MP 433
Hey, this post is the same number as the steam locomotive sitting in Abingdon, Virginia... Norfolk & Western 4-8-0 Class M #433.
I'm going home this weekend for the first time since Labor Day. Should be fun. Then, only three more weeks until a week-long break for Thanksgiving. I am definitely looking forward to that.
I got bored last night and totaled up the number of miles I have ridden a train (inter-city passenger trains). It came out to be about 25,000 miles. Simply unbelievable.
Speaking of train travel, I bought a train ticket to come back to Lincoln from visiting my mom and family in Virginia. I'll be going down with my dad and stepmom, then taking the train back about two weeks later. I'll be getting back into Lincoln very late on December 30th or early on the 31st.
Another note on Amtrak-related stuff. Back in early April, I enrolled in Amtrak Guest Rewards (AGR) (their equivalent of a "frequent flier" program). I'll call this Account 1. By taking the train within 90 days of getting it, I got bonus miles and all that sort of junk along with my travel points on Account 1. Then, I decided to get a credit card that would earn me points if I used it. Well, because the credit card company and Amtrak really weren't connected, the credit card company just assigned me a new AGR number, Account 2. In August, I discovered this and called AGR to have the accounts merged. Since I already had points on Account 1, I asked to have it remain and just transfer Account 2's credits to Account 1. She said it would take 6-8 weeks to process.
Well, it has been over three months and still the accounts have not been merged (the point balance on Account 1 never changed). So, today I called to inquire. The guy I talked to said that the request was still pending because the credit card banking institution had been bought out by another and that had caused a delay in all account-switching and such. The guy then proceeded to tell me that he could simply transfer Account 1 to Account 2 within a day since that did not require changing the credit card. So, with any luck, that will be taken care of by Friday. I asked the guy what my point balances were and he said (Account 1) has 1,500 or so points and (Account 2) has 3,000-some points. Then he said, "But because you've had to hassle through all of this, I'm just going to add two or three hundred more points for the inconvenience and that will put you at around 5,000 points."
So, basically, with 500 more points, I can get a free one-way ticket in one "zone." There are three zones, each basically being a third of the U.S. Funny thing is that you could go from say El Paso, TX, to Wolf Point, MT, by way of Chicago and it would be one zone. But you could also go Lincoln to Omaha and it would be one zone. I guess you have to maximize yourself if you can.
I'm going home this weekend for the first time since Labor Day. Should be fun. Then, only three more weeks until a week-long break for Thanksgiving. I am definitely looking forward to that.
I got bored last night and totaled up the number of miles I have ridden a train (inter-city passenger trains). It came out to be about 25,000 miles. Simply unbelievable.
Speaking of train travel, I bought a train ticket to come back to Lincoln from visiting my mom and family in Virginia. I'll be going down with my dad and stepmom, then taking the train back about two weeks later. I'll be getting back into Lincoln very late on December 30th or early on the 31st.
Another note on Amtrak-related stuff. Back in early April, I enrolled in Amtrak Guest Rewards (AGR) (their equivalent of a "frequent flier" program). I'll call this Account 1. By taking the train within 90 days of getting it, I got bonus miles and all that sort of junk along with my travel points on Account 1. Then, I decided to get a credit card that would earn me points if I used it. Well, because the credit card company and Amtrak really weren't connected, the credit card company just assigned me a new AGR number, Account 2. In August, I discovered this and called AGR to have the accounts merged. Since I already had points on Account 1, I asked to have it remain and just transfer Account 2's credits to Account 1. She said it would take 6-8 weeks to process.
Well, it has been over three months and still the accounts have not been merged (the point balance on Account 1 never changed). So, today I called to inquire. The guy I talked to said that the request was still pending because the credit card banking institution had been bought out by another and that had caused a delay in all account-switching and such. The guy then proceeded to tell me that he could simply transfer Account 1 to Account 2 within a day since that did not require changing the credit card. So, with any luck, that will be taken care of by Friday. I asked the guy what my point balances were and he said (Account 1) has 1,500 or so points and (Account 2) has 3,000-some points. Then he said, "But because you've had to hassle through all of this, I'm just going to add two or three hundred more points for the inconvenience and that will put you at around 5,000 points."
So, basically, with 500 more points, I can get a free one-way ticket in one "zone." There are three zones, each basically being a third of the U.S. Funny thing is that you could go from say El Paso, TX, to Wolf Point, MT, by way of Chicago and it would be one zone. But you could also go Lincoln to Omaha and it would be one zone. I guess you have to maximize yourself if you can.