#WTF: About the train ride from LA to Seattle … can I get a rundown?
First off, I am just going to preface this by saying - YOU ALL NEED TO TAKE A TRAIN RIDE UP THE COAST AT SOME POINT IN YOUR LIFE.
This has been hands down one of the most eye opening, and inspiring experiences of my life. It is SOOOO unbelievably relaxing, and spacious - my expectations have been superseded and then some.
The people watching is insane - the views will blow your fucking mind, and the stories that I had within the first 12 hours were friggen priceless.
This was the BEST. IDEA. EVER.
K … that being said … haha what a way to start off this post, but it's true - GET OFF YOUR ASS RIGHT NOW, AND PLAN A TRIP ON A TRAIN!!! IF YOU LIVE IN LA - TAKE THIS ONE!! (It's the coast starlight on Amtrak) AH-MAZING!!!!
First off, lemme back it up though. Why am I on a trip from LA to Seattle you may ask? Because of InBed.Me of course!
See, when I went to Philly for my epic date with Vh1's Tough Love, Mr. Steve Ward I got there courtesy of Southwest credits (after they stranded me in Chicago during my 4 cities in 30 days tour). Wasn't a problem going in, I was able to fly from LA to Philly - but leaving, I could only get a flight out from La Guardia.
Ballsack! I thought!!
Oh, but wait - you can take a Megabus for only $10 from Philly to NYC then hop on the subway to La Guardia - so really, time was the only thing that was being inconvenienced in this scenario - at the end of the day it could still all get done.
Booked the flight through La Guardia, popped on a megabus and after my trip to Philly headed over to NY. While I was in NY I got hit up by my buddy @RisheGee saying she wanted to grab a drink with me and tell me all about this new startup she was working for.
RAD! I said. Got to NY and we wound up only being able to meet for a coffee since I was also under deadline for VidBlogger Nation season 3 and grabbing a beer would have been irresponsible of me.
We met at a shop outside Penn Station, and she completely freaked out - omg omg omg omg, she said - I have to show you this video for InBed.Me - it's brilliant. These guys are travelers, and basically what they do is help you not only find a hostel, couch, or hotel - they integrate your social profiles into it as well, so you can see who else is going to be booked at the same time so you can chat beforehand. 
This is BRILLIANT! I said!!!! I've totally had that problem at hostels!!! People travel in packs - and when you're a lone wolf like myself, it can be more difficult infiltrating a group, and isn't that the purpose of traveling all together?
Absolutely, she said. These guys saw a need and fulfilled it with this start up.
Fucking brilliant.
I have to talk to these people, I said. I am not even kidding you - I begged for an email intro.
I'd love to talk to them about a sponsorship - I think their idea is great and it's a great fit with my lifestyle.
The next day I had an email intro, and later that week I skyped with their founder.
We were cheersing all around, and agreed it'd be a great fit.
I then emailed him some adventure ideas, and he told me we'd chat in a few weeks.
Flash forward to just two weeks ago, I emailed the founder saying I was jonesing for an adventure. See, anytime I'm not traveling - I get antsy. I love love love LA, and need to go home often - but also need to have a trip planned at sometime in my back pocket. I built this brand around my personality, and figured out ways to just genuinely be happy but also find corporations I enjoyed through said happiness to come in and help out with my adventures. Shit ain't free, yo! But social media is power, and I might not have money, but I have clout. I never ever ever talk about shit that sucks. I wouldn't do that to you guys, and frankly, I got a lot more livin' to do on this Earth and I don't want to have to waste even a SECOND talking about a product or brand I don't 1000000000000% believe in. It's buying in, not selling out.
So bottom line, I have to travel. I personally prefer traveling through hostels because it is the closest thing I can imagine to the college experience, and after finishing high school at 16 - I never went to college, I went straight to work. So, I missed out on a lot of the social components of the experience and am now reliving it through my adventures.
Plus, it puts me in direct contact with a lot of cute boys and it's incredibly inexpensive.
Double win.
I hit the founder back and asked if I could go have an adventure in Seattle. My ENTTIIRREEEE life I've wanted to go to Seattle, and for some odd reason have never had an excuse to go. For real, I don't know why - it just very honestly never came up as an option.
I had also wanted to take an Amtrak somewhere for a really long time, so I talked to the founder about incorporating that into the trip as well. He was totes game, told me do some numbers crunching and get back to him.
Dudes, did you know to go from LA to Seattle on an Amtrak it's only $250?? Yep! A little less expensive than a flight - albeit yes, it is 34 hours on a train - you are submerged in BREATHTAKING views the ENTIRE TIME!!! So worth it!! So so so so SOOOOOO WORTH IT!!!!!!!
Plus, it said online they had power outlets in each seat, and wifi.
SUH-WEET! I thought! I might never leave!!!
The founder was game with the idea, told me to book it - then I told him the dates I could do it, and he booked me the hostel.
I scheduled to have 3 full days in Seattle, but I wanted to emphasize how cheaply people could actually travel. I negotiated with him a per diem, but said I only wanted $50 a day - and there had to be stipulations with that $50.
1. I had to grab a beer with at least 1 new friend.
2. I had to have a good meal.
3. I had to do 1 touristie thing.
Now mind you - that is ONLY $50 per day. Included in that has to be my public transportation costs, and ANY misc expenses. That is NOT a lot - but if you're smart, and sniff out the deals - you can get a lot more bang for your buck.
<tangent> Anyone can do anything that I have done on this website. I very literally cannot stress this enough - I am NOT special, just awesome, and insanely driven. I don't have any more tools than anyone else in this world - I am only working what I got and utilize all of the cards in my deck. </tangent>
So everything was booked just last week - and boom! before I knew it, the time was here.
Only Tuesday night I could NOT sleep at all. I was SOOOOOO unbelievably excited to start this journey. Not only did I get to go to Seattle, the ONNEEEEEE city I have always wanted to visit (um, hello first Starbucks, ANNNDDD home of the 90s grunge scene? Um hello <----------- 90s FREAKAZOID right here. 90s alternative is my favorite genre ever ever ever ever everrrrrrrr. That's a lot of ever's but I'm hoping it emphasizes my point.) but I got to take an Amtrak up the coast? Again, I've never been on a train before but from the pictures it looked more appealing than flying.
Oh, and I also have my book proposal to write for A Nerd's Guide to Being Unapologetically Awesome and figured between the beautiful scenery and the fact that I was STUCK ON A TRAIN FOR THIRTY FOUR HOURS - it would be a good time to get it done. Dudes, if I can't be inspired by sticking myself in that kind of environment I should not try to be an author.
Everything was win all around - clearly.
Wednesday morning came around after I only got 4 hours of sleep - stupid excitement keeping me stupid awake and not letting me stupid sleep. I hopped on the city bus, headed to union station, and found where my train departed. It was really gnarly, man - I expected it to be like a plane where everyone sat around and waited to be called, and boarded by some number or something.
I was totally wrong - I got there at 10 (my train departed at 10:20) and people were already on board.
Wow! Glad I got here early, I thought.
I got on board, and apparently I needed some sort of seating arrangement? I still have yet to figure out where the hell I was supposed to get the thing - but online it said all I needed to do was print out my confirmation page, and take it to this little machine when I got there to scan it to pick up my ticket.
I did all of that (I can't even BEGIN to tell you how great it is having a printer again!!), scanned it, got my physical ticket - but when I went to board I got kicked to the very last cart where the "miscellaneous people" go.
Aw, peppermint patty.
I don't know who these "miscellaneous people" are - but whatever, the journey is the destination.
Mind you too, you have to be a bit of a beatnik to take a train up the coast in general so not only was I in with my people, I was in the GNARLIEST section of my kinda people.
AH-MAZING!
i got on board, found my seat - and was incredibly overwhelmed by just the sheer size of this train. This. Thing. Is. Huge. (thats what she said) I'm not even kidding though - it's two floors - coach is up top, sleeper cars are on the bottom. (Sleeper cars are a couple hundred extra each leg. Worth it if you got the dough, but if you're like me and on a budget, your ass is getting in coach.)
<tangent> OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG excuse me, I'm writing this while still on the train, and holy fucking shit balls we are stopped on this crazy bridge. OMG scary. I just took a picture …
K. hopefully we'll be moving in a second … hopefully … whew okay, slow - but we're back. wow! We are BALLS DEEP in the mountains right now. I haven't even had cell reception for over 3 hours. CRAAZZYYYY!!! </tangent>
I got my seat, and got settled.
I looked around, and was surprised the median age was … um, there was none! There were families, old people, young people, very literally every mix of every type of person was on this train.
Wow, I thought - in all of my travels this is a first.
See, when I take a bus I find … let's call them, colorful characters. Depending on where I am heading, it's usually backpackers and drifters - nomads at heart and a handful of families looking to travel inexpensively.
Flying you get classes designated by what airline you take, and then further broken down by what class they are flying in.
This train was like every airline, everyone - all mushed together in 6 cars, yet everyone had CCCRRAAZZYYYYYY awesome leg room, their own outlets, and people smiled when you looked at them.
Hello, heaven? Is that you?
I then plucked out my laptop eager to get online and edit some posts on the site.
I went into my airport to access the wifi, and to my surprise there weren't any options.
But the website said they have wifi! It must be in another car, I thought.
I asked one of the attendants which car had the wifi.
Wifi? She asked - genuinely puzzled.
Oh, we don't have that. We tried once, but it never worked.
I heard the words come out of her mouth, and my body instantly wanted to flee.
STOP THE TRAIN!!! I thought. STOP THE TRAIN!!!! I CAN'T BE 34 HOURS WITHOUT WIFI!!! ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?!?!?! NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Realizing that because we had already taken off, and this was a sponsored trip after all, I couldn't just leave - but I could get clever.
See, I had not one but TWO phones on me. Both smart phones.
<tangent> Klout sent me a Samsung Focus Window's phone earlier this week. It's pretty rad, man. Word on the street is is that we have it with free service for a year! I'm not sure how much I believe that, but I wouldn't be surprised. It doesn't cost the company that much, and it was targeted to influencers so I'm sure they're gonna get a whole lotta bang for their buck. </tangent>
I pulled up my hot spot on my Verizon Droid Charge - and lemme just tell you something about that mobile hot spot option - it fucking BLOWS!!! I pay $30 a month to intermittently get the internet; it comes in bursts. Albeit, I travel so much - that for me that ONNNEEEE time I can put up a post, or send out that file is TOTALLY worth it to me - but for $30 it's the most ridiculous thing on the planet. I am looking into getting a mifi. I don't know if it's the network, or the hardware - but it fucking sucks. I can't ever get a solid signal, and if I do - it's for no more than 10 or 15 minutes. And yes, I pay THIRTY DOLLARS A MONTH FOR THAT.
So fucking lame.
I stared at the Windows Phone and wondered if this thing had a hot spot option. On the box it said I could use the wifi at any AT&T location - but I wasn't sure if I could turn it into a hot spot.
I went to the marketplace and started searching "hot spot/ wifi" - nada.
I then tweeted out … got some responses, but no one has this phone (as again, we're supposed to be the tastemakers) so people were mostly puzzled why I had a windows phone to begin with.
FML, I thought.
Fine fine … to the google.
I then googled like mad, found the hack (which violates the TOS, so you have to do that shizzy shiznat at your own risk) and proceeded to try and tether.
After over 50 unsuccessful connects - I realized I was SOL.
Dudes, I did everything right too!!! Got through all the steps, had ZZEERRROOO problems, found EXCELLENT instructions - but it just genuinely wasn't connecting. It's always a variable too when you have a sponsored line. You don't know how the company set it up since you're on a "special" phone - and troubleshooting gets to be a pain in the ass at that point because I have no idea what my starting off point is. The sponsor might have changed some of the manufacter's default - you never know.
Fine, I will have to settle for the random bursts on Verizon.
I hit up @ItsMeJoolie and explained to her my dilemma. See, Julie is a BIIGGG help on the site. Super talented chic, but she helps me get posts up and edited - while I am still always the one that hits publish, Julie is a RIDICULOUSLY big help in facilitating all of the posts.
Mayday, mayday - houston we have a problem - I emailed. I'm without access to the internet. Need you to take over!
She was totes game, and fortunately got everything up and running for us throughout the day.
See, in life to execute anything - you have to have a solid team around helping out. No man is an island, and no one person can EVER get everything done all the time. Dudes, ESPECIALLY when it comes to a website; a website is like a baby, (and while I don't have kids I was a nanny for forever and a day and am aware how much attention children take) it is a living thing. I don't have control over it - I just have to go along with everything and monitor. Now obviously being in this wifi dilemma, that wasn't going to be a possibility.
I gave Julie control, and again - she did an amazing job!!! Many many many thank yous Julie!
I then answered as many emails as I could on my phone, and then relaxed and enjoyed the scenery.
Dudes it is SOOOOOOOOO beautiful!!!!!!!
After a few hours on the train, I began doing my research reading other book proposals that my lit agent sent over.
Sometime later, while reading the 3rd or 4th proposal (these shits be LOONNNGGG) the train comes to a stop, and the CUTEST GUY EVER walks on board.
HA! Oh life, you are fabulous, I thought. Yay for eye candy on a 34 hour ride.
He then approaches my seat, and to my surprise actually sits across the aisle from me.
Really? Really? Life! How fabulous are you right now??
I then take out my Droid Charge with the front facing 1.3 mp cam and sneakily snap a pic while tweeting out the hotness.
<tangent> See, one thing though - I am INCREDIBLY respectful people's identities in my lifecasting. ANYTIME I take a picture of someone "in the wild" I will make sure I can't fully see their face, orrrrrrr go in and edit it on my comp before posting. I'm crazy respectful of other people's privacy. I might be an open book - but the rest of the world isn't. Dudes, totes get that. But this is why anytime I post a picture of someone their face is partially hidden, or blurry. I want you guys to get the idea of what I'm talking about without anyone being able to identify 'em. Ya know? </tangent>
I then decided that I needed to put on my big girl pants and talk to the guy. I tweeted out my anxiety however.
See, in my early 20s the ONLY way I'd ever get a guy is if I approached. Dudes, don't ever talk to me. I get it, I get it … jet black hair, blue eyes, freckles - not something you see everyday. But in my head, I just assumed dudes weren't interested (like in high school) - when in reality, they were very much so, they were just afraid to open their damn mouth.
Hilarious, and also why I only dated douches - they were the only friggen ones that would approach!! BAHHH!!!
That being said however, I am trying to break a pattern of mine. I don't want to wear the pants when it comes to dating a dude. Sexually speaking, I'm INCREDIBLY submissive and everywhere outside of the office, I'm just a go with the flow person and want the dude to take the lead. Me approaching a guy is immediately giving me the upper hand. I don't want that!! HOWEVER, again - most guys won't approach me. Leaves me in a gnarly little scenario.
I tweeted about it, and tweeted … then so much time had gone by that I realized I had to go pee. Stupid bladder filled with stupid water.
I got up, and as I did my iPod dropped but because I had my headphones still in my ear I didn't hear it. I continued to take another step and as I did the chord on the headphones tightened and ripped the right bud from my ear smacking cute train boy on the leg.
Really? Really? I thought. Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME!>!>!>!!>!>!>!>!>!>!>!>>! I SSWWEEAAARRRR that wasn't planned. FML now I look like an idiot. Was that technically an assault? Fly by earbudding?
Quiet Friel, quiet. Just pick up the damn earbud.
To my delight - as I reached down to pick up the bud he greeted me with a big smile and laugh.
Completely embarrassed though, I took off without saying a word heading downstairs to the bathroom.
Jen Friel - only you!!! Who does that!!! WHO!!!!!
I sat on the toilet (what too descriptive?) and did a double facepalm.
FAIL JEN!!! FAIL!!!!!
Goodness gracious, get your act together I thought while looking in the mirror and washing my hands.
I walked back upstairs, and noticed he had his headphones on now.
Ah fuck, how are we supposed to talk now?
No! I refuse to not say anything to this guy - this has to. has to. has to happen! I can't be a nervous Nelly all of my life, and if he's not going to put on his big boy pants I will have to get this done.
As I am about to say something, he gets up and goes down to another cart.
RATS!!! I thought. Could this be anymore like a Lifetime movie? Jeebus!
I then continued to tweet out my frustrations and nervousness, receiving incredible support from twitterverse.
A few moments, and 50 @replies later - I see him walk down the cart.
YES! This is it I thought. I sent out one final tweet …
Now that I had made the declaration - there was no going back. The internet holds me accountable, man. I gotta go balls out if I say I am going to.
Deep breath … and go.
I turn to my right, casually glancing over - then gesturing to my ear signaling for him to remove his headphones.
He takes off his DJ style phones and I ask, what kind of headphones are those?
Skull Candy, he replies.
Look - he says motioning to the top of the phones, there's even a bottle opener in here for your beer.
Wait, WHHHAAAATTTTTTTTTT!!! You are combining two of my all time favorite loves right now - big, noise and life canceling headphones, and BEER?!?!? WHAATTTT!!!!!
That is literally the coolest thing ever, I say.
Hi, I'm Jen I say outstretching my hand.
Hi, I'm (let's call him …) Brad.
<tangent> He actually had the hottest name ever, btw. It was redic. Not only did this guy look like a super skinny Ryan Gosling - but he actually had a hotter sounding name. AhMAZING! And FTR, Ryan Gosling is perfect as is. This dude being skinny wasn't necessarily a bonus or negative point - but rather for storytelling, this way you have a better visual. </tangent>
Where ya headed I ask?
Oakland. How about you?
Seattle.
Oh wow, long trip!
Yeah, but I have a lot of work to do, I say.
I then go into the other standard, I've just met you question - so, what do you do?
Electrical engineer he replies.
No shit, I say.
You can't be this smart and this hot. HAHA!! This is going to be FUNNNNNN!!! Where the hell do I find these people???
We then start talking, and before I knew it two hours goes by. No - literally - TWO HOURS!! I know this because I tweeted out again that we had been talking, and twitter said my last tweet was 2 hours ago.
Friggen ahmazing!
He told me about his life, and passions. We discussed green technology and about his field in general. Really fascinating stuff. Electrical engineers have it made, man. People don't fuck with them!! Their services won't ever not be in demand, and it's the ONE thing you won't skimp on financially. When people don't understand what you do, they aren't naturally going to ask a lot of questions. They will do their research, review you, ask around - whatevs. But you're the expert! And people trust that, because they don't know better and their egos don't want to allow them to feel stupid, so they shut up!
Best job ever, I thought.
We then kept talking, and kept talking - he's a really good conversationalist. Everything flowed super easy, and the entire time I was thinking, I might just add train sex to my life list.
See, trains are naturally INCREDIBLY sexual. All of the seats fold almost totally down, so here we were both TOTALLY relaxed while flirting, and the vibrations in the rail add that extra, uh, value for females.
It's totally doable btw. There's no arm rest in between the seats, so each grouping of two chairs are naturally INCREDIBLY close together. The dude could come in from behind, just put a blanket over you while you both lay down on your side. The female will have to do most of the movement, but if the two of you work together it's totally feasible, and as long as you do it at night around 12 after everyone's asleep or about to fall asleep, you're fine.
I, of course, was breaking down the logistics of this the entire time we were talking. Then, I thought about it - nope, no condom. Plus, he's getting off in Oakland - we were scheduled to be there by 9:30; people were still awake.
Ah, another time- I thought. I was excited though that again, this is TOTALLY doable and for the female particularly would be a fucking INCREDIBLE experience. This train doesn't stop shaking!!! Fuck vibrating beds!! TRAINS is where it's at!!
Plus for the voyeurs (like myself) the added risk of getting caught heightens everything.
OMG - I have to stop thinking about this … I am too turned on, and can't do anything about it until later. ::sigh::
Back to the story …
So, I had briefly explained what I did - that I ran a site, and had been tweeting about my experience on the train. As we were nearing Oakland he asks if he can have my twitter handle so he can follow me.
I laugh thinking - oh god - he's going to read all of my tweets.
He pulls out his Samsung Galaxy tablet, what is it?
I grab the tablet entering in my twitter handle, and hand it back to him.
He scrolls down glancing at the tweets.
Wow, you're popular - he said. This is a lot of tweets.
Yeah, it's my thing.
I nervously wonder if he is merely viewing the volume of the tweets or what they actually say.
He starts laughing - omg this is great.
Yep, he's reading I thought.
Let me explain, I say - see, I don't reveal people's identities but merely provide my inner monologue for the world to see. It's kinda weird, but it's my thing - I don't just run the site, I lifecast on it, and you're now going to appear on it, I say nervously. (Dudes, this NEVER happens to me face2face. Guys will normally check out what I do aaffftteerrrrr. They never read my tweets while I am there. Awkward! Awkward! Why is this feeling so AWKWARD!!!!!!! Whatever I think - own it Friel. Big girl pants!!)
<tangent> I should totally make t-shirts to hand out to guys, btw. "I went to XXXXXX and all I got was featured on TalkNerdyToMeLover.com and this lousy t-shirt." Yes, brilliant! </tangent>
He flashes his million dollar smile one more time outstretching his hand thanking me for the 4 hours of conversation.
I'll follow your adventures, he says. It was great meeting you.
YES!! I think!! Hot guy and one more unique to the site. I will take every one I can get spank you very much!!!
He then gets off, and I realize because I spent literally all night talking, I forgot to grab dinner.
I go downstairs to the cafe, and to my surprise, their prices were actually reasonable! I wasn't sure if we were allowed to bring food on, so I only brought a small thing of crackers thinking if they got taken I wouldn't be upset. To my delight, you are in fact allowed to bring food and I now know for the trip back down.
I then look at the menu (which again to my surprise was pretty full) - and saw a hot dog.
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!! I am the BIGGEST HOT DOG FAN EVER!!!!
One hot dog please! I said.
That'll be $4.50. (not bad considering these people have you by the balls as far as food goes. You don't have enough time when the train stops to go out and get food. THEY. WILL. LEAVE. YOU. They tell you no more than 100 times during the trip - do NOT leave the platform. WE WILL LEAVE!!!)
I smile, and pay while I take the dog upstairs and sit in the recreation car eating it.
I visualized having a wiener in my mouth for the last 4 hours, kinda funny how the laws of attraction end up manifesting. Next time be more specific, and also get a condom sponsor. (No glove, no love!)
So there you go nerderinos!! That's been my train experience so far!! I'm writing this a few hours outside of Seattle, and I have spent the ENTIRE day working on my proposal. Totally going to have it done by the end of the ride back - SUH-WEET!!!
I'm not even kidding you, this has been HANDS DOWN one of the best trips I have ever had, and it hasn't even begun yet!! I STILL have my adventures in Seattle, and my mission of doing it all on $50 a day!
Very excited to check out the hostel tonight, and even MORE stoked to tell the hostelers about @inbedme. There were already about a thousand people on the site when it formally launched this week, but Mashable just did a post on them the other day - so I'm sure even MORE have signed up by now.
Loads more adventures coming up guys!! If you're in Seattle and want to play, totally hit me up on twitter - @JenFriel. If you'll buy me a beer too, I'd love you even more - hahahaaha! (so shameless!) Dudes, it's expensive sightseeing! A trip to the space needle alone is $20! Hoping the hostel has some good deals - either way, I'll let you all know what I can find.
I WILL get all the bang for my buck that I can afford while executing the mission.
YAY for new friends and YAY for new adventures!!!!
Special thanks again to InBedMe for the Amtrak ticket, and for the hook up at the hostel. It's funny, I actually have my own private sleeping quarters. Normally at hostels you sleep in dorms with as many as 8 or 16 to a room. I guess because of my equipment and what not, they wanted to make sure nothing happened to my tech gear. Totes makes perfect sense. Would be bad PR.
Let's do some cool shit, nerds! I'm at your mercy!! Tell me where to go! What to do! Who to see! Let the adventure begin!!
WHOOP WHOOP!!!
#nerdsunite
