Hi Charris, how nice of you to ask. It went excellent. I could not have asked for a more thorough consultation! My only hesitation is traveling across country from Massachusetts to California for the surgery and coming home on such a long flight, post surgery. I am no spring chicken.
This may sound weird to a not “spring chicken,” but it’s coming from a documented ANTIQUE person, so be patient...and I hate to share my secrets, but...AMTRAK. In a HANDICAPPED ROOM. Reservations needed well in advance. Not cheap, BUT...it’s on the lower level, they will bring your meals to you (regular dining car menu is included in your price), AND....
shhhhh....you have your own toilet and sink in your room. DON’T TELL ANYONE.
Do not try to figure out the prices online; it never works for the handicapped room. Call and talk to someone.
Yes, it will take longer. But you can stand up, walk a little, there will be a shower right outside your room. (On a very few trains, there’s a shower IN the handicapped room.).
The “hitches” we’ve had in the Amtrak “git along” were:
•being snowed in along the way in the general area of Buffalo, put us WAY behind schedule, so that on the last day they had to create a lunch meal out of thin air, as they “owed us” a meal for arriving after the allowed lunch time; and,
•the probably homeless guy in a wheelchair who got on in LA with all of his worldly possessions in a cardboard box and INSISTED his dog was a service animal...which it was obviously not, as service animals rarely growl at passersby, attempt to bite train conductors and piss on everything in site, and the dude refused to exit the train. This event caused our fellow passengers to learn what we kinda already knew, to wit...Amtrak in LA is located in the CITY of LA (LAPD area), but security was contracted out to the COUNTY of LA (LA County Sheriff) and if you arrest a dude in a wheelchair, who insists he cannot transfer to a car seat, with a dog, you need...lol...the Sheriff’s Dept has to take him into custody and request LAPD to come get him and to bring an LAPD van equipped to transport someone in a wheelchair, and you need someone from the CITY pound, not the COUNTY pound, to come get the unsupportive dog and your train leaves three hours late.
But we’ve been cross country several times and really prefer Amtrak to the threat of not having access to a toilet or a place to sit comfortably. And if you CAN make it to the Dining Car, some of the passengers are kinda fun to watch and you may be seated with a few...like the guy who just didn’t understand what “raisin bread” meant.
Good luck.
