Day 6: Chicago to Boston

The Great American Train Ride

By Nathan Tsai

January 18^th, 2022

Brighter Days are Ahead

Along the way, I misplaced the photos I snapped while I was in Chicago, so we're skipping a day in the trip till I can find the lost pictures. Just know that I liked Chicago, the architecture was beautiful, and the Asian food did not meet expectations.

Like in Denver, my train was slated to leave in the late afternoon and the hotel I stayed in wouldn't let me stay past noon, so instead of catching an Uber to the train station, I tightened my shoelaces, donned my backpacks, and meandered through Chicago towards the train.

This trip was taken in mid-2021 and even then, I appreciated the optimism that suffused the neighborhood. The pandemic has irrevocably changed the world, but it is the responsibility of those still living, to carry on and move forward.

Mojo Coffee

200 S Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606

I didn't have any firm plans when I started walking towards Union Station, but I was hoping to come across some interesting food along the way. After several miles of walking, I was surprised to come up completely empty. Sure, there were dozens of restaurants along the way, but almost nothing was open on a Monday afternoon. COVID and working from home absolutely demolished the demand for mid-day food service in Chicago's business districts. The only options were fast food outlets that still littered every other corner.

Several blocks from the train station, I eventually found Mojo Coffee—an American outpost of an Australian cafe chain—which was tucked inside one of Chicago's glass-and-steel office buildings.

Let me be charitable here and say that the Google reviews and the pictures below completely oversell this cafe. Briefly, the coffee was not good, the food was overpriced, and the entire cafe was run by a single, undertrained employee who was working so hard his facemask had rubbed a bloody sore on his nose. I know this because the surgical mask he was wearing was spotted with bloodstains and I could see his nose as his mask continued to slip off his face.

It was almost 2PM and literally nothing else was open so I stayed to eat, but all I could do was leave a big tip for the poor guy and ensure his hands were washed clean before he prepared my (microwaved) meal. At least it was better than train mush.

On the Road to Washington DC

Washington DC

This final portion of my train ride was actually a combination of two separate tickets. First, I'd take the overnight train from Chicago to Washington DC where I would then transfer to the Acela train to complete my journey to Boston.

The "layover" in DC was supposed to be about 3.5 hours so I had planned to head out, grab a nice Indian lunch, and then return in time for my train to Boston. Unfortunately, the Chicago train was delayed yet again and I arrived in DC with literally five minutes to spare. I was on the last express train of the day and would have to wait a full 13 hours before the next train showed up if I missed my scheduled train.

Before we even arrived in the capital of the United States, I had already packed my gear away, slung both my personal pack and daypack over my shoulders and pressed myself against the double doors of the train as we pulled into the station with agonizing leisure. The doors were only halfway open when I pushed through and sprinted down the platform. I slammed through a set of doors leading into the main concourse and spotted a sign leading towards the Amtrak Station Lounge. Though the lounge was closed, the doors were unlocked and I was lucky enough to catch a station engineer who was kind enough to lead me through some side passages and point me to my train.

I managed to board my train and as I sat down in the Acela bound for Boston, I heard the doors close behind me.

Bound for Boston

The train I boarded in DC was a completely different beast when compared to the ancient behemoths that had carried me cross country so far. The Acela train is Amtrak's most "modern" train service. The rails are built with concrete ties which increase the maximum speed of the train up to 150MPH. The track is dedicated solely to passenger and mail cargo so delays from slow freight trains cease to impact the timetable. And...the trains are by far the newest in Amtrak's arsenal—they're only twenty years old!

The reality is that in 2020 and 2021, the Acela was supposed to be upgraded to even newer, faster, and more efficient trains (Avelia Liberty trains) but "things" happened and the roll-out has been pushed to "sometime" in 2022.

Without a doubt, the Acela was certainly the best experience I had on Amtrak throughout my entire trip. It doesn't have the romanticism of the sleeper cars, nor does it travel through breathtaking scenery that is otherwise unreachable, but it was the first train I took in America that vaguely reminded me of the trains I've taken in other developed countries.

The speed was palpable, the cabin was quiet, and the windows allowed plenty of light to flood in.

Lunch/Dinner

Since lunch at Mojo Coffee in Chicago the day prior, I had subsisted on some snacks and water that I had brought aboard. I missed breakfast intentionally because I expected that I would have lunch either in DC or on the train. However, since Amtrak planned to be in Washington before lunchtime, our tickets "did not include lunch". By the time I had finished my sprint through Washington Union Station, I hadn't eaten a proper meal in more than 24 hours.

Luckily, the food served on the Acela train was a (minor) upgrade over what I had been served on the older trains and I was offered a menu that spanned the basic (hot dogs and cheeseburgers) to the bougie (Shrimp in Brandied Lobster Sauce). The past 90 hours of Amtrak travel had taught me to not trust anything except for simple dishes made from beef or chicken served with some sort of white starchy sides.

Beef Short Ribs: This was essentially the same meal (Red Wine Braised Beef) that I ate on the first day of my trip except instead of the beef being cubed, they were more like pieces of meatloaf. I didn't complain then and won't complain now. It was salty, had some veggies, and a nice helping of mushed potato paste. I cleaned my plastic plate and almost licked dry.

New York

While I feel like I had planned things quite well, I somehow missed the fact that one of the only stops my express train would make was New York. Had I realized during my planning phase, I would have reduced some of my time in Boston to spend in New York. Though I live in the Bay Area and I went to school in Boston, I genuinely think that New York is the best city America has to offer. It reminds me of the ultra-dense metropolises of Hong Kong, Singapore, or Shanghai and the food, the people, the culture are all just so fun to be immersed in.

However, I only realized my oversight when we pulled right up to a big sign that taunted me with the words "New York - Penn Station".

Ah well. Next time I guess.

Coda

Well.

We pulled into Boston just an hour and a half late, and my great American train trip was finally over. In total, my planned 77 hours of train travel turned into almost 98 hours stuck on the train. Yes, in total, I recorded 21 hours of delay—almost a full day of delays. Though I had planned and expected the timetable to shift, I don't quite think I expected delays of this magnitude.

While the scenery was gorgeous, there really is only so much grassy flatlands or rolling forest that one can look at before getting terribly bored. The trains I rode on had no communications systems, no WiFi, no entertainment, a modicum of food and drink, and were prone to random stoppages and breakdowns. Often, we spent thirty minutes or more with no cellular signal, and once, we even got stooped in a tunnel for more than an hour.

I finished both books I had downloaded on my Kindle, had exhausted my desire to play Angry Birds, had taken more than three thousand photos, and even if I wanted to work I couldn't be very productive as my cell signal cut out every thirty seconds. In the end, I resigned myself to playing music while I stared out the window at the unchanging, unending, undulations of America.

The Misfits

Thank you for sticking with my through this trip. I have more photos and stories I'm planning on sharing. Some are in Boston, some are abroad, and some are back home in the Bay. I hope the new year treats you all well and you stay safe, healthy, and reasonably happy in 2022.