Thread: Bad website experience- ugh

I'm planning a trip from Toledo to Chicago, and don't want to drive, so I last night I started to plan to go by train. The Amtrak website took a while to load - not sure why, because there didn't seem to be a lot of stuff to load. The design wasn't too intuative, and I had to figure out how to look up the schedule. It wasn't as easy as looking at an airline website when planning a round trip, that's for sure. Finally figured out how to get the schedule for each way on the dates I wanted. When I tried to create an account, that page took forever to load, and when it finally did, none of the fields seemed to accepting any input. So I had to reload the page...same thing happened. It was late, so I gave up.

Tried again this evening, with moderate success. I'm a registered user, and will be eligible for a 10% senior discount. But I haven't tried to book the actual tickets yet. I'll have to check and see how I can submit my proof of age on the website. I'm waiting to get my friend's flight info to find out when he's arriving so we can coordinate meeting up. I think I can take one of the city trains to the place we're planning to stay, but I need to check that too. If not, I'll have to figure out how to get there. Thank goodness I have a few more weeks to figure all of this out.

Amtrak was a mess prior to leaving for my trip to Chicago. First they cancelled the 6:33 a.m. reservation I had - WITHOUT notifying me. I kept checking the website because of the pending strike that was supposed to happen on that Friday (9/16). So I rescheduled for 5:22 a.m. with a patient and efficient agent on the phone. When I checked the day before, the website indicated that the 5:22 a.m. departure was cancelled, and the only option left was to take a 'mixed service' route at 6:30 a.m. - a bus to Ann Arbor, via the Detroit area, then train into Chicago. I managed to change the reservation one more time. My packing was done, essentially, and I did not sleep well that night.
Bill woke up early (around 4:15 a.m.) and on a hunch, he called the station. The agent said the 5:22 was on schedule! So Bill woke me up, and we hustled to the station to get my ticket changed ONE MORE TIME. And it was fine - train was on time, boarding was simple, and I went to Chicago. Whew! Found out that the strike had been averted later on Thursday, and the trip home on Sunday went smoothly.

Originally Posted by kjwent

Travel is such a hassle lately. Glad to hear things worked out in the end for your trip to Chicago. Did you have a good time after all that?

Kathy

Chicago was a blast My friend had never been before, and I have limited experience, but we did do a few things on our list - went to the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) and stood in the plexiglass box (The Ledge) with photos, of course - you only get a minute or so in the box. Took an architectural boat tour - fascinating. Walked to the 'fancy' Starbucks and had espresso martinis on the 4th floor. We did a LOT of walking - next time I'll have better shoes.

Before the trip, my friend found out one of his cousins lived in the area, and Saturday they picked us up and treated us to an amazing Mexican lunch - and surprised my friend Eddie with a birthday dessert served with a sparkler and made him wear a sombrero, LOL. We had seen that happening during our meal, and didn't really expect it. What fun! They drove us around as personal tour guides, and took us to Navy Pier, where we rode the big wheel (Sky Wheel?). They showed us a Chinatown section, the Mexican neighborhoods, and one area that was more Italian. We rode by Wrigley Field. The cousin is a general contractor, so sometimes when we were driving by places, he told us he had worked on some of the buildings and developments. And they took us to a community center where they participated in karaoke night - in Spanish. They were both great singers, and we enjoyed hearing some of their friends as well - all very talented. I didn't understand many of the words, but the emotion was clear. We didn't stay too late, and our Saturday was a wonderful experience.

We didn't get to everything - we were close to Millenium Park, but when we wanted to walk to the big bean on Friday (late afternoon/early evening), that part of the park was closed for a private event, apparently. I don't think we went to any of the restaurants on our list That being said, he wants to come back to Chicago for a few more visits!

Edited to add: I ended up taking a cab to and from the station in Chicago - it was cheap and easy to arrange. On the way back to Toledo, we had a minor delay. Instead of arriving before midnight, it was about 20 after - not too bad for a delay.