For the most part, Amtrak has been good to me and outside of a few instances (which I'll expand on more in later posts), our relationship has been relatively smooth.  Last week, however, was one of the times I felt that perhaps Amtrak didn't love me as much as I love Amtrak.

My day started off relatively normal and once I got on the train I plugged in my iPad, turned on my music, put in my headphones and started to work.  I rarely take notice of my surroundings such as which stop we're at, so I didn't pay too much attention when we were stopped a little longer at one particular stop. However, when "a little longer" became "a lot longer", I took out my headphones and started looking around.  That's when I realized we weren't actually at a station stop.  I happened to be sitting in the second car from the front of the train, so I could see that there was something going on, but I wasn't sure what was up. I asked the woman in the seat across the aisle and she said no one had come on the speak yet to explain why they were stopped but from her side of the train she could see a lot of activity as well.  It was at that moment that one of the Conductors got on the speaker and said we were stopped due to an "emergency incident" and didn't know how long we would be delayed.  Good thing I had a bagel with me.  About 20 minutes later, the Conductor got back on the speaker and informed us that the train had struck and killed a pedestrian, that there was to be an investigation and that no one could get off the train (since we weren't at an actual stop), and that the delay could take up to 4-5 hours.  Now, being a regular commuter, I understand this.  They can't let us off the train because there are live train tracks surrounding us, plus they have to investigate the situation and the train has to stay exactly where it is, etc.  But it's definitely not easy to hear that you might be sitting on the train for the rest of the day.  Instantly, the whole demeanor of the train changed.....but I'll get back to that in a bit.

So now everyone is on the phone telling people they're not going to make it to wherever they're supposed to be.  And to make matters worse, the Amtrak wifi seems to be down, so no one can get on their iPads or whatever gadgets they had. I had a jetpack/hotspot, so I offered the use of it to those around me since obviously we were going to spend the day together.  My new best friends and I start to chit chat a little and commiserate about where we're supposed to be and what we're supposed to be doing that day.  One poor woman was on her way to help her very elderly mother before her surgery that afternoon and now would not make it prior to the surgery.  Argh!!  Can you imagine???

And I'm sure the dining car suddenly got very busy.

Now let's get back to some of the people on the train and how I believe that they suddenly were taken over by aliens when they were informed that they couldn't get off the train for possibly up to 5 hours.  I was so disappointed in humanity. Many of the folks, just in my train car alone, were unbelievably rude to the Conductor when he informed us that we were stuck there for a while.  A couple of them actually yelled at him and swore at him.  Come on, folks, it's not his fault.  He's actually doing his job and keeping you safe by not letting you walk onto live train tracks.  I get it, you're very important and have important places to be, but how about taking a step back and thinking about what just happened out there?  Perhaps you could cut the guy a little slack and chill out a bit?

A lot sooner than expected (thank goodness it was about 2 hours instead of 4-5), they brought in some planks and covered the tracks and let us off the train.  We were somewhere south of Oceanside, so we were all left to our own devices to figure out how to get somewhere, and some stayed on the train to eventually get to San Diego.  Many called on Uber (which increased the cost significantly).

And if you're wondering about my Uber ride?  Well, I Ubered back to Orange County, and boy was it a doozy of a ride, but I'll have to cover that in my next post.....See you soon!