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Excellent report, Rich. The detail about your planning and about the crew is especially good. Whole thing made me want to go down to CUS and take a train somewhere.
smitty195 Member # 5102
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Great trip report, Rich. Why don't you send the link to Steve Grande (or to the moderator of this forum) so that it can be put up on the home page of TrainWeb? A lot of people will see it that way.
train lady Member # 3920
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great report. You have the ability to make one feel as if he were right witth you. I second Smitty's comment.
yukon11 Member # 2997
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Very interesting narrative, Rich. The Acela Lounge sounds really nice. I also think that Enterprise is really a good outfit for car rentals.
Richard
notelvis Member # 3071
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Just reserved a rental car with Enterprise a couple of hours ago so it's nice to hear some positive things about them.....
Generally I will go with Hertz (a preference I had even before reading GBN) but with Enterprise being about $50.00 per day cheaper for a four-day rental in Mineapolis later this month......
So when it comes to rental cars, my loyalty level is somewhat south of a $200.00 difference.
RRRICH Member # 1418
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Thanks for the comments, everyone!!! Glad you enjoyed my report.
Smitty -- I used to send sll my trip reports to Steve Grande, before I started my own web site. The only problem was that it sometimes took him several months to post the reports, but I may send this one to him again.
palmland Member # 4344
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RRRich- well written and detailed account - thanks. I do hope Amtrak does something to improve the Cardinal besides adding a baggage car.
Enterprise seems to be sort of pot luck as to type of service. On one trip I dropped the car off at the station at Garden City, KS and left the keys on the fuel cap per arrangement with one of the two people in their office. . A few days later I got a frantic phone call from the other guy wanting to know why I hadn't returned the car. He was suitably chagrined when I explained it.
But I am a member of the Hertz fan club too, if the price is right. Have a two day rental of small SUV (their special) this weekend for $68 total- in Philadelphia. Go figure.
MDRR Member # 2992
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I concur, excellent and detailed trip report. The baggage car on the Cardinal...some service improvement when 2 of the 4 largest volume stations (IND and NYP) are not included as available checked baggage. Not to mention, I wonder how much baggage checked to NYP, and placed on there in error, ends up in SSYD never to be seen again...
sojourner Member # 3134
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Thanks so much for your report, RRRich, very detailed and interesting. I'm glad everything worked out. The baggage situation on the Cardinal is confusing to me--why not in NYP?
Just one correction re ACELA lounge in DC: It is open to incoming or departing (or both) sleeper passengers that day, to Amtrak Select Plus passengers (some ACELA commuters get way up there), and to ACELA First-Class passengers. It is not open to ACELA business class passengers (unless they happen to be Amtrak Select Plus)--i.e., regular ACELA is business class.
RR4me Member # 6052
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I enjoyed your reporting once again. Do you take many stills, or just video on your trips?
RRRICH Member # 1418
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RR4me -- my still pictures never come out well with my combination video/still JVC camera -- they are usually blurred and out-of-focus, and I really don't understand why. I set the camera up properly with automatic focusing, but they still come out blurred. I think I'm going to invest in a good "stills only" digital camera (i.e. NOT a combination video/still camera) before our next trip. The videos are fine, but I do also some GOOD still pictures.
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