The next adventure: Churchill

A journey of firsts
This week brings a new adventure - exploring the north of my own province. It's a place I've always wanted to go, and a place many people have on their travel list: Churchill!

First #1 - Going by train in Canada
I've traveled by train quite a bit in Europe, as it is a pretty standard way of travel. In Canada, it is more of a luxury method of travel.

We ended up going all out and choosing sleeper class, as I'm too old to spend two days and two nights in a chair. The commercials from Via touted train travel being luxurious and fancy and spacious.

They got the spacious right - compared to a plane. But the interior actually reminds me of old planes, with some well worn decor and a bathroom door that doesn't stay closed. Now I'll take the commercials I saw with a grain of salt, as the Churchill run is very small. I'd imagine one some of the more popular routes in Ontario that the cars would be a bit more spiffed.

Still, I'm excited to see my province by train.

First #2 - Traveling without my spouse AND with my mom
This is our first trip together - without dad. The reason this trip came about was because mom had always wanted to go to Churchill, but dad didn't. So when the Via rail sale came about, it made perfect sense. (Plus I have more vacation time than my spouse, so that too helped.)

Leaving without my spouse was more challenging than I expected. But doing the math, it started to make sense. In all the years we've been together (almost six years), we've never traveled without each other. And for someone who is so independent, it is strange to feel a part of me missing.

The journey
Our train was quite delayed from departing, as we were apparently waiting for one person to board. Now on a plane this makes more sense when (1) checked luggage is involved, and (2) the person is delayed because of a connection. But a train? And about 45 minutes!

The next hiccup is that there is a derailment on the track ahead. So at The Pas we have to get off the train, board a bus for four and a half hours to Thompson. And this happens at 5:30am. (Which is better than the 1:30am time we were initially given) So we'll see how smooth the process is.