Amtrak.

My dear friend,guitar-bass player- producer Leo Georgoulis moved
to Toronto,two years before my transantlantic crossing to N.Y.C.
in 2003.

Last Sunday i took the train from Penn Station to go and meet him and his family, reunite after seven long years,
check out the city and start working on my new CD.

I booked a ticket with Amtrak although the price
was higher than the Greyhound bus
and much higher than any other bus company,
and knowing that the train ride was taking
two hours more than the Greyhound and four hours more
than any other direct bus route.

The reason for that was that on the train you can move around
you have more leg room
and it somehow feels safer and more relaxing.

Not on that Route .....

After Albany the delays started
and it felt like we were standing still most of the time.

We arrived at the Canadian Border with Three Hours Delay.

The cars were filthy and there was noone there to complain to.

It seemed that we were riding a Mystery Train.

No explanations for the cause of our tremendous delays no nothing.

We were stacked there on the mercy of AMTRAK.

We were scheduled to arrive to Toronto at 8:44 pm and we Finally
arrived at 11:44 pm.

While booking the tickets they told me that i had to be transfered to the
Business Class from the Canadian Border to Toronto
and pay the $8 difference because they said that there were
not any seats available except for the business class.

That was not true!

Many passengers got off at Niagara Falls
on both sides of the border and the train was almost empty except
for the business class that was overbooked.


So after the border Me and Ten other people with Business class tickets
gathered outside the Business Class vagon only to find out
that we had to return to our previous seating.

What A Company Amtrak Is....
What a Joke of a Company that is!
Never to be trusted....

The same thing happened on my way back ....
Three hours delayed at the American Border.

The custom people took away two Apples and Two Pears i had with
me because they didn`t know where they came from...

Altough i explained that i got them a from a huge Supermarket in Toronto
and that i was going to eat them before arriving to N.Y.C.
this custom guy took them away from me and iam sure they ended up
at his dinner table.