Mary's Off to Orlando

I haven't read all of Mary's emails -- I have a bunch of them -- so we'll start at the beginning. This is the view of the First Class Lounge at Union Station. I've been in there a number of times. As I recall a number of years ago, if you had a first-class ticket, you'd go to the lounge and then they'd call you by name and take you on a golf cart (really) to the train car. I think they stopped that practice, except for people with disabilities, but it was nice while it lasted:

 Next is the exterior of the sleeper car which tells me at least she was boarding the train.

First complaint of the trip... Mary writes:

Same problem with all travel. There's a guy right next to me who is too friendly. Name is Tony, traveling with Elizabeth who doesn't speak English very well. They remind me of the couple on Modern Family. Their door is two feet from mine. I already know he has heart trouble, couldn't fly from Denver, likes these cars better than the "new" ones (he means the double decker Superliners that run in the west- they can't get through the tunnels back east but they really aren't new). I'm a curmudgeon and I hope I don't sit with them at dinner...

Uh-oh... so much for live-blogging. Mary writes:

This is one of the last trains to get wi-fi so messages with pictures are going to be expensive. I'll send more pictures when I get to the hotel.

And now back to Tony and Ellizabeth. Mary writes (with the subject line: Please make him shut up):

At least when I get back from dinner i can close the door and the curtain. He's the kind who says everything for the benefit of strangers, so he chides his wife with "oh you tried to reset the thermostat we have in our room you little stinker" with this annoying laugh. So he shows off all hw knows while purportedly talking with his wife.

Ahhh he's quiet.. .

Pat adds: A husband referring to his wife as "you little stinker" is grounds for divorce in my book.


TO BE CONTINUED.