North Bound Train

This year Aaron and I decided to take the train home for Christmas. Aaron had been on a few trains while in Taiwan but AJ and I were first timers! The drive home is about 13 hours if the roads are really good but chances of getting there in 14 hours during the snow season are slim and so we opted for the 18 hour train trip instead. Also there may be times when I go home a little before Aaron and we wanted to make sure the train was a viable option before I hopped on it alone. When we got to the station we were pretty impressed. It was old but ever well kept and made you feel like you had stepped back in time. There was marble everywhere you turned and these cool old benches that you waited for you train on, I felt like I was on my way to Hogwarts!
We got to the train station an hour early and AJ was full of energy he just wouldn't sit still! Aaron and I started getting a little nervous as we had only gotten two seats and AJ would need to be sitting with one of us and not running around for the next 18 hours. 45 before our departure time I went to ask the clerk if they had any sleeping cars left (online they were $150.00 which was to pricey so we thought we would try it without one) He said they had one left, YIPPIE!!!! I told him we'd take it and after typing everything in looks at me and says,
"so the difference is $495.00, how would you like to pay?"
WHAT!?!?! I guess I didn't realize that as the train filled up the price of the sleeping cars went up to. I told him we would have to pass and then broke the news to Poy. I don't know why but 10 minutes before we were to leave I went to another clerk to ask if the Car was still availible, he said yes bt it was now at it's maximum price, $780.00. I was is shock that anyone would ever pay that. He looked at me and then at AJ and said,
"I honestly don't think it will sell in the next 10 minutes and it is Christmas, so how about I give it to you for the price you saw on-line? Don't act to excited or anything it has to stay between us."
As you can assume I was over the moon but I kept my cool and quietly thanked him and the next thing you know we are in our own little train car paradise. It may not look like much but it gave us the room and privacy we needed plus the cost included free drinks on the trip, dinner and Breakfast!Here's a shot of our own water closet, you could sit on the toilet and shower at the same time, not that we did. Aaron really wanted to because he wanted to say that he had showed on a train and he wanted to "get our moneys worth!" but in the end the shower was never used.

Dinner was great and tehn we played in our car and at 9:30 we shut the lights out and got AJ to sleep. We ended up being delayed do to weather and spent and extra 6 hours on the train, we really weren't prepared for that but we made it and in the end it wasn't so bad. We had a good time and were really happy to finally step of the train and see my Dad waiting with arms wide open to take us home!