Arranging for Amtrak Compartments, Solutions

An update #1 for the NE 2 NE Accordion Expedition (funding on Kickstarter)

There's always a bit of intrigue and surprise generated by the reality of travel plans.

I was checking the Amtrak website for the availability of compartments on my round trip from Minneapolis to Philadelphia (changing trains in Chicago) and discovered that one of the trains needed was no longer listed as a connection. The Cardinal line (Chicago-Philadelphia) had disappeared.

This prompted a phone call directly to Amtrak where I poured out my concerns to the agent. She was a gem and dug around in the files until she saw what the issue was. The Cardinal was active but the Empire Builder (Minneapolis-Chicago, originating in Seattle) was so consistently late arriving in Chicago that Amtrak no longer considered it a viable transfer. This must have happened very recently because I had checked the website two weeks ago and the connection was listed.

Solution: Leave a day early, stay over night in Chicago to catch the Cardinal the next day as originally planned.

All was good, for the moment, because the trains connected well on the way home to Minneapolis. One is always ready for an easy trip back to their home.

Then I got the other bad news, there were no more compartments left on that train the day I wanted leave for home. To make matters a little more complicated, the Cardinal line is the only train leaving from Philadelphia with checked baggage, it only runs three days a week. You do need checked luggage when you travel with a larger instrument as a carry on.

Solution: Coming home two days early.

Glad everything worked out well!

NE 2 NE Accordion Expedition

My project just went live on Kickstarter!
How exciting!

NE 2 NE Accordion Expedition on Kickstarter

See the entire video on YouTube

Kickstarter and Amtrak, a dream come true?

For years I've been trying to make people feel better about having to travel with their accordion. I've said, "Oh, don't worry, just carry it on. Not a problem with a soft sided case."

I think something may have changed because I now get so sick to my stomach every time I need to take my accordion farther than a car ride away. Could it be that the airlines have damaged my concert instrument twice already and cost me a couple thousand dollars? Or maybe that I have to argue it on the plane despite my Musician's Union card in hand which should guarantee I can carry it aboard the aircraft? Or maybe it's that sick feeling at the security checkpoints as they take me aside to swab/search the outside and inside of the instrument and/or me?

Yup, I've changed my mind enough to create a Kickstarter project to raise enough funds to take Amtrak all the way from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Philadelphia to play a concert and give a work shop for the Mid-Atlantic Music Teachers Guild and American Accordion Musicological Society festival this March.

On Amtrak, my accordion will never leave my side, my meals will be made for me and I can sleep all the way east (1,200 miles) if I want to. Voila, the NE 2 NE Accordion Expedition has been created and should go live on Kickstarter in a couple of days. Hurray Amtrak!