Posts Tagged ‘kids’

Amtrak with a Baby

2012-01-25

Two weeks ago my husband and I took our 6 month old daughter to Sandusky, Ohio to a developer conference my husband was speaking at. The conference is hosted at the Kalahari, an indoor water park, and is family oriented in that they have activities for significant others and children to do while the conference goer is busy. This was our second trip to this conference and last year we also took Amtrak, so we learned a few things to prepare us for this route with an infant which was very good for my sanity.

First, why did we take Amtrak? Why didn’t we just fly or even drive? After all, we live in Iowa and Sandusky is only about 9 hours away from us. Our reasons this year were pretty much the same as last year. If we didn’t want to drive 9 hours without an infant, we definitely didn’t want to drive 9 hours with one. Plus, adding our daughter into the mix guaranteed that it would take longer than 9 hours because we would have to stop more frequently to attend to her needs. Another big factor was weather. We were going in January and we couldn’t be sure of safe weather conditions the entire way there and back. Last year the Midwest experienced a blizzard while we were traveling. We didn’t want to risk that with a baby.

Flying there wasn’t a good option either. It would have taken us at least two flights to get to a major city in Ohio and then we would have had to drive at least an hour still. See the previous paragraph about not wanting to drive. Flying directly to Sandusky was waaaay to expensive and flying from one small airport to another doesn’t provide good flight options. So we decided to go by train. Amtrak has a station in Sandusky and we could take a 10 minute taxi ride to the resort! And pricing couldn’t be beat. Round trip tickets for all of us (infants are free), plus sleeper cars for the ride portions between Chicago and Sandusky came in at the price of one plane ticket. Sign me up!

So how did it go? I would definitely do it again.

It took us 16 hours to get to Sandusky including driving time to and from the train stations. That made for a long day of travel, but we could relax the whole time, as much as one can with an infant, and all of our trains arrived on time or within 30 minutes of the stated time which was fantastic! We also had 3-4 hours to hang out in Chicago both ways, so we took those opportunities to wander the city with our daughter, eat, and visit with friends we have in Chicago. A nice break, and better than hanging out in an airport in my opinion. Since we had a sleeper car both ways, we also had access to the private lounge in the Chicago train station. This was one of the best things for us. It provided a much quieter waiting room than the general waiting area and there was free, secure luggage storage so we weren’t lugging suitcases around Chicago while we explored. A wonderful perk to the sleeper cars in addition to free meals on the train. I especially appreciated having a quieter area for our daughter to nurse and nap while we were in the station.

The ride on the trains was pretty standard in our experience. The cars weren’t very full, so we had plenty of room to move about and keep our daughter entertained. We took her to the lounge car for better views of the scenery speeding by, and had enough room in the coach seats to nurse, use laptops, and play. We even made a few friends thanks to Tabitha, including a little Amish boy and an Indian woman traveling with an eight month old and a three year old.

While the additional perks that came with purchasing a sleeper car room were awesome, having the rooms for our night and early morning rides were worth them alone. We were concerned about keeping Tabitha’s sleep schedule somewhat regular and also not disturbing others if she woke up screaming at some point. The coach seats were fine for her short naps, but the sleeper cars were a must for her longer period of sleep. Our train from Chicago to Sandusky left at 6pm and arrived in Sandusky around midnight. Tabitha usually goes to bed around 7pm, so we were able to simulate her bedtime routine enough that she went to sleep pretty close to her usual time. The problem that we did have was squeezing dinner in while she was trying to go to sleep. Since it was included with our tickets, we could have gone to the dinning car, but that would not work with our sleepy baby’s bedtime, so luckily we were able to order to our room and eat a fairly chaotic meal while one person wrangled the fussy infant. But once we were fed and Tabitha was dozing off, the swaying of the train kept both her and myself snoozing through our trip out. We had to bring along her car seat for the taxi ride, so we put her to bed in it and set it on the bottom bunk where I slept. My husband decided that sleeping wasn’t for him at the time, and took off for the lounge car to work on some development. The accommodations were tight, but adequate and I felt fairly rested when it was time for us to disembark.

As a side note, we had two different sleeper car rooms on our trip. The first (shown to the left), I believe, was meant for up to 3 people, included bunk beds with a single bed above and a wider bed below. It also had a private shower/toilet room, sink area, and a chair. When the beds were put away, there was a tray “table” that could be pulled out. We could cram all of our luggage and people into this room, which isn’t necessary as you’ll see when I describe our other room, but it was very nice since we could easily access Tabitha’s things to get her ready for bed.

Our return room was the smallest available, and functioned just fine, but would have been challenging for our night trip. It was meant for up to 2 people and had bunk beds again, but both were only singles. It did not have a private shower, but did have a seat/toilet that was open to the room and a sink that flipped down when you needed it. We could not fit everything in this room, but instead stored our larger pieces in the luggage area of our train car like one would normally do for coach. My husband and I readied ourselves for the day at the hotel and we just changed Tabitha’s clothes in the train station lounge when we arrived. Our room use was pretty similar for this trip, but my husband decided to go back to sleep until Chicago too.

Something that is probably the same in all of the sleeper rooms, but I noticed during our return trip because we were all in the room and on different bunks, was that the sound is pretty muffled in them. If one of us was trying to talk to the other on different bunks, you really couldn’t hear each other unless you stuck your heads into the open area beside the beds. I can’t confirm this, but I’m assuming that the sound barrier between the rooms is just as nice, which is helpful if you do have a little one screaming their head off.

We ate breakfast in the dining car on our way to Chicago from Sandusky and met two nice ladies who enjoyed Tabitha’s constant attempts to grab anything near her on the table. The train staff was friendly throughout our whole trip and quite helpful which is even more appreciated when you’re traveling with a little one. And if you’re curious about the necessary diaper changes, they were pleasantly uneventful during our trip. The public toilet rooms on the trains were similar to the toilet rooms on planes, but with more room. And each car also had a room that included a changing area which offered double the size of the normal toilet room and had a bench and hooks that came in handy. We also took advantage of the very tidy restrooms in the Chicago station lounge.

To sum up our travel experience, I was very happy with how our trip went, and although I don’t think it’s ever easy traveling with a baby, the train helped make our trip less stressful and more enjoyable than I think other modes would have. At least for this destination, we will continue to take Amtrak any time we visit. It works well for us and it just makes sense. One major benefit that I would like to add is a closer station to Cedar Rapids. Mount Pleasant is about 90 minutes for us, so something, say in Iowa City would be wonderful…

Have any of you traveled with small children and want to weigh in on how it went? Any bad experiences traveling with kids on Amtrak? I’m sure there are lots of opportunities for things to go wrong especially if there are unexpected delays!

And for anyone who is interested or perhaps taking their own little one(s) on a train trip, here are some key things we packed and how we carried it around. We’ll be flying to Florida to visit my grandmother soon, so we’ll see how much this list, and our experience, changes for that trip.

We took 6 pieces of “luggage”:

  1. Wheeled luggage for Tabitha (her backpack was attached to the outside of this for easy access)
  2. Wheeled luggage with our stuff
  3. Large canvas “diaper” bag
  4. Backpack with my laptop & food
  5. Backpack with Keith’s laptop  & other things
  6. Car seat/baby carrier

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Drawing a Line

2011-09-09

Or in other words, we are buying a second car. And I am sad. Very sad.
The Sad Panda
But my husband kindly let me throw a tantrum already, so I will try to not whine here and stick to the facts.

For the past 3.5 years we have chosen to live a single car life. In a perfect world we could be car-less, but the transit system in Cedar Rapids can’t support our lifestyle and social involvement without at least one car.  A few months after we were married we realized that we rarely used my car and after a few weeks of no use due to a pile of mulch blocking it, we gave my old car to my brother who needed it more than us at the time. Since then we have settled into a very good routine to get both of us to and from work and even to our many meetings, appointments, and volunteer commitments with just one car. This has survived a few job changes by my husband and both of us becoming more involved in the community. Some things required creative solutions, but the “pain” was quite low most of the time.

Flash forward to this July and we now have an infant!

For nine months I told my husband that I really wanted to continue our single car life as long as possible, and, although very skeptical, he agreed to give it a try. Well, from the beginning of this post, you can guess that it hasn’t worked out so well and the looming winter weather doesn’t make my husband comfortable at all. He held up his end of the bargain to let us try it, so now it’s my turn to hold up my end and agree that he’s (very unfortunately) right.

Let’s run down the list of things we were preparing for and planning on to prevent buying another vehicle:

  • Day care center near a bus stop. We looked at options near bus routes that would still get me to work and found one that we were comfortable with that is also very close to my current route. This was also key for me being able to get to our daughter during the day if she became sick and needed to be picked up or go to the doctor since my husband works out of town. The center has a 1 hour pick up policy if a child is sick, which could just barely accommodate the bus if I got the call during the 30 minute frequency portions of the day and was able to promptly leave work. Tricky, but something that could be worked (in my mind).
  • Day care center with a (comparatively) late pick up time. Another “perk” of the center we chose was the 6pm pick up time. Other places we looked at were 5 or 5:30pm which would not work very well with my bus schedule or my husband’s driving schedule.
  • My husband’s carpooling. This isn’t new, but it was a huge bonus in my eyes. My husband carpools with 3 other guys so he only really needs the car during the day every 4 weeks. This frees up the car for me in case of a sick child, emergency, or general use. The downside is that he requires the car every 4 weeks, and while we can schedule check-up appointments around this, we can’t schedule when our baby may get sick. Bummer. This also doesn’t include times that he would need to drive himself separately from work for meetings after work or appointments.
  • Me being the primary driver. With the car in use for the carpool only every 4 weeks, I would have likely become the primary morning driver. This has frequently happened during my leave. We would pack up our daughter and I would drive my husband to the carpool meeting place and then drive back home. This would have continued most days only with me then going to the day care center and parking the car in their lot during the day. I would then have walked to the bus stop and bused downtown as usual. See the first open hurdle below for why we wouldn’t just be dropped off at the center. This may still happen to limit wear and tear on the newer car and to leave one car covered in the garage when possible.

And here is a list of our open hurdles that made my husband give me “the talk” about realizing what was practical and when to admit that our area’s transit can’t continue to support our single car life at this time.

  • No guarantee on my husband’s return time. He works in Anamosa, carpools with 3 other guys, and doesn’t leave at a set time every day. This means that sometimes he doesn’t get to my bus stop right when I arrive, especially in the winter when the weather can throw in an additional wrench. This has been one of the situations that we have been flexible with and it mostly lands on me, which I am perfectly fine working around. In pleasant weather I would usually get off at my normal stop and either walk to a nearby store or wait for him outside. Many times I would just walk the 1.5 miles home and enjoy the outdoors. In unpleasant weather I would continue a few stops farther and wander the aisles at Target until he was able to get to me. (This almost didn’t work when I was in my early pregnancy and constantly eating, but then I realized that Target has food and would buy an enormous tub of pretzels if I would be “stranded” for a while.) The problem now is that we have a little one that doesn’t yet realize the benefit of being flexible when delays occur. And the even bigger problem that I didn’t want to admit is that it’s probably not the best idea to be trudging through freezing temperatures to get somewhere warm when the day care center closes and our ride can’t make it to the center before 6pm. This is the biggest problem for my husband. He’s not comfortable with this situation at all and I can’t blame him for that. He’s a concerned father in this case.
  • Babies have needs. They need to eat when they’re hungry. They need to be changed when they’re dirty. They usually need some sort of schedule to be comfortable and to help keep the parents sane. Our flexibility would often times require a bit too much flexibility from our daughter at such a young age. I see many families that are transit dependent and they have to make it work, but this is something that we personally don’t have a close example of and it is overwhelming.
  • Emergencies and illness. Above I talked about some of our plans to handle our daughter needing picked up due to illness, but our solution and additional options we looked into had my husband really putting his foot down. I will be going back to work part-time, so there will really only be three days that I will be away from our daughter, but let’s think about those three days. The worst case scenario would be for me to get a call at work right after an off-peak bus has just passed. I would then have to wait an hour to catch the next bus which would exhaust the hour policy that the day care has. Likelihood of this happening is low, but still needs to be considered. The next worse scenario is the most likely to happen. I wait a few minutes (1 – 30) to catch the bus to the day care center. I then walk to the center, pick up my daughter, and walk back to the bus stop. Hopefully I have been able to make a doctor’s appointment during this time if she needs one, and hopefully it could be scheduled close to the time we would arrive at the office that day. Also, hopefully we would make it back to the bus within 30 minutes to catch the next bus back downtown to the doctor’s office. If not, it could be a VERY long day. We might need to take a taxi to the doctor or to home, and hanging out with a sick child for hours at a doctor’s office doesn’t sound like a good idea even to me. If it happens to be one of my days off and I don’t have the car (only 2 days in the span of 4 weeks), I would either have to walk to the closest bus stop (which only arrives every 90-ish minutes) or the second closest route which is 1.5 miles away (not going to happen in freezing weather). Or I could call a taxi. The fact that this is the longest section may have some indication into its level of importance in our decision.

Now let’s take a look at some alternatives that we researched.

  • Taxis. This one has me shaking in my boots after hearing tales of how expensive it is in Cedar Rapids. It would most certainly only happen in emergencies.
  • Neighborhood Transportation Service (NTS). One of the first options I looked into, but unfortunately it only serves riders during the evenings and weekends when CR Transit routes are no longer running. You also need to schedule your ride 24 hours in advance, which doesn’t happen with a sick child, and you have to be traveling “to and from work, school [or] life-skills classes”. Day care is currently not a destination option, although I talked about this with the executive director and they have talked about it, but only talked so far.
  • Rental car. This was one of our contingency plans when we first went to a solo car. If we ever really needed a second car we could rent one and it would still be cheaper than second car insurance, maintenance, gas, and the other extra costs that come along with a car. This would still be a valid option with a baby except in the case of an emergency. Those situations don’t accommodate the time it takes to fill out paperwork, and there isn’t a guarantee that they’ll have a car (although unlikely a problem). Plus, while it’s economical if it will be used for at least a day, a need for just a few hours isn’t such a good deal.
  • Good friends. We’re currently doing this and are wearing out our welcome. This may also be the biggest driving force in getting a second car. With adjusting to the new baby and all of the physical, emotional, and social changes that come along with her, friends and coworkers have been more than generous about being flexible, but we really don’t want to have to lean on this as often as we have had to so far.

I am still very torn about getting a second car, mostly due to it being an “in case of” car. Most of the time it will be sitting somewhere unused because it’s purpose would be for emergencies and the one week that my husband drives for the carpool. Yes, it will make life easier, but that’s not what I’m looking for. I like more garage space and fewer bills and things to maintain. There is also the sad punctuation on the holes in our transit system. I have fought so hard to carve out an alternative transportation lifestyle, and here this typical milestone in a person’s life (having a baby) has proven that the system cannot support the needs that many people have. It also shows that we really haven’t advanced in the past 3.5 years and that is the most depressing concept for me.

And where does that leave us? We are car shopping for our immediate, short-term solution while I continue to support improving local transit or at least starting a Zipcar location (pretty please!!). I will continue to ride the bus to and from work, but plan on leaving a car in the day care parking lot for use between the center and home, and emergencies if necessary.

Although my husband and I have been discussing this issue for almost a year, I would love to hear any other ideas you have on potential solutions we didn’t think about. Has anyone made this transition? Are there things that work in other, more transit friendly areas that we could modify and use here? I am still determined to keep transit a part of our lives and make sure our daughter (and future kiddos) respect and appreciate the role public transportation can play.

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Posted in Thoughts | 2 Comments »

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