Recently, I got to take my very first trip on Amtrak. A friend, Jessica Slate and I had a trip to Washington, D.C., planned and she suggested we take the train. I thought it was a great idea since I had never taken the train anywhere before.

I checked on the prices and each of us could go round trip for only $114 a piece, that’s $57 a piece one-way. Which I figured was a pretty good deal since I know it takes a tank of gas each way to D.C., plus when you get there either there is nowhere to park your car or it costs a fortune to do it. On one trip last year, I paid $28 a night just to park my car in the hotel’s parking deck.

Since we boarded the train leaving out of Greensboro at 4 a.m., they seated us in the very first passenger car of the train, which we later figured out was business class. There was lots of leg room and even a curtain to close to keep the sun out when it eventually came up that morning. However, being seated in the first car of the train, we got the displeasure of hearing the train horn blow about every 10 seconds on the way. I am not making this up. For days I could still hear that train horn ringing in my ears.

The customer service agent I spoke with before our trip said the seats are like “recliners” and go back 31 degrees for comfortable sleeping. I have a friend who says he has never slept on a bus, a plane or a train. I scoffed at him saying that we would be so tired, it wouldn’t be a problem. Now that I have done it, I will have to say it was pretty hard to sleep on the train. I was partially right though, I was so tired that I did sleep the last hour and a half coming into D.C. The conductor woke us up in just enough time to see the familiar sights of D.C. through the train windows.

We pulled into Washington a whole hour ahead of schedule. For this I was pleased. We arrived in Union Station, which in itself is a historic landmark and is stunningly beautiful. We found a man who was with the Amtrak Red Cap service, who helps you move your luggage to a taxi. Thank goodness for this service, for one little weekend trip, we brought enough luggage to have stayed a month. It cost about $9 to get from the train station by taxi to where we were staying. So far, so good.

Before we left for our big adventure in our nation’s capital, more and more people asked me if I would report on my train trip when I returned. So I kept mental notes of my train excursion just for this very purpose.

For our return trip, I had two options. Leave at 4 a.m. again, or come back on the 11 a.m. train. I somehow figured we’d get to see a little more of the city if we didn’t leave quite so early in the morning, so I chose the 11 a.m. trip. However, if we had it to do over with, we would have taken the earlier train.

What I didn’t know about the later train is that we stopped at every working train station from D.C. through eastern North Carolina to our stop in Greensboro. It was an eight-hour trip. Sure it was scenic, but it also was hot and crowded.

Several announcements were made that the train was sold out, so every seat was taken. This is when we figured out that we had originally been seated in business class. The seats at the rear of the train were coach all the way. The seating was much like a commercial airliner, which wouldn’t have been so bad, except for the fact that we were on the train all day.

I will have to say that we got to see a different type of scenery. As my mother always liked to remind me that the train always goes through the “rough parts” of towns. We got to ride alongside the Potomac River in the morning and even stopped at Quantico Marine base. Mostly we just saw swamp land, which was surprising, old closed down factories and farmland.

We heard an announcement that the dining car had opened, so at a little after 12 p.m., we walked up six cars to the dining car where a surly train conductor told us that no more food was being served and the lady working the dining car needed a break. He told us to come back in 45 minutes. So right on time, we marched right back up the aisle to the dining car, just to be told again, very rudely, that the dining car was closed for at least another hour.

At 2 p.m. we went up to sit in the dining car. We were determined not to leave until food was in our possession. Again, a surly conductor yelled that the woman working the dining car needed a break and it would not be reopening until 2:30 p.m. Being slick, Jessica jumped up as soon as she saw the woman go behind the counter. She offered to buy my lunch if I would just sit in the booth and keep our seat.

Train food was nothing fine nor fancy: hamburgers, cheeseburgers, vegan burgers, hot dogs, humus with pita chips, fresh fruit and handmade sandwiches. They did offer sodas, wine, beer and cocktails at elevated “you’re stuck with us on the train” prices.

Finally an “official” announcement was made at 2:30 that the dining car was reopening. But, by 2:45 and with a line of at least 30 people, they announced that the dining car was closing. I felt really sorry for the people still waiting patiently in line.

Our cheeseburgers, which had been heated in the microwave, were actually not bad. Or it might have been that we knew that was the only food we would see in eight hours, so maybe it was just the desperation that made them taste OK.

At 3:05 p.m. an official announcement was made that the café cart was closed.

The day had been mostly sunny up until we reached Raleigh. That’s when the sky started to darken. In Cary, it started to rain. We started getting texts from home telling us that the weather was really bad in the Greensboro area, which is where we were headed. Tornado warnings had been issued.

When we arrived in Greensboro it was pouring rain. It wasn’t until we made it all the way out of the station until I realized that I didn’t have my “big camera,” my Nikon. As soon as I told Jessica, she told me to just run, (back to the train). Why did I suddenly feel like Forrest Gump? “Run, Forrest, Run!” Thank God I’m in descent shape, I made it back to the platform, just as they were folding the steps back up onto the train. Luckily, the conductor lady recognized me and saw the panic in my face. She let me back on for just a minute to look for my camera. I asked people to help me look, but they just looked like they couldn’t have cared less. Finally I found where I thought we were sitting, got down on my hands and knees and found it under a seat. Thank God!

As I ran to the door of the train, the woman again, had to lower the steps so I could exit. When I found Jessica, we gathered our luggage and I pulled the car around. I walked to the car in the pouring rain, but I was so hot from my recent run back up the train platform and from being on the train all day that I just didn’t care anymore.

In the end, I would have to say that Amtrak has it’s benefits and detractors. The low cost fare and no cost parking — a plus. The lady who hurled our luggage on the belt at Union Station — negative. The conductors barking orders on the train, especially about the café car — big no no. The crowded and extremely warm conditions on our eight-hour ride back and the awful stench of the bathrooms — big negative. The fact that you can take about as much luggage as you can carry and you don’t have to take your shoes off to board — was great.

I guess in the end the ultimate question is — would I take Amtrak again? Maybe.

Mondee Tilley is a staff reporter at The Mount Airy News. She can be reached at mtilley@mtairynews.com or at 719-1930.