March 17th, 2023

I am writing this post partially annoyed as I just had an unpleasant experience starting off on the Sunset Limited to New Orleans. First, LA's Union Station was one of the most confusing train stations I have ever been in. There needed to be more communication about finding exactly what track to get on, and there was no straightforward boarding process like the one in Chicago. After speaking with an attendant, they directed me on the right track. Once on that platform, there needed to be more information as to when we could begin boarding the train and where to secure the seating assignment, so I had to ask a conductor who pointed me to the door I would be entering. Once the conductor maintaining that entrance had arrived, he started calling passengers with seating assignments. When someone asked where we were supposed to get ticket assignments, he said we had to be at the station early in an annoyed tone. I had arrived at the station an hour before the scheduled departure. I did not receive any information on that when I asked. I was seated in an aisle seat next to a kind lady. Despite this not being a window seat, it had more legroom than usual because there were no other seats behind it. However, I was then moved to a new seat because another passenger wished to sit with someone of the same gender. I was okay with this and ended up seated at a window seat with no one beside me. A few minutes later, I was asked to move again because a family of five arrived late, and they needed to make room for them to all sit together. I was rather annoyed with this because the new seating assignment was at the front of the train car with no seats in front of me to lay my legs under and no tray table. In addition, I was again seated in the aisle. Apologies that this post was written while I was frustrated, but this boarding process was a bad experience.

The following morning, I began the day with a breakfast sandwich and coffee from a local breakfast place. I then began a classic Wylie city exploration, where I wandered aimlessly and took in the sights. I made sure to walk through the historic Spring Street, leading me to the Angel's Flight Railway, which I was rather excited to try. Once at the top of the railway, I walked around the Walt Disney Concert Hall area and checked out the beautiful gardens and views behind it. I then headed back to refresh at the hostel.

I returned to my room two minutes after checkout, and my card had been deactivated. Luckily, there was a room service attendant nearby, and she gave me access so I could grab my stuff and officially check out. Once I dropped my bag to be held onto for a bit, I walked around downtown a little bit more and stopped in at a really cool bookstore called "The Last Bookstore." The setup was so cool, but there were so many books to choose from that I left empty-handed. I also stopped at a mall complex called "The Bloc," where they gave out free toiletry bags and food discounts to out-of-state travelers, so I purchased a discounted smoothie. Finally, I returned to the hostel to collect my bags and make my way to the Union Station, where I ran into trouble boarding the Sunset Limited. At the rate we are traveling, we should be entering Arizona overnight.

I look forward to updating this blog on how I fared on this three-day train ride to New Orleans, my longest stretch yet, and the halfway point of my trip.

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