Richmond to Philadelphia - Amtrak

I write this just south of Wilmington Delaware on Amtrak 80 the Carolinian. We are headed to Philadelphia. I like the train for a number of reasons. I wrote my first book on the Virginia commuter train an hour from Fredericksburg VA to Crystal City ( Pentagon) and they would charge my laptop at the guard station and then an hour back.

The train is peaceful and having power outlets and wireless onboard is awesome. But what really gets my attention is how kind most of the Amtrak employees are. Kathy was injured in September and they help her get on the train and help put her belongings up in the overhead.

You do not need to get to the train station as early as you do to the airport, but we are creatures of habit and ordered a taxi in order to get there with the logic after we check our bags, we can go get lunch. I ordered a taxi from West End Taxis in Richmond. I do not think I will use them again. I like to support them because there is a taxi parked in my neighborhood, but the last time I called them, some crazy guy in camos showed up and this time an even crazier guy with garbage or recycling in his trunk that made it hard to fit our bags in came.

We checked our bags and were getting ready to walk to Anthony $ George's Steakhouse next door for lunch when an Amtrak employee offered to keep our carry on bags in their baggage room. Thank you Doug!

Kathy was not very hungry so she ordered a side of butterbeans and we do not usually drink alcohol at lunch, but she wanted to sleep on the train so she ordered a Long Island Ice Tea. Kathy does not tend to drink hard liquor drinks and she is very particular about her Long Islands, she does not want them too sweet. The waitress said not to worry and she made the best Long Island I have ever tasted; I do not tend to favor them. I had the Seafood Combo, it was nicely seasoned. Then we walked back to the train station.

They put our carry on bags on a little cart and gave Kathy a ride to the train. For some perverse reason I wanted to carry my own stuff and didn't even ask for help climbing up the train; my carryon  is very heavy. The train was 20 minutes late, but that is OK, we don't have to work until tomorrow.