Note: Washington, DC is not actually in Virginia. I know this, but offexploring won't let me start a blog in the US with no state. So there... It had to happen sometime. I'd spent the most part of my Amtraking life I'm relative bliss as the routes I was taking were pretty much deserted. No so on the east coast! I got off the train after spending a good few hours sat next to a man more than twice my width. Even Amtrak seats struggle to contain that. I shouldn't b...

My train(s) to Raleigh were due to start at 11pm last night, so we departed at 12:30am. Two hours on the train with a woman who insisted on speaking to me even though I was clearly trying to sleep was followed by an hour of waiting to get into Charlotte, where I had the joy of yet more waiting for the 7am train to Raleigh. I'm now on the train and running on probably one hour's sleep. To be fair, that's better than Vegas. I crawled off the train at Raleigh and c...

I suppose the most obvious question that comes to mind as I'm on this 15 hour train journey from New Orleans to Greenville, South Carolina is "can I handle any more smoked ham and sliced muenster cheese rolls?". I'm not sure of the answer, but I've had half a dozen already and I have just over five hours of this journey left. Earlier, the train went directly through the destruction zones of some of the multiple tornadoes to hit the states of Mississippi and Alab...

I said a teary goodbye to Chicago and spent the next 18 hours in a train next to Steven, a young bloke who is planning to cycle the length of the Mississippi River from mouth to source. What an adventure! I would have been more talkative but to be honest my head was nodding even before I'd got off the public transit to get to the station. I slept for a solid 12 hours, which is unheard of for a seat on a train and things were all better. When I arrived, New Orlea...

I have returned to my room tonight in the midst of what could be described as "snore wars". There are at least two and as many as four people vying quite vocally for the title of the loudest snorer in the room. Right now I'd have to say the chap next to me is winning for overall noise and consistency. This is where my "sleep" playlist on my iPod comes in handy! The pub crawl was fun and unexpectedly cheap. We started off watching Chicago Bulls lose their playoff...