GETTING AWAY FROM IT ALL BY... TRAIN
There are many famous long distance train journeys. The Orient Express from Paris to Istanbul was the most elegant and perhaps the saddest as it slowly got shorter – Paris to Vienna from 1977, Strasbourg to Vienna from 2007 and, from 2009, nothing at all. However, my personal favourite is the Coast Starlight.
I took this train in 2013, when I was on holiday in the USA for two months, my first ever visit to the country. It travels a total of over 2,200 km in almost 35 hours from Los Angeles in southern California to Seattle in the far north-west of the USA, almost on the Canadian border. There are several reasons why I loved it.
Firstly, there is the usual high standard of American service. I’m sure all their night trains are as good, although I haven’t travelled on any others. The ticket includes meals and they are excellent too. Between meals, you can leave the dining car and go to the viewing car. This is higher than the rest of the train with bigger windows, so you get a great view of the beautiful landscapes of the western USA.
The train left Los Angeles at 10 a.m. and, for the first twelve hours, it followed the coast. I looked at the Pacific Ocean until night fell. I missed the fruit farms of northern California but, when I woke up, we were coming to Tacoma with the 4,392 metre high volcano, Mount Rainier towering over the city. I jumped out onto the platform to take some photos but jumped back on quickly. I didn’t want to be left behind by mistake.
Now, we were next to the Puget Sound, a 161 km long, 16 km wide area of water where several rivers meet the Pacific Ocean. There were forests, islands, boats, birds and, for a few minutes, a group of whales swimming in the icy water.
The train arrived exactly on time at 8.37 p.m. and, as I got off, I turned round to look at the train. I wanted to jump back on for the return journey to Los Angeles.​