The planning of this trip started since June 2017, after returning from the self-planned solo Amsterdam trip. The notion of train ride has been there all this while - which I think, would offer a totally different experience. Looked up for various popular train rides in Australia and Canada, that possibly landed up with overnight rides. In addition, June would be a good time to go places that are less accessible in December. Heard of the amazing scenery of the Canadian Rockies. Heard about memorable rides, too. (Oh yes, I remember what Peter told me when we were colleagues back in NAS, before his retirement.) While I was examining the various packages offered by the Rocky Mountaineer, a tinkle came... and a chat started with a service personnel! That's the wonders of technology and it has helped me to make a choice, too!
Brought mum along for this trip. Well, possibly one of the furthest trip she made so far, and probably the last one that had an in-flight time of close to 18 hours, if we had not transit in Hong Kong (close to 4 hours + close to 14 hours + a couple of hours during the overlay).
It's a luxury train journey, as reported in the reviews. Yes, enjoyed thoroughly the service provided onboard the train, those 4 days. In fact, we looked forward to part 2 of the train journey after a day of break with the motor coach. On thing that I looked forward to in the train ride was the meals. Haha... balanced and pretty tasty (oh yes, and presentable, too!). Most of the time, we heard songs of the 50s to 70s at the background... those that I learnt in primary school and songs by the Beatles, Abba, The Carpenters, etc. So soothing!
Just wondering if it's because I'm closer to 50 now; I found quite comfortable to travel with the many elderly onboard - er... ok, majority are retired and some are probably in their 80s! Maybe it's a different culture - they are so independent and "well-behaved"! I'm impressed by the culture of these travellers! They were friendly, too... probably saw me travelling with mum!
Not only that we met up with cousin May+Ricky (& family) in Vancouver, at the stopover in Hong Kong (on the return league), glad to have time to catch up with Auntie and cousins Simon & Annie+Ricky! Of course, with them around, we enjoyed 'bonuses' - went to places that we would not have gone to! Cheers!
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