After six months in Toronto, we decided after much deliberation that we would live out the rest of our visa on the west coast in Vancouver. We’re sorry to say bye, bye to TO but we’ve got to see a lot of Ontario and the city while we’re here so we think we did it justice.
The one place however, that we didn’t get to see was Chicago. After looking at prices of air fare we thought we would look at options to include Chicago in our journey. The Amtrak was a really good option to Chicago, but it seemed impossible to buy a through ticket from Toronto through as they are two different companies. So we booked the Megabus from TO to Buffalo Airport. It’s only about $17 each one way. Our train left at five to midnight but as you can get caught up in customs we allowed ourselves (probably too much time) at Buffalo.
If anyone thinks they might hang out at Buffalo Airport to wait, maybe have some food while you wait? Well don’t there’s literally nothing there! Luckily there was a sports bar where we managed to get a microwaved sandwich (bleugh) and sat and watched UFC on a big screen. I’m not sure if any of you have seen UFC, but it’s a lot of oiled up muscly men wrestling with each other. Not really my idea of a Saturday night – ha!
Finally, headed over to the Amtrak train station. There was a massive group of people waiting in the station also. I thought that there must be another train or something as we were so early. The big group were hanging out eating pizza and looked like a mix of ZZ Top and truckers. After a train went flying by and they all got out their pads – I realised... they’re not waiting for a train they’re train spotters!! A very distant cry to those dweebs at the end of the platform at London Bridge recording all the commuter trains. I was glad they were there however, as there was also this guy who was sat near to us swearing to himself every other second who was just off his head. Oh how bus stations are just a magnet for alcoholic weirdos, no matter where you go in the world.
One great thing with Amtrak is that you can check your luggage so you don’t have to worry about it if you fall asleep or go to the buffet cart.
The train arrived and we were escorted down a snowy platform along the side of this huge train in the dark. It was a little bit like something out of a Harry Potter film. After the others had disembarked we were guided onto the relevant carriage to match our “boarding pass”, which was basically our end destination scribbled on a piece of card to stick on top of your seat so they can wake you if you fall asleep.
All I could think when I got on the train was wow! After traveling Asia and also living in England your expectations of trains isn’t generally very high. Especially when you have paid for the lowest price ticket (in this case $70). We settled down in our massive seats and the next thing I knew I woke up 10 hours later and we were in Chicago! Best night transport ever.
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