Ding, ding!! All aboard the Mumsie Express!!

After our epic trip from Northern Cyprus to Istanbul to LA yesterday, it was time to complete our trip home in an old-fashioned, bygone-days style!  Instead of that last third flight home from LA to SF yesterday (which, after our 24hr marathon from Cyprus to Istanbul, would have been a killer), I had instead booked us into a cabin on the Pacific Coast Starlight Express train.  Mum loves train travel and this route was reputed to have some of the best scenery in the US, so I figured it would be the perfect, civilized ending to our trip and would be a great early birthday present for her!

Mum had absolutely no idea of my plan and i'd kept schtum the whole trip, so was blown away when  - instead of hauling all our stuff onto the terminal transfer bus at LAX (which is a right pain in the arse), instead we headed for the taxi rank and I rustled us up a cab to take us into town.  We stayed the night at the Westin in LA which was jolly nice (thank you Starwoods points) and I enjoyed a perfectly chilled glass of Piper Heidseck with a side of buffalo wings.  Wings?  I never eat buffalo wings.   I think they are one of the most pointless foodstuffs ever invented.   Well, that and artichokes.  But here I was chowing down on a plate of the little buggers. Jetlag is, indeed, a curious thing.

Anyway, we were up bright and early the next morning and easily got a cab (we weren't yet back in SF, after all) to Union Station in downtown LA.  Our train was at 10.45am, so we arrived at the station around 9.15am, allowing plenty of time to check-in, offload our bags and enjoy the experience.  Here's a photo essay from our trip:

Yey!! Christmas!  The beautiful tree in the station..

This portion of the station was blocked off - I guess to look
all atmospheric and retro.  And for use in film sets,  I guess...
 Cool,  huh?

In keeping with the Art Deco-y theme, the light fittings
in the station were absolutely gorgeous

Yey!!  All aboard!!

Just a tad nicer than a Greyhound bus.
And free tea-towels included for each passenger.

She's getting on a bit, bless her, so we took the granny
 shuttle to the platform...

Yes.  Yes, it is.  

Complementary champagne, madam?
Why yes, I don't mind if I do

Over the years, I've had the great fortune to enjoy a few epic train journeys - another previous surprise trip for Mum was a day trip on the Orient Express for Mother's Day one year.  We started out from Ashford (I think) and ended up in London, and were pampered and served a delicious meal on the way up, in this beautifully decorated Art Deco-era carriage.  It was a fabulous trip and, at the end, anything that basically wasn't nailed down, was...um... liberated as a souvenir of the experience.  I'm sure they factor in the cost of a few salt cellars into the ticket price anyway....  Another wonderful train trip was a couple of years ago, when I traveled on the Rocky Mountaineer train, starting in Jasper and finishing up in Vancouver.  It took two days and took us through some of the most spectacular scenery I've ever seen in the Canadian Rockies.  I splashed out on the Gold Leaf service (uber-expensive but SO worth it) with a luxurious viewing car and full silver service dining carriage, where you were pampered and fed and watered constantly to within an inch of your life!  A brilliant way to travel.

http://www.rockymountaineer.com/en_US/service_level/canadian_rocky/goldleaf

Anyway, the Pacific Coast Starlight express wasn't quite the Rocky Mountaineer but it was still a lot of fun and we passed through some equally impressive scenery.  Starting from LA, the route winds along the Pacific coastline, passing through Burbank, Simi Valley, Santa Barbara, San Luis Opisbo, Salinas (hello Steinbeck!), Oakland, Sacramento, Salem (hello witches!), Portland, Vancouver  and eventually arriving in Seattle a full 2 days later.  We de-trained (?) at Oakland and were transferred to a coach for the last leg of the journey into San Francisco, where we we finally deposited outside the Ferry Building just after 11pm.  Thus completed the epic journey home from Northern Cyprus, a 48hr marathon involving planes, trains and automobiles - it was a long trip but was so worth it, to see my folks in Cyprus and then to be able to surprise Mum with a fab train ride.  Life is, indeed, in the journey - not the destination.

First glimpses of the Pacific Coast, along Santa Barbara

The wild and rugged coastline of San Louis Opisbo (I think)

Now that's what I call a view....

Nuff said.  Enjoying the luxurious accommodations
of our surprising spacious Family Suite

I think these were the Paso Robles hills