Tag Archives: Train Travel

My Brightline Train Trip-Part 3

6 Mar

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

New Years Day (1/1/2024 Continued)

Our next RideCircuit driver, for the ride back to the Brightline Station,  regaled us with the history and stories of the areas of Fort Lauderdale as we passed thru them, such as what was presently going on in the neighborhood where he lived.

Photo Credit: https://observernewspaperonline.com/2021/11/01/brightline-offers-door-to-door-transportation/

As we passed an old church building, he pointed at it and informed us that it had originally been built in 1921 as the St. Anthony’s Catholic church.  When that parish moved to a larger building in 1949, they sold the building to the Lutheran Evangelical Church and the building’s facade was moved to its present location.  The building was registered as a “Historic Landmark” by the city fathers, and sat vacant for many years.  In 2017 the building was sold to a local developer and the “Holly Blue” Restaurant & Lounge project was begun.  The restoration was finally finished in 2023, and that’s what I call a unique building transformation story.

Photo Credit: https://fortlauderdalecra.com/theabbey/FortLauderdale/neighborhood/

At one point a bunch of young kids on bicycles came riding at us, acting as if they were going to crash into us.  I grabbed the back of the seat in front of me when our driver didn’t slow down, and the cyclists peeled off around our shuttle vehicle, laughing and shouting at us.  When I asked him what that was all about, he told us about the gangs of young kids on bicycles that were stopping and terrorizing motorists in certain areas of Fort Lauderdale, causing the local law enforcement folks a lot of headaches.  He said several cyclists had deliberately run into cars, and then sued the motorists for damages (No money had been awarded to the cyclists that he knew of).

Photo Credit: https://wsvn.com/news/video-shows-dangerous-behavior-involving-bicyclists-cars-in-fort-lauderdale/

Our RideCircuit shuttle driver dropped us off right in front of the Brightline Station.  Billy and I had purchased coach tickets for our return trip, so we didn’t have access to the 1stCClass Lounge at this station.  However, we did inspect the lounge and found that it wasn’t as plush as the one in Orlando, but was still quit comfortable.

Photo Credit: https://www.roadtripsforfamilies.com/fort-lauderdale/

At first, we heard an announcement that our 3:25 train was going to be a few minutes late, but then heard the call that the train was arriving pretty much on-time.  We proceeded to the track-side waiting area, with the other passengers, and watched the train pull into the station.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites 

We had purchased a coach tickets for our return trip to compare 1st class seating, comfort, and amenities with that of coach.  Of course, the price was half that of 1stclass seating and that had something to do with our choice of return tickets also

Photo Credit: Bill Lites 

As we boarded the coach car for our return trip, we found our reserved seats (side-by-side with no table) and discovered that coach seating was a little more crowded than 1stclass, and not as roomy as first class seating (No tables between some seats, so less legroom).

Photo Credit: https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/brightline-

The train left the Fort Lauderdale station within a minute or two of our original 3:25 departure time and we were surprised to see that the car we were in was full.  Once we left the Fort Lauderdale station, Billy accessed the “Speed” and “Google Maps” apps on his iPhone so we could keep track of our progress and speed for the return trip.

Photo Credit: https://apps.apple.com/speedometer-speed-tracker

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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My Brightline Train Trip-Part 1

21 Feb

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

New Years Day (1/1/2024)

This day started early for me as I needed to drive to Orlando, Florida to meet my son, Billy, for our first ever Brightline High-Speed train ride.  After a quick breakfast, I made the 35-mile trip from my home in Titusville to Orlando on SR-528 and found the Wally Park off-site parking (As I mentioned in the Prolog, I chose the Wally Park off-site parking because the Brightline Station parking directions at the airport Terminal “C” seemed a little confusing, and I didn’t want to deal with the potential of being late for our 8:50 Brightline departure).

Photo Credit: https://m.facebook.com/WallyPark

It only took the Wally Park Customer Shuttle about ten minutes, after picking me up, to take me directly to the Brightline Station entrance located in Terminal ‘C’ at the Orlando International Airport.  That included two stops at airlines to pick up other passengers.

Photo Credit: https://www.google.com/search=Wally/Park/Shuttle

I took the escalator to the 3rd floor where I met my son, Billy, at the Brightline Station ticket area.  We used our e-tickets to enter the 1st class lounge to wait for them to call our 8:50 train.  I was surprised at how comfortable and spacious the lounge was.

Photo Credit: https://touringplans.com/brightline-train-to-orlando/

We were able to avail ourselves of an assortment of self-serve complimentary breakfast items such as scrambled eggs, sausage, home-fried potatoes, cheese cubes, and sliced ham.  Coffee, soft drinks, and bottled water were also available.

Photo Credit: https://upgradedpoints.com/travel/brightline-train-review/

I was impressed with the eco-utensils provided to us to eat with at the 1st Class Lounge, and later on the train.  Even though everything provided to eat with was recyceable, the wooden cutlery was so different from the plastic utensils I am use to receiving at most fast food places (and even at some restaurants) now days.  It was a unique experience.

Phot Credit: Bill Lites

When our 8:50 am train to Fort Lauderdale and Miami was called, we took our bottled water from the lounge, and proceeded thru the entry turnstiles (with our QR Code), down the stairs to the train on Track One, and entered the 1st- class car.  We found our reserved seats on the single seat side with a table between the seats.

Photo Credit: https://thepointsguy.com/news/brightline/

Billy got busy setting up his Speed Tracker App in his iPhone so we could track the speed of the train on our journey.  The train was only lightly loaded with passengers, and I was amazed at how smooth the train ride was from the Orlando Airport (Terminal ‘C’), east along SR-528 to Brevard County where the track turned south toward Miami.

Photo Credit: https://apps.apple.com/speedometer-speed-tracker

Billy said the highest speed he recorded along this straight stretch of track was 125 mph!  Billy also loaded the Google Maps app in his iPhone so we could track our progress as well as the train’s speed.  As the train slowed down for the turn south, we began looking for familiar sights along the train route adjacent to US-1.

Photo Credit: https://www.pinterest.com/cocoa-florida-water-tower/

We saw the big Cocoa water tower, and Rockledge Square.  Then somewhere along this southern portion of the route, we must have moved onto a short piece of the FEC track, because the train began to rock and roll enough to make a few people sick.  That was the only short stretch of rough track that I remember during the entire trip.

Photo Credit: https://www.istockphoto.com/motion-sickness/

Luckily, this didn’t last long, and we were back on a smooth ride.  Then we passed over the Eua Galle River, Crane Creek (Melbourne), Turkey Creek (Palm Bay), St. Sebastian River (Sebastian) bridges, and thru the small towns of Wabasso, Winter Beach, and Gifford.  Then we passed thru Vero Beach, Jensen Beach, skirted the St. Lucy River inlet, thru Port Salerno, and Fort Pierce, before arriving at our first stop at West Palm Beach.  As the train was slowing, there was an announcement telling passengers who were getting off at this station to gather their belongings and prepare to exit the train, as“This stop would only be for a few moments.”

Photo Credit: https://www.theledger.com/brightline/

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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