Staying Fit
My challenge: To get from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles to visit my four grandchildren during a pandemic. Normally, I would just fly there, of course. But having to pack together in an airplane cabin with a bunch of strangers? No thanks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has made it clear that while no form of travel is completely safe, your chances of getting COVID-19 depend in large part (along with mask wearing and handwashing) on your ability to stay 6 feet away from people outside your household.
But a coast-to-coast drive all by myself felt too daunting. So I settled on Amtrak's sleeper train, an old-school form of travel with individual compartments for social distancing, as the perfect choice for me for these coronavirus times. A big (OK, huge) downside? The price. At around $1,000 one-way, it's at least double — maybe triple — what I'd pay to fly round trip cross-country.
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Deciding to splurge just this once, I booked a three-night trip — starting on the Capitol Limited from D.C. to Chicago, where I changed trains, and continuing aboard the Southwest Chief to L.A.
Turns out I was not the only one seeking the safety of train travel. I met Phoenix retirees Eva and David Rudoy, who were on their way back from visiting their grandchildren near Baltimore. David is an avid model train collector, so he already had the bug for riding the rails. “The virus gave us the extra incentive,” the 65-year-old said (from a distance and wearing a mask), “and you don't have to stress about staying in a hotel.”
My journey took three days. Then, after a long stay, I did it all again but in reverse, to come home. Here's what I learned.
Sleeping: My two-person bedroom with a private bathroom provided a comfortable cocoon — especially for just one person. Unlike on a plane, I wasn't jammed shoulder-to-shoulder with other people. I had my own sofa and a facing chair, with a pull-down table in between. When I was ready for bed, a room attendant would convert the room, sliding out the sofa and placing a mattress on top. (For people traveling with companions, a bunk bed can be folded out, too.) Once tucked in for the night, I was soothed to sleep by the rhythmic chugging of the train and repeated tooting of the horn, like a distant refrain.
