Charleston to Raleigh and back again

One hour late, and after eight hours on the train, I arrive at Charleston's not so buzzing Amtrak station, my friends are waiting for me in the freezing cold - this makes me feel even more guilty about being late, especially as I need to be taken to the airport to pick up my rental car.

At the Budget desk the assistant is desperate for me to have an upgrade - I resist knowing that gas is not as cheap as it used to be and I have a long trip to Raleigh NC ahead of me.

The next few days are full of catch ups with friends - including the aforementioned nine hour round trip to Raleigh NC - mixed up with hanging out around Charleston. A trip to Folly Beach was just as deserted as it always was and the city was pretty much unchanged - happy memories.

I made time for a few purchases, including a bargain $85 Kindle at Walmart. I eagerly headed to Starbucks to use the free wifi and set it up with my Amazon UK account - just to check it wasn't restricted because of the price. No problem at all and in less than 10 minutes I had downloaded about 20 books.

Obviously I purchased a drink before hooking up to the wifi. In the queue in front of me was a woman who ordered a Venti latte with two shots of vanilla, two shots of caramel and two shots of hazelnut, the incredulous sales assistant queried "that is just a regular latte, right?", the barista then queried it too. I think the subtext was "would you like some coffee with your bucket of milk, sugar and artificial flavourings?"

That said flavoured syrups seem to de rigour in Charleston - every coffee I ordered came with the question "would you like syrup with that?" kind of like an updated and more middle class version of "would you like fries with that?" I guess. Though the best had to be at Charleston Airport where, when purchasing coffee, I was asked "would you like some pizza with that?"

A fun week overall, only marred by the development of the head cold from hell, which is still with me now.

Silver Meteor from Orlando FL to Charleston SC

1.35pm - train departs on time

The seat assigned to me at the door does not have a window or plug socket and my seat buddy has already closed the curtains and hunkered down to sleep - so no sparkling conversation or view of the Florida countryside for me!

The pleasant warmth is actually sickly heat so I head off for the lounge car. I've seen Sex & The City, so I am not expecting North by Northwest. It's basic but clean and I have a great view of the waterways leading to Florida's east coast; I also get to listen in on the conductors' gossiping as this seems to be their favoured hangout.

For the final three hours (make that four) I head back to my seat, the train empties at Savannah GA and I get a double seat to myself. We then grind to a halt a few miles outside Charleston and sit there for the best part of an hour, finally pulling into Charleston at 10.35pm, one hour and ten minutes late - nine hours after leaving Orlando.