This morning we had to get up bright and early to catch our 7.40am train out of Kansas City to Chicago. Luckily we were staying across the road from the train station!
Union Station, Kansas City
It’s a really pretty station built in the 1920s. There were photos of it in its heyday scattered around the building. It kind of made me feel sad for the “old days” of travel when riding trains was commonplace. But these big empty rooms are still quite beautiful and our Amtrak was a very busy train line.
This train is called the “Southwest Chief” and it starts out all the way in California and goes through Las Vegas, Colorado and other states in between.
We hopped on in KC, the last big stop before Chicago, but there were several stops we had to make along the way.
Riding The Amtrak Train To Chicago
Addam was very taken by the view. We started our journey on the viewing deck but after a couple hours made our way back to our chairs where we could lean back, relax, and nap.
Addam did work.
I watched Reign. (Prepping for our trip – duh)
Our Unscheduled Stopover in Iowa
But then all of the sudden we got stuck at Fort Madison, Iowa. The train lost power, which meant unbearable heat in the carriages, and an unscheduled layover in this teeny tiny town. Personally I’d rather sweat my face off than sit around waiting for something to happen. So I irritated Addam to the point of near explosion with complaining. Luckily it was only about 30 minutes. Any longer and I might have just started walking instead.
^ This is me pretending to be happy.
What We Really Thought of our First Amtrak Experience
Overall my opinion of the 7 hour Amtrak journey from Kansas City to Chicago is that it was good. We make an annual trip to Chicago in February so we’re used to doing the 10 hour drive and it was definitely nice to just kick back and relax.
BUT 7 hours is a LONG time and the cell signal was spotty. If you have patience go for it! It’s actually a lot cheaper than buying a plane ticket – but if you have a short attention span like I do you might want to just throw down some money for the convenience of air travel.
We have return tickets so we’ll be doing the journey in reverse on our way back home. I’ll let you know if the experience is any better (or worse)!
Hello, Chicago!
We arrived in Chicago around 3.30pm and immediately took a cab to our downtown hotel. Chicago hotels are incredibly cheap when you don’t have to pay for parking. We’re staying at the Hotel Palomar, a 4 star hotel, for only $100!
Every time we visit this gorgeous city it’s freezing. Like snow, ice, below 0 degrees freezing, so it was a shock to walk around in 85 degree heat! Look at this view! We’re definitely going to visit this city in the warmer months again.
There’s not much else to say about this day. Tomorrow we’ll be taking the plane to Ireland!!!
