The Comfy Corner

Train travel: a method of travel which popularly attracts smelly people of lesser mental stability, people who highly enjoy talking about themselves and their problems to strangers, and a few normal people who are just trying to save money or avoid planes. I proudly label myself in the third category of train travelers. At least I wear deodorant (usually), I hope that I'm fairly mentally stable and I don't think I talk about my problems too much (except on this blog). I was lucky enough, however, to experience all types of travelers on first-time ever, long-distance, 13-hour train trip to Ottumwa, Iowa. Here is my story.

I arrived in Denver a couple of hours before my train was to depart. Plenty of time to grab a nice dinner, take care of my banking needs and relax at the station, right? Wrong. All of the Bank of Americas in Denver have permanently closed down (but they annoyingly still pop up on Google Maps taunting me like a mirage in the desert), Union Station is under construction so the Amtrak station mysteriously moved to a secluded, hard-to-find part of town (WHO MOVES A TRAIN STATION?!?!), and all of the searching for stations and banks left me with zero time to have dinner. So when I finally found the station (imagine me lugging all of my luggage around the sketchiest part of Denver) it turns out it was packed with approximately 300 high school Christian singers who wanted to constantly practice their Jesus tunes. These were to be my train-mates for the entirety of the 13 hour journey. When I boarded the train, however, I was lucky enough to not be seated next to one of the high schoolers. No, I was seated next to a very large, bald man with a ton of piercings who reeked of weeks of not showering and continually sniffed his shirt and asked me a ton of personal questions. Meanwhile, the mentally unstable, elderly lady in front of me asked on a continual loop, "Where are my socks?" while her twenty-something chaperone kept feeding her yogurt ("You like yogurt, don't you grandma? Isn't this train nice? Do you need your sweater?" meanwhile, "Where are my socks? Where are my socks?"). I desperately attempted to drown them out with my music, but I was sat in a seat that made me go backwards on the train. So there I was feeling slightly dizzy, surrounded by crazy strangers, absolutely starving, and all the while watching the outside world whip past me as I traveled backwards to Iowa. On top of all of this, I took a small sedative to help me sleep. This, however, affected me in the most negative of ways. I got so drowsy that that I couldn't get out of my seat to get water or use the bathroom without the fear of falling on my face. I arrived in Iowa a battered boy and extremely loath to train travel.

The ride back to Denver, I must admit, was much much better. I secured a seat all to myself going forwards not backwards. And I even took advantage of the dining car. I had a lovely dinner with wine (no sedatives this time!), however, they made me sit with strangers. More crazy people who were just competing with stories of how awesome and crazy their lives were. The type of people who talk but don't listen. Beyond that, the trip was amazing. I doodled a lot, read some, listened to music, slept a little, and had a great trip. So Amtrak, you redeemed yourself, sort of. I've decided that there is potential for a comfy corner on a train. But I will never forget the stress of my first-ever train trip. Stay comfy y'all.