Chicago’s Holiday Train

“How do you get to work, Ate Sarah?” asked Flat Stanlina. (The word ‘ate’ in Filipino means ‘older sister.’ It’s pronounced like AH-tay.)

“I usually take public transportation — a bus and then a train.” I showed Flat Stanlina this video of my train ride to work. Listen to the safety instructions, and watch for the very tall buildings or skyscrapers in the distance towards the end of the video. You’ll see there’s snow everywhere!

Then, of course, Flat Stanlina asked me WHY I take public transportation. Well, I said, people use public transportation for many different reasons. Some people do not own a car or bicycle. This is fairly common in a city like Chicago. Other people like to use public transportation because it can be expensive or difficult to own and park a car in the city. For some people who cannot walk easily, public transportation can be the only way they can travel. And still other people like using a bus or a train environmentally-friendlier way to travel.

Public transportation can be buses, trains, or bicycles. (Luckily, Chicago has all three!)

Around the Christmas holiday, Chicago does something very special with one of their public trains. They turn it into the Holiday Train!

Santa Claus rides on the Holiday Train with his famous sleigh and reindeer, too! They decorate the train with lots of Christmas decorations. It has many lights on the outside. Inside, the train is decorated with more lights, tinsel, special Santa Claus coverings on the seats and candy canes on the handrails. Instead of advertising, there are many funny and silly jokes.

They even play holiday music, too.

Flat Stanlina said it even smelled like cinnamon! I smelled it, too! Many other kids and adults came to the train station to see and ride this special Holiday Train.

I heard other passengers on the train say that it would be nice if the train was like this all year, we would be a lot happier. I agree!