A no-brainer ride from Seattle put me in Vancouver late Saturday night. Had a nice day wandering around there on Sunday, then boarded VIA Rail Train #2 in the evening. For the next four nights (and three days, obviously) we made steady progress across the vast northern landscape, with only a few brief stops along the way.
The VIA train was good, but not as great as I thought it might be based on things I’d heard. The ride, room, meals, service, etc., were certainly all quite satisfactory, but not any better than what I’ve experienced on Amtrak. So there’s my opinion on that competitive issue.
I arrived in Toronto early this morning and proceeded straight to the Holiday Inn Express — my customary home away from home (wherever that is!) — and was allowed a very, very early check-in… They LOVE me here!
Spent the afternoon wandering around Toronto, with highlights being four floors of the Bata shoe museum (everything you could possibly want to know about shoes!) and the city market (which is an indoor version of pretty much every city market around the world). It’s chilly here, but the weather has been fine so far.
I’m going to make it an early night — simply because sleeping on a train isn’t the most restful — and catch my Toronto-NY train in the morning.
So far it’s been a good start to The Voyage 2.0 and I’ve covered a surprising amount of the earth’s surface already… Stay tuned!
