I’ve started my journey. Tuesday evening at about 8:30pm I got on a VA Rail train that travels from Vancouver to Toronto. I arrived in Hinton, Alberta just before 7pm on Wednesday to visit my sister. The trip is probably close to what you would imagine it, except more legroom and slower overall speeds. In the end, the trip was very good, except for the crying baby throughout the entire night.
Before I got on the trip, my mom, knowing how stingy I can be with money, made me promise that I will have a meal in the dining car. She was thinking that they might not have that service around for much longer.
Now my plan for the train was to go and find the best looking girl that I could find and then sit across from her. I would make her fall in love with me while slipping in a few missions of Advanced Wars 2 on the side. Turns out that the only seats that face each other are reserved for families and since everyone else was either married or decided that their luggage would be their sitting companion, I did the same. I did pass by what seemed to be a good looking girl, but as I made every excuse to take in the scenery behind me, I realized that she was a bit young. As everyone knows, I only go for fourteen year olds when I’m a “super councillor” or if they’re a prospective student.*
Because of the baby and the abusive sunlight streaming into the train, I woke up at about 6am. I decided to go exploring. I walked past a number of staff, but because they didn’t immediately stop me, I acted as if I knew where I was going. I eventually got to the sleeper cars and decided to turn around. As I came back through the dining car, I was stopped by an elderly gentleman who asked me if I was by myself. I said yes and he seated me with three other people while handing me a menu. I glanced at the menu, saw that there were no prices and asked for some juice. I got the traditional breakfast, which consisted of eggs, bacon, toast and hash browns. It was delicious. The three other people consisted of a Korean couple visiting their son and a war veteran from Oklahoma. I tried to strike up a conversation about Iraq and Osama but he seemed more concerned with looking out the window. After we were done our meals, the elderly gentleman came back and asked us where we were travelling to. When I told him that I was going to Hinton, his face crinkled a bit as he probably wondered why someone would buy a first class ticket to travel to Hinton, but being the service professional that he is, he let out a slight chuckle and asked if I wanted lunch at 11:30 or 12:15. “11:30” I said.
It was about this time that I had serious doubts about this breakfast being part of the super-economy class ticket that I had. But as I left I recognized a family from my section of the train and walked comfortably back to my seat. At 11:30 an employee walked into my section saying that it was first call for lunch. I showed the reservation card I had received from breakfast and I followed her to the dining car. On the way I was asked where I was going. The employee responded for me: “He has a reservation for lunch.” In the dining car, the same gentleman seated me but this time by myself. He then quickly asked me if I was from the sleeper car, which I responded with “No, I’m from the front of the train.” He then told me that I was not allowed to be here and that I needed to pay $12 for breakfast. I thought about trying to show him my reservation for lunch but decided that it was a bad idea. Instead, I refused to pay and he quickly kicked me out of lunch. It’s too bad too, because I had my eye on an excellent looking Angus burger for lunch.
The moral of the story: Listen to your mother, but only as much as you have to.
*These examples may or may not be true
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