You can read all about my flight here. Right or wrong, I bailed and high tailed it to a cab and the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia for a very fast train ride to DC. I’ve blogged lovingly about Acela before, and today reminded me that in the northeast corridor, Acela is simply hard to beat. I sprang for the 80 dollar upgrade to First Class for my ride from Philadelphia to Washington, DC’s Union Station. While I wouldn’t do that every day, I don’t regret doing so today. I wanted space, some booze, some food, and comfort. I got all of that on Acela and the single seat row with a fold down tray table.
This was my first time trying Acela’s AmtrakConnect wi-fi service. It was functional, but I spent most of the time using my Verizon Mi-Fi. 4G service was spotty, but I did have reasonable wi-fi most of the way down. Not to mention, I got a meal choice of Ginger Chicken, some veggie dish, Shrimp Scampi and the Light Bite which was basically a cheese plate. I went with that and red wine. The cheese plate was basic, but the dessert was pretty darn good! Honestly, if you’ve flown domestic F on most any US airline, Acela will seem familiar with the exemption of wider and more comfortable seats along with 110V power. I love Acela, and not just the First Class car. Between DC and NYC/Boston, Acela works!
