I must say that when this trip was booked, I was rather nervous. The fact that I would be spending 36 hours on a train didn’t sound pleasant to me. Surely, any reasonable person would’ve booked a bed on this kind of trip and not a coach seat. Not my mom, she would rather save that money and spend it on something else than spend it on a bed. “It’s only 36 hours,” she said, only.

The trip began at the Los Angeles Union Station. We arrived at the station early and stood in line to wait for seat assignment. The seats were plenty wide with more than enough legroom. Personally, I wish there was this much legroom on a plane. The train left the station on time and before long, we were speeding out of LA.

“Let’s head to the observation lounge,” my mom said. The observation lounge is a car with almost floor to ceiling windows. Before long, we hit a snag.

In Oxnard, a large group of people got on the train and suddenly, the observation car was flooded with people. These people began taking people’s seats without asking them first and some even sat on the tables. I was appalled at the behavior. I got very annoyed at the noise and rude behavior of these people that I had to return to my seat in the coach car. Thankfully, I still got to take some photos as the train hugged the Pacific coastline.

One of the things we didn’t bring on the train was water. My mom was dependent on the attendant at the cafe to give her free hot water. Let’s just say, the attendant was not happy to hand out free hot water when bottled water costs $3. I was afraid when my mom sent me to refill the bottles and yes, that attendant did give me dirty looks when I asked for hot water. Why couldn’t she bought a couple bottles of water prior to getting on the train? Suddenly, water became this valuable thing, especially because my mom had only brought 8 ounce thermoses, which wasn’t at all enough for water consumption.

Not only was water scarce on the train, food was also scarce. We bought a loaf of coconut toast during our first day in LA and before we left home, she stuffed 2 cup noodles into my backpack. The only other thing she had was a bag of candy. Can you believe it? If I had known this was all I had for the 36-hour train journey, I would’ve done something about it. Unfortunately, my mom had also chosen to travel light and didn’t allow me to bring my own suitcase, so I guess I didn’t have a choice.

Thankfully, during a service stop in San Luis Obispo, we were able to get some takeout at a Thai restaurant next to the station. We ended up splitting a noodle dish and though I wasn’t exactly full after the meal, I can survive the night. That night was rough as sleeping in a chair was never easy, no matter how far back the seat can recline. I only got around 4 hours of sleep after continuously tossing and turning and feeling the hunger pangs now and then.

The next morning brought some bad news – no hot water. The only water the was was iced water. There had been cold air blowing above me all night, the last thing I wanted was ice water. No hot water also meant no cup noodles. There were only 4 slices of toast left and I would have to make it last the day as the train wouldn’t reach Seattle until 7:51 PM. My mom’s only solution seemed to be making me get out at every station to search for fast food and hot water while she remained on board the train and then kept feeding me candy. Sugar not only didn’t help with the hunger pangs, it made them worse.

Eventually, I decided to head to the observation car to get away from my mom but soon, she and her large mostly-empty backpack joined me. I couldn’t understand why she couldn’t just let me be, let me listen to my audiobook and enjoy the view. Whenever she joined me, she seemed to want me to go somewhere when all I wanted was to conserve energy.

By the afternoon, I wanted nothing than to get off the train and find something to eat. This adventure wasn’t fun anymore. I needed food, water, and a bed. The only thing that kept me going were the view outside my window and the thought of food. Eventually though, the train did pull into Seattle King Street station and all I could feel as I stepped off the train was another part of the trip complete.