How To Get There?

When I finally convinced my wife to take this trip to Anaheim, the next steps were when to go and how to get there. We originally picked April of this year to make the trip. Everything was booked and ready to go. Unfortunately due to some difficult circumstances, we were forced to postpone the trip until September. This turned out to be a lucky break because Space Mountain unexpectedly had to close just before we would've arrived and would have never opened. So postponing actually turned out to be a very good thing.

The other question was how were we going to travel to California. Neither my wife nor myself care for flying. I actually HATE flying. It isn't the actual flying part. I hate airports and I really hate airplanes. I hate being stuffed into this flying can with no freedom of movement and with too many rude people. Airlines are terribly run companies and I despise dealing with them. I just can't stand the entire experience of flying.

One thing about me is I love to drive. I love seeing the country and its varied landscapes. I really do enjoy the process of getting there. I love Roadside America and all the quirky things this country has to offer on the way. One dream trip for me is to drive to Alaska. Unfortunately I don't think my wife would ever go for that. Anyways, I would drive to California, but the rest of the family does not enjoy riding in a car as much as I do, so that was not an option.

I have always wanted to take a train across the country. It mixes together some of my favorite things about driving like sightseeing and enjoying our diverse country. It eliminates the headaches though like just how tiring driving can be and allows freedom of movement around the train. When the boys were younger, they loved trains. We took some scenic railroad journeys and the whole family enjoyed them. Of course now that they are older, trains don't hold that same appeal they once did. Still I thought the whole family traveling together across the country in a train would be a great time. My wife was open to this idea. But we would need to get a bedroom on the train.

I originally looked at travelling the whole way from Pittsburgh to Anaheim on Amtrak. This turned out to not be the best solution. We would have to change trains in Chicago and the train from Pittsburgh to Chicago left around midnight each day. The cost of getting a bedroom on this part of the trek was pushing our budget too high and sleeping in coach seats was not a good idea. The next thing I looked at was catching the Southwest Chief (which is the main route from Chicago to Los Angeles) in Chicago. The Chief left Chicago each day at 3:00 pm. We would need to leave Pittsburgh around 5:00 am and we couldn't have any delays for this to work. I thought a little more and looked at catching the train in Kansas City. The driving distance was about the same as driving to Atlanta (which we have done several times) and we would catch the train at 10:30 pm. This would give us plenty of time to get there and we could also save a little more money on the fare. This is what we ultimately decided.

We reserved a family bedroom which gives sleeping bunks for two adults and two children. Meals are included. We'll spend two nights and one day on the train taking in the American Southwest. I am almost as excited about the train trip as I am about Disneyland. Almost.