue class) roomette from Toronto to Vancouver usually costs over $2,000 in peak season, and my fare was just over $500! Several of my co-passengers told me that they had been monitoring Via’s site for months waiting to get such a good sale fare. I had found the deal right away and within a day of purchasing it, they had sold out on the single roomettes. Talk about serendipity!

For long-distance travel, especially across this vast and beautiful country, nothing can compare in style or experience to the train. It is such an amazing way to see the country, to meet fellow travellers from all around the world, and to travel for the act of travelling, the journey, rather than for just the destination itself. I can honestly say it is the only mode of travel I’ve experienced where I was a little sad to arrive at my destination. I certainly can’t say that for the overseas flights in economy class, cramped next to strangers who are invading my personal space and trying as hard as I can to AVOID making conversation or even eye contact.

Games car (I don't recall its real name, but it had free coffee/tea and games)

Travelling by train, I got to have brief glimpses of small towns I would not have otherwise visited, such as: Capreol, Ontario; Blue River, BC; and Jasper, Alberta. We had a brief (one hour) stop in Jasper. We didn’t have lunch that day; I had eaten breakfast around 7AM and by the time we arrived, at 1:30PM, I was starving! So, I spent almost my whole hour ordering and eating a pizza at a local restaurant. How hilarious and stupid is that? LOL. Anyways, as soon as I disembarked (is that the correct term?) from the train, I fell instantly in love with Jasper. It’s a beautiful town perched in the mountains, full of friendly people (at least the few I met) and tourists and cute little shops. While I was there, I called my Mom and my best friend Trina (who is a ski bunny and a big fan of Jasper) and I told them if I ever needed to change my name and run away, I would go to Jasper and work in a little shop. Of course, by writing this publicly, I could never run away to Jasper. I guess I’ll just have to stick to my first choice: Paris. Ooop! Well, you’ll never find me there anyways, it’s a big city and I’m surprisingly good at blending in.

Welcome to Jasper!

Jasper Station

The other great part about going through the Rockies is the Panorama Car. During our stop in Edmonton, they added an extra car between my sleeper and the rest of the train (in front) The new car, the Panorama, had a big, glass dome so we could see all the mountains and nature. It was much newer than the rest of the train (which I believe was mostly from the ’50s and ’60s), and had big, cushy seats. I spent a lot of my time in the privacy of my room (especially since the other “dome car” was full, I wonder if that had anything to do with the fact that it was also the Bar/Lounge car?), but the Panorama car made me come out of hiding. Plus, one does get a bit tired of seeing the forests of Northern Ontario or the Prairies–it tends to blend together after awhile, but the natural beauty of Alberta and especially BC, with all the lakes and mountains, is not to be missed. I think I will miss the mountains and Ocean here quite a bit. However, I definitely would like to take the Rocky Mountaineer train one day to Lake Louise, Banff, and Calgary.

The Lounge/Dome Car

Happy Hour

The Panorama Car--Amazing!

Mountain View from Panorama Car

The Panorama Car is also great for reading

All in all, it was certainly the trip of a lifetime. I had an amazing experience, mean dinner ladies and lazy cabin attendants notwithstanding (long story short: my first attendant, though very nice and personable, never cleaned my room once despite the nice tip I gave her in Winnipeg. Fortunately, the next one was very diligent and made up for it). We did have an AWESOME young lady in the Lounge car who made the drinks and told us all about the local history, who joined us in Winnipeg. I’m spacing out on her name, but she was just great to chat with and very funny and friendly. I can, without hesitation, suggest and recommend taking the Canadian to anyone, although I do hope that the staff in general become more consistent at providing good customer service.

Welcome to Blue River, Population: Cute

Blue River General Store: it's the bee's knees, apparently

Trip Report: Via Rail’s The Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver (June 22-26, 2010)

Union Station, Toronto

Even Hitchcock would shudder...

Jelly Bellies: a necessity for cross-country travel

"ALL ABOARD!"

Stepping off the platform in Toronto and onto the train, I was full of nervous energy and excitement. My adventure was about to begin. This was going to be the trip of a lifetime, I told myself. Here I was about to take the Canadian, Via Rail’s famous cross-country train route, all the way to Vancouver. My little single “roomette” was right at the front of the car (well, technically it was the back of the car, but I had no idea what direction we would be going yet). I stepped inside my little room and froze. Oh my God! I’m supposed to spend four days and a few thousand kilometres hanging out and sleeping in this tiny room? My anxiety level increased. I threw my stuff down on the little seat and, for just a moment, considered getting off the train and booking a flight home instead. However, I recalled that the G20 Summit was about to begin and there wasn’t a hotel room available anywhere even remotely near downtown Toronto. I began to calm down and I gave myself a little pep talk: I can handle this. I’ve been outside my comfort zone before–like the time I spent a month in the West Indies on an archaeological field school dig, surrounded by poisonous trees and big furry spiders, not to mention a large group of rather “precocious” teenagers. This is nothing by comparison, I’ll be fine. It was at this exact moment, fortune would have it, that I realized I didn’t have my brand new (and extremely expensive) digital camera with me. Great. This is a bad omen!

Storage Bin

Sink and Toilet/Footstool

I told one of the Via employees my dilemma and they radioed the lounge to see if I had left the camera behind. No luck. To make matters worse, the train was about to leave and I didn’t have time to run back and check for myself. I sat down and began to retrace my steps. Suddenly, I recalled that the last place I saw my camera was the restaurant near Union Station where I had dinner with my cousin before checking in to the First Class Lounge. I whipped out my iPhone and googled the phone number for the restaurant, and I gave them a call. Luckily, someone at the restaurant had found the camera and put it in the lost and found. I arranged for my cousin to pick it up for me. Thank God her office was just across the street!

By this time, I had started to relax a little. I was so relieved that my camera had been found that I forgot all about my anxiety about the train trip. [Although I was kicking myself for taking this trip of a lifetime and not having a camera to capture it!]. Once I put my bags in the little overhead bin (well, once I squished them in), I realized that I had more room than I initially thought. I also realized that the little pull-down bed was recessed slightly, and that I would therefore have more leg room. Phew!

I met my cabin attendant, a young girl from Winnipeg, and she showed me how to pull down the bed, how to operate the toilet (hidden underneath the footstool), and the little but important things like where to find the shower and when and where breakfast would be served in the morning. I got ready for bed and pulled it down from the wall. The blanket and pillows were already tucked in. My adventure had just gone from slightly stressful and anxiety-inducing to fun and exciting. Watching the city disappear, staring out the window while tucked in bed, was kinda neat. I was pretty stoked to discover that I found the rocking of the train quite relaxing and not the slightest bit nauseating, as I had originally feared. Although, there were a few times in the night when I woke up because it felt like the train was tipping over. It was also a little difficult to get used to the constant starting and stopping through the night as our train yielded to the freight trains, which had the right-of-way. I spent many hours each night lying in my little bed just staring out the window and watching my beautiful, majestic country go by. The best sight was seen in the Prairies during a thunder storm: the sky was full of huge, dark clouds which almost looked like funnel clouds from far away. Bolts of lightning were painting the dark night sky, and the thunder was accompanying the light show. At one point, the lightning was so close that I was afraid we were going to be struck (especially since the train was a large, metal object). I pulled out my camera (I had picked up a cheap digital camera in Winnipeg), and filmed a short clip of the thunder storm. It was only when I returned home and watched the clip that I realized just how close the lightning came to striking the train. FREAKY!