Riding the rails to New Orleans!

 I hate saying goodbye but the time had  come! Justin drove me to Augusta and as we neared the airport I received a message to say that the flight was delayed by 40 minutes!

After dropping my bag I went through to find something to eat and that's when I started getting messages about the flight being delayed! 3 hours after the original take off time we finally left! The flight was fairly empty and only 30 minutes duration! 

As I was disembarking I caught my elbow on a part of the aircraft. By the time I reached the baggage claim I had an 'egg' on my arm! I thought I'd keep moving it and get some ice at the the hotel. My taxi driver must have been wearing concrete sandshoes the speeds we were travelling at - close eyes and hang on to the door handle are my motto!

We did arrive safely and I couldn't  find the ice machine so a G&T was the order of the day and I was able to rest my egg sized lump against the icy glass really helped - or was it the gin? I was seated at the bar - there were the two female bar staff and a youngish guy chatting. I detected an English accent from the guy when the trio mentioned £10 Poms. I then mentioned that I had been one of them and that led to interesting  conversations about travel!

Next day I was about leave the hotel for the railway station, for my rail trip to New Orleans, when I received a message to say that the train was delayed! Luckily I was still at the hotel so could be in relative comfort for the 5 hour delay - I  found out later that a tree had fallen on the track! The train was coming from New York so not sure where the delay happened!

I reached the station - a tiny outpost in Atlanta - and was glad that I hadn't had to sit there for 5 hours! When the train did arrive we were told to wait as 100 passengers were getting off! Finally I went in search of my roomette and it took a while for the staff to find my spot. It was actually very pleasant!

Initially I thought there was only a curtain between me and the corridor and I was wondering about using the loo.  Imagine hearing footsteps when you were in full flow - of your thoughts - and you heard someone walking by! Eventually I  found that I did have a proper door, which locked! It was quite an ingenious set up with the sink and loo - they even became the steps to get up to the upper bunk when it was in the bed position. So scenic having a loo with a view!

Lunch

The trip lasted 12 hours. I got chatting to an elderly couple as I walked to get a cuppa and when they knew I was from Australia they told me that they'd loved Steve Erwin! There was a discussion about 'my' new King and oh how they loved Dianna! It was fun talking to them.

We made about three stops - including Birmingham Alabama! The other stops were tiny places - rather strange!

Much of the trip was through woodlands but there were some interesting sights!

Around 9pm darkness had fallen so I asked for my bed to be made up - without the delay I would have arrived in NO at 9pm. My bed was comfy and I slept through until 2:30 am when the attendant woke me!

Coming into NO

There was a taxi waiting and so I headed to the hotel and another comfy bed!