So we do something that turns out to be a little unusual. We take the Rocky Mountaineer from Vancouver to Jasper and then back to Vancouver from Banff. Unusual because it seems that most of our fellow passengers (at least in the Gold Leaf dome cars that we travel in) are on a one way package, starting or ending in Vancouver with hotels and tours included or are joining or have just come off an Inside Passage cruise. On the ride up to Jasper, most of our fellow passengers are Australian or British, but on the ride back most of the Brits and Aussies have disappeared, to be replaced by Americans and Canadians.

The Rocky Mountaineer takes two full days to cover the nearly 600 miles from Vancouver to Jasper and the same time to cover a similar distance back to Vancouver from Banff. So we're ambling along at a relatively slow pace to take full advantage of the spectacular and ever changing scenery. We're in one of the Gold Leaf double-decker cars with their domed windows and roof which allow almost uninterrupted views. The train is super comfortable, the numerous staff friendly and variably informative, the food (freshly prepared in the dedicated lower level dining area) and drink delicious and never-ending. The entire operation runs mostly with impressive smoothness and efficiency particularly given the large number of passengers. 

We don't sleep on the train, but in the town of Kamloops where all 800 of us (around half going on to or returning from Jasper, the remainder Banff/Lake Louise) are off loaded onto coaches and distributed around several of the town's hotels - room keys given out on the coach, bags already in our assigned rooms. Another very impressive operation!

Not much in Kamloops despite the train staff's attempt to get us excited by the prospect of spending a night here. On the outward journey, our assigned hotel is in a new section of the town whose main attraction seems to be a very ordinary looking strip mall with the same stores we'd see in similar looking towns south of the border. But on the return trip, were housed in a much nicer hotel just a short walk from the town's main street with a good selection of restaurants and bars. 

Kamloops, which I'd thought just existed to service the needs of Rocky Mountaineer's passengers and staff actually has a population of 100,000, several industries and a large university. The surrounding area is semi-arid near desert - this region just west of the Rockies receives little annual precipitation. This gives the town a rather gloomy air and other than providing a night's rest, there'd seem little reason to want to stop here

So back to the train. Each of the train's cabins has a chief "host" with a couple of assistants whose job it is to hand out drinks and snacks, to provide some commentary on the scenery and sights and a little on the background and history of the railway and the towns we pass through. The journey up to Banff was great - one might even say (as many were heard to) "awesome"

Our return trip on the Rocky Mountaineer back to Vancouver was anything but awesome! It got off to a rocky start with the misinformation (or "alternative fact") we were given by Rocky Mountaineer customer service about the train not stopping in Lake Louise - it would have been much easier for us to board in Lake Louise, just 20 minutes from Moraine Lake where we'd been staying, rather than make the hour or so drive to Banff.

Our cabin "host" was mediocre at best - she seemed to manage announcing a worthwhile sight or photo op just as we got to it or more often just as we'd passed it! What she was "good" at was organizing games beginning with a bizarre round of bingo just as we were passing through some particularly beautiful scenery, followed later in the journey by "Name That Tune", a poetry writing competition and having everyone stand and wave various locals who seem to have nothing better to do with their time than stand outside their house and wave to passing trains! Our fellow passengers were mostly groups of very loud (and increasingly drunk) Americans who often drowned out the mediocre commentary! To cap it off, we were two hours late into Vancouver because of a "medical emergency" (it turned out to be an aggressive passenger, considered drug induced, who was taken off the train by the police) - we sat in a siding around 20 minutes from the station for almost two hours while this drama played out. 

Shame really! The Rocky Mountaineer must be one of the most, if not the most scenic train journey in the world. The efficiency with which the whole operation runs is an object lesson to other train companies and tour operators. Pity then that at least on our return journey, the passengers (mostly "senior citizens") were treated like a bunch of school kids on a field trip....