Finding Freedom: Why Women Should Take a Train Journey With Canada’s Rocky Mountaineer

Onboard the Rocky Mountaineer

My train started with 26 pieces, including two locomotives, two generator cars, crew cars and guest cars.

“We’ll be down to 13 tomorrow,” train manager Jill McDowell confided. “Today we ride as one into Kamloops and then we split overnight in the rail yard, and then we’ll have part of the train that obviously heads into Banff and Lake Louise, and we go into Jasper. So today’s a good day to see the train itself because we’re nice and long, and you get kind of the behind and ahead views. You’ll get it tomorrow but we’ll be half the size.”

Standing on that open-air vestibule, I could indeed admire most of the extra-long train as it snaked around corners and crossed bridges.

What’s neat is how each railcar becomes a self-contained world. Mine had seats upstairs beside huge domed windows and a glass roof, plus a kitchen and 36-seat dining room downstairs near our private viewing platform. We had two hosts and a two-member culinary team to ourselves.

Trust me when I say it’s tough to concentrate on the scenery when there’s a pretty bowl of chia pudding in front of you topped with pistachios and pomegranate, or an Alberta striploin steak sided by smoked paprika crushed potatoes and broccolini.

I’m not sure how many sockeye salmon and Bald eagles I wound up seeing, but I know that I ate two breakfasts, two lunches and two desserts (a chocolate torte one day and a lemon lavender posset with a gold-dusted macaron the other).

Being wined and dined through the Rockies is a treat, especially because it’s all included. As D’Souza put it, when revealing that the thoughtfully curated alcohol menu would be served from 9:30 a.m. until 45 minutes before arrival each day: “Trust me — I’ve got plenty. We shall not run dry.”

He and fellow host Tony Ganton cheerfully doled out non-stop beverages and snacks, but above all, they were passionate storytellers.