• I packed lots of essentials for my five-hour Amtrak ride, but I didn't think of everything I needed.
• My Kindle, tripod, and headphones came in handy for keeping me entertained on my journey.
• However, I wish I had brought more comfort items such as a travel pillow, blanket, or even slippers.

When I hauled a heavy suitcase into the overhead on my Amtrak train car, I thought I had everything I'd need for my trip.

Three jackets, two pairs of boots, and a scarf to match every sweater — I was ready for anything. However, I quickly realized I wasn't nearly as prepared for the five-hour ride itself.

My trip from New Jersey to Boston on the Northeast Regional line gave me just enough time to settle in, stretch out, and enjoy a little downtime. Soon, I learned that what I had — and didn't — made all the difference in how much I enjoyed my trip.

Here are five items I'm glad I brought, and three I wish I'd packed.

My ticket didn't include complimentary snacks, so I was glad I'd brought my own.

Due to the length of my ride, I knew I'd be hungry at some point.

My basic ticket didn't come with complimentary snacks from Amtrak, but I didn't mind much since I had brought plenty of food from home.

I stopped at a bagel shop before boarding, packed a homemade latte, and had more than enough snacks to keep me satisfied throughout the ride.

There was a café car about halfway through the train that I could've bought a few bites at, but I was happy to save the money anyway.

Headphones came in handy for listening to music and streaming TV.

Though the lull of the train can be soothing in itself, I was happy to have packed my headphones so I could listen to music during the ride.

These also came in handy when I wanted to catch up on TV shows without bothering anyone around me.

The only packing mistake I made was bringing wired headphones instead of wireless ones, because I couldn't charge my device and listen at the same time.

My hot spot came in handy when the train's WiFi didn't work super well.

Though Amtrak offers complimentary WiFi on routes like this one, I didn't find it reliable for everything.

It worked fine for sending texts or scrolling through social media, but it wasn't as reliable when I wanted to stream TV on my laptop. To stream better, I switched to my phone's hot spot.

I brought my tripod for capturing content, but it was useful for creating extra space at my seat.

I had originally packed my tripod to capture travel content, and it was helpful as I snapped photos and filmed videos.

I also found it surprisingly useful for creating extra space at my seat.

My tray table wasn't very big, so setting up my tripod on the floor with my phone to stream a show gave me room to keep my laptop on the table instead.

It's worth noting that I didn't have anyone sitting next to me, so I had plenty of floor space to work with. Overall, it made for a nice setup.

My Kindle comes with me almost everywhere I go.

Luckily, I didn't struggle to keep myself entertained since I had packed my Kindle. I'm a book lover, so five hours of uninterrupted reading time was right up my alley.

I prefer using an e-reader over a physical book when traveling because it's lightweight and doesn't take up much space in my bag.

Plus, for early morning or late-night rides with my Kindle, I don't have to rely on the train's reading light, which might disturb other passengers.

However, I found myself wishing I had packed motion-sickness medication.

I thought I packed pretty well for the trip, but toward the end of the ride, I started feeling nauseous. I've never had motion sickness on a train before, but I've also never been on one for this long.

So, when I started feeling dizzy in the last hour, I was caught off guard. I couldn't look at my phone screen anymore, so I leaned back and closed my eyes.

It really made me wish I had brought some motion-sickness medication along for the ride.

Having a travel pillow or blanket would've made my trip more comfortable.

My seat ended up being comfier than I thought, with a decent recline and footrests.

Looking back, though, I really wish I had packed some comfortable travel items, such as a neck pillow or blanket. This ride was early in the morning, and my return trip was late at night, so they would've come in handy.

Next time, I'll definitely bring a few more things to make the ride cozier and allow me to close my eyes for a bit.

Similarly, slippers would've been helpful for walking throughout the train car.

Another comfort item I didn't think about until I was on the train was slippers.

I like taking my shoes off during long trips, especially on airplanes, but for some reason, I felt hesitant to do so on the train.

I wish I had brought a pair of light slippers to wear during the ride and for those trips back and forth to the bathroom. It would've been another way to add to the overall comfort of a long Amtrak ride.

This story was originally published on December 3, 2025, and most recently updated on September 23, 2026.

• An old friend shared a picture of me as a bridesmaid nearly half a century ago.
• I was shocked and uncertain that it was me.
• As a younger person, and especially in my teens, I had no self-confidence. In the photo, I saw a beautiful young girl.

Earlier this summer, an old high school friend and her husband, whom I hadn't seen for 40 years, stopped by on their way from northern Indiana to their home in Atlanta. I was a bridesmaid in their wedding 49 years ago.

During our visit, my friend shared a picture of me at 20, in a light-blue gown, proceeding into their wedding ceremony at our hometown's United Methodist Church. A lightning strike could not have affected me more than seeing that old picture.

Growing up, I always compared myself to others

I met my friend and her younger sister while we worked at the local drive-in, a staple of 1970s Indiana. As carhops, we wore silver coin changers and placed yellow metal trays filled with burgers and glass mugs of root beer on customers' front car windows. Both girls were fit, pretty, blonde cheerleaders.

I had been slightly overweight since my early teens, and working at the drive-in with its free ice cream didn't help. My jet-black hair didn't seem to match my pale ivory skin, which burned in the sun after just a few minutes of exposure. And I was sensitive about my nose, the dreaded "McVay" nose, the famous proboscis of my dad's family.

I didn't measure up to what I saw on the pages of "Seventeen" magazine, the arbiter of all things good. My dear mother, God rest her soul, was six inches shorter than I, and a size six. Like most of her friends, she wore only foundation, a hint of rouge, and bright-red lipstick. She dressed like Jackie Kennedy.

And with no sisters, I had no clue about mascara, the trendy blue eyeshadow, or any fashion sense. My hair was very black and thick, and full of waves and five cowlicks. Mom took me to the woman who did her weekly Wash-n-Set for perms with varying results. I often looked like a brunette Mamie Eisenhower. Before plus sizes, I was relegated to the awfulness of Alfred Dunner and other women's clothing, making me look like an older woman.

I made friends and met my wonderful husband, but still felt unattractive

In college, I found people who shared my interests on the college yearbook staff, and we are still friends. I married one of the editors, a handsome man with eyes bluer than Sinatra's. We've been married for 42 years, and we have a son, smart and good-looking like his father.

Yet this feeling of unattractiveness stayed with me most of my life. Even on my wedding day, I was intimidated by my bridesmaids' looks, even in a hideous-then-fashionable peach taffeta dress with "Seinfeld's" puffy sleeves. White was not a good color for me, and I didn't have the agency in 1984 to strike out and do something different.

Twenty years ago, when my father digitized 500 Ektachrome slides covering the sixties and early seventies, I saw that I was indeed a cute little kid. That was progress.

Now I'm 69, and I have the requisite facial wrinkles my peers shared, but like Nora Ephron said in a book, "I Feel Bad About My Neck." After hiding from the sun after my beach baby oil days as a teen, my wrinkles aren't horrible. But my neck resembles Mr. Gobbler as he struts during his reprieve at the White House every Thanksgiving.

But I've been blessed with white hair, like both my grandmothers and my mother. I quit coloring my hair when I retired from full-time work nine years ago, and I love my hair. I feel like I earned this color.

That picture made me think about how I look at myself

After a lifetime of struggling, my self-loathing has given way to an appreciation for a long, good life filled with love and many friends, rather than missing the Junior Prom.

When my high school friend visited, I saw the picture for the first time in many years. And I was floored.

Who is this young woman? She's very pretty. She isn't smiling, but she looks nice, even lovely, in the 1970s-style dress and hat.

How I wish I could shake away all the bad feelings she had about herself and tell her, and every other young woman who feels as I did, that life is more than how you look in high school, where the harshest judgments come from people who may look similar. Almost everyone has something like the "McVay nose" in their family, and not everyone can be a magazine cover. Real beauty comes from the inside; it took me decades and a vintage snapshot to appreciate this truth.

• Ken Ehrman created a GPS dog fence after his niece's dog was killed.
• He uses the product daily with his own dog, Reese's.
• He holds more than 40 patents, but says this one has been the most impactful.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ken Ehrman, co-founder and CEO of Halo Collar. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Back in 2017, my niece's dog, Ruby, escaped from their yard and was hit by a car. My niece was only 11, and this was her first experience with death. She had just rescued Ruby the year before, and the dog had become a huge part of the family. We were all hysterical.

I used the same sort of invisible dog fence that had failed Ruby, and I worried about my own dog, Reese's. One day, a lightbulb went off for me.

My brother and I had already built a company that used GPS tracking to monitor high-value assets for companies: items like forklifts for Walmart, and rental cars for Avis. I knew the capabilities of GPS, and I thought, what more high-value asset is there than the family dog?

The idea had been right there in front of me, but I didn't see it until tragedy struck.

My patent attorney asked me to invest right away

I immediately called my patent attorney. He did some research and shared that I was likely to get a patent on the device. He also told me he wanted to invest.

That stopped me in my tracks. My brother and I hold more than 40 patents. We'd worked with this attorney a lot, but he'd never asked about investing in one of our products.

When I pointed that out to him, he explained he also used an invisible fence for his dog. He could immediately see the benefit of replacing that with a GPS collar. He thought my idea was an incredible product with a huge opportunity.

I built a team with my brother and Cesar Millan

My second call was to my brother, Michael. I knew I wanted him on the team. I'm a pretty smart guy, but I pale in comparison to Michael. Our skills are like peanut butter and chocolate: when you put those together, it's a great combination.

I had moved on from the previous company I founded, but Michael was still working there. He was hesitant to leave the security of a salary. So, I turned my attention to the other person I knew I needed to get on board: Cesar Millan.

I knew from my previous experience that I needed a subject matter expert, and Cesar is the best dog trainer in the world. But he's a very hard man to get hold of. It seemed next to impossible, but through enough networking, I was finally able to reach his team and demonstrate the product. Once Cesar was on board, Michael was too.

I use the product all the time with my dog

We officially started the company in 2018, and spent about two years on research and development. I thought creating the product would be a cake walk, but it wasn't. It's challenging to design a GPS product that is indoors 90% of the time and can withstand rough-and-tumble use by dogs.

My dog, Reese's, was an integral part of the team. She was the tester for all our iterations. One major investor wanted to see the collar in action, on my dog, at his house. Reese's came through, and he invested.

My earlier inventions weren't products that I used. That's different with Halo, because I use it every day to protect Reese's. I'm intimately familiar with the user experience, and because of that, I spend a portion of each day engineering the product, in addition to my role as CEO.

We're on track to exceed projected revenue

Having the collar and the ability to set a "fence" anywhere has made it easier to travel with Reese's. We can now easily bring her on vacation to my mother's or my in-laws', which we couldn't do before.

Last year, Halo Collar did more than $99.7 million in sales. This year, we're on track to exceed our projected revenue. That's unusual for a tech company, and something I've never experienced as a CEO.

As an entrepreneur, my biggest goal has always been to solve a problem. Dogs are man's best friends, and we have a responsibility to keep them safe. It's way too common for pets to get lost or hit by cars. If I can help prevent other pet owners from experiencing the heartbreak my niece went through, I'll consider that a success.