A Trip with Amtrak Train 7/8/11

July 8, 2011

As a typical Japanese myself, I grew up riding trains and buses from the very young age. Our family was living in southern part of Japan, Yamaguchi Prefecture, when I was born. We lived there until I was 5 years old. My parents are from Tokyo so we went back to Tokyo with sleeping trains occasionally. After Yamaguchi, we moved to Akita Prefecture which is located northern part of Japan, and we lived there until I was 9 years old. Traveling with train was a part of our lives. Then I became a city girl in Tokyo. I studied at Girls Private middle school, Performing Arts High School, then Toho Conservatory so all those years, I went to schools by trains and buses. After I moved to US, I have never taken train except short rides in NY city, San Francisco, and LA. I have been dreaming to do a long trip with Amtrak one day so I exercised riding Amtrak for a short trip to Santa Barbara. It was one of the best trips I ever taken in the US, very relaxing. Soon after I went to inside of the train, I felt I was back in home and just relaxed. America is so big that most of our travels are done by airplanes, rental cars or long driving. On the way to Santa Barbara from Burbank station, I was looking outside and doing nothing in most comfortable way. I am eager to go for a longer trip with Amtrak. We try to do things too efficiently so that those doing-nothing-hours are precious, just enjoy passing time.