For this creative writing assignment, I had to write a descriptive paragraph about a trip. I chose to write as a travel critic, since I want to be a National Geographic photographer and writer when I grow up.

AmTrak American Eagle Train Ride

by Star H.

A few days ago, I traveled on the American Eagle Amtrak train from St. Louis, Missouri to Dallas Texas. It was a 16 hour over night trip. That was the first time I have ever traveled by train, so there was a lot of new things to see.

Before I took the train trip, I had heard many complaints about how late the train was; however, my trip both ways was about an hour or two early. This may sound good, but I had two wait one and a half hours at one of the many stations because the train was so early and the passengers that were going to board where not at the station yet. This was one of the “downs” of the trip.

I was impressed at the leg room in the car. I could stretch my legs out as much as I wanted, even with my carry-on on the floor. Since the leg rest on my char did not work, I go vary little sleep. The recliner worked, but it wasn’t vary useful since it only reclined a little. There were many stops in the night, which added to the noise.

The restrooms were down stairs in the car. The steps were very narrow and hard to climb, especially in the middle of the night. The bathrooms themselves, were very very small. However, they were for the most part very clean.

I ate at the dining car in the morning for breakfast. As you can imagine the food was extremely expensive–and bad! One piece of French toast out of the worst quality bread and the cheapest eggs was four dollars. And the snacks at the snack bar were horribly expensive too. One bottled water was 2.50. On my way back I brought my own food.

In St. Louis, the workers at the station were very friendly, but in Dallas they were quite the opposite. One of my suitcases was 3 pounds over weight to check, and they wouldn’t let me transfer anything out to put in my other suitcase. Also it was very unclear where to pick up my baggage, or even what door to go into at the station.

Over all I think it was a pretty good trip, a lot better than driving. I think I will take this trip again if I ever have to go to Texas.