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Agreed re: Zephyr. I took it from SAC to CHI last month, even riding coach it was a pretty good two days I spent mostly fasted, drinking black coffee while pro

Agreed re: Zephyr. I took it from SAC to CHI last month, even riding coach it was a pretty good two days I spent mostly fasted, drinking black coffee while programming in the observation car. It's the perfect duration for a short fast and that eliminates a bunch of the bathroom and food needs, just caffeinated coding with great views. And in the end I've gone from CA to IL for ~$150 with a mountain bike checked to boot. Something worth noting is the dining car still wasn't available to coach travelers on my trip, only sleeper cars could access it. Vestiges of the pandemic according to the announcements. It felt a bit like skimpflation to me, but they still had the little snack bar below the observation deck available to all.

kediz 4y ago
That is amazing! Hope the view didn't distract your ability to focus since it is so gorgeous. Does the train have WiFi? Or you are just coding offline?
- mcv 4y ago
  I don't know about US trains, but many European trains offer free Wifi. I hope the ones in the US do too.
  - db48x 4y ago
    It’s not important whether the train has a WiFi router or not. What is important is what the WiFi router connects to. I don’t know what is common on European trains, but in the US they connect to whatever cell–phone network is closest. That is ok in urban areas, but in the US there are wide stretches of countryside where nobody lives. Somehow the phone companies never end up building cell towers in the middle of the deserts or on top of the Rockies. The train could easily be 50 or a 100 miles away from the nearest cell–phone network at any given time. https://www.google.com/search?q=amtrak+rockies&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=amtrak+rockies&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=amtrak+sierra+nevada https://www.google.com/search?q=amtrak+sierra+nevada https://www.google.com/search?q=amtrak+desert&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=amtrak+desert&tbm=isch
- dionidium 4y ago
  The train does have free WiFi, but my experience with it is pretty bad. You're also often remote enough that you can't use a cellular hotspot, so I wouldn't ever travel on Amtrak assuming you'll have a reliable Internet connection the whole time.
  - db48x 4y ago
    The train’s wifi is just hooked up to the same cell networks anyway. Maybe soon they will have Starlink instead.
    - kibwen 4y ago
      Starlink appears to require the dish to be stationary.
      - coder543 4y ago
        It doesn't.[0] Nothing about Starlink inherently requires the dish to be stationary. Starlink is being integrated into several airlines[1][2] over the next year, and I'm certain other airlines are exploring Starlink as an option... the existing in-flight internet options are terrible, so Starlink could make a real difference there, especially over the oceans. Proper support for moving vehicles probably benefits significantly from a dish designed for that, but airlines, trains, cruise ships, yachts... there are many markets where such a dish would be valuable, so Starlink would be pretty dumb not to be designing one that works well for that. Hawaiian Airlines certainly isn't planning to just bolt the existing dish to the outside of the plane and hope for the best. [0]: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1529089543969943553 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1529089543969943553 [1]: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/25/spacex-signs-hawaiian-airlines-for-free-starlink-wi-fi-on-flights.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/25/spacex-signs-hawaiian-airlin... [2]: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/21/spacex-first-starlink-inflight-wi-fi-deal-with-charter-airline-jsx.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/21/spacex-first-starlink-inflig...
      - db48x 4y ago
        Current subscribers are only authorized to use their dish in one specific area. However, this has more to do with capacity planning than anything else. Starlink recently announced a slightly more expensive plan that allows the user to roam from area to area without contacting customer support to reauthorize them for each new location. And as someone else pointed out already, the are definitely working on providing service to customers on boats and planes and other moving vehicles. I doubt they will ever make a dish designed to be mounted on the roof of a car, but larger multi–passenger vehicles are an obvious move. Incidentally, Starlink dishes showed up on the landing barges used by SpaceX some time ago; they use them to stream live video of the landings now.
- pengaru 4y ago
  Mostly coding offline, but I did have a cellular hotspot that managed 4G LTE for most of the trip. I didn't investigate the train's WiFi since my needs were covered. There was one state I didn't seem to have any cell service at all, Wyoming maybe? It seemed very similar to driving cross-country via i80 in terms of cellular coverage, with a few additional dead-zones where only the train goes. But in those spots the scenery is so beautiful you won't miss the cell network.
smcl 4y ago
That's a pretty incredible price, was it a special offer?
- pengaru 4y ago
  Not a special offer, just booked a month in advance before the train filled up.
  - secabeen 4y ago
    That is the lowest bucket for the Zephyr, a fare of 220 or 270 would be more common: https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/long-distance-train-coach-sleeper-fares-buckets.77062/post-956782 https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/long-distance-train-coa...
    - pengaru 4y ago
      It required very little effort to get the ~130 coach rate though, the biggest price knob seemed to be booking far enough in advance. What was far more challenging was getting a "trainside checked bike" ticket. The Amtrak web site just kept saying sold out for the +bike option no matter what I tried. But I had no trouble getting the same rate +bike when I went to the SAC station IRL and spoke to a ticketing agent. Apparently my problem was ending the trip at NPV instead of CHI, because NPV can't handle checked bikes. The web site is awful WRT +bike tickets. Maybe this will prove helpful for anyone reading wanting to go ride some distant trails via Amtrak.
      - secabeen 4y ago
        Yeah, if you're flexible on time, far enough out, and willing to ride coach, it's definitely doable. Summer is also peak season (more sunlight); avoiding June-August helps too. Amtrak's system is terrible when something you want is not available, it usually reports "Sold Out" or "No Train Service" when the actual issue is that there is no train that day, or no facility for checked luggage, as you describe.
db48x 4y ago
It’s definitely skimpflation (great word, btw). They eliminated traditional dining service entirely on several other routes. Instead of sitting at a table with other passengers having a nice conversation while waiters take orders and serve meals, everyone now gathers quietly in the dining car waiting for a single waiter to prepare tv–dinners and shout out room numbers.
- CaliforniaKarl 4y ago
  Per https://www.amtrak.com/onboard/meals-dining/dining-car.html https://www.amtrak.com/onboard/meals-dining/dining-car.html, it looks like traditional dining is available west of Chicago/San Antonio.
  - db48x 4y ago
    Yep. I was super disappointed the last time I went cross–country. The service was so bad that I haven’t bothered since then.
kibwen 4y ago
Note that while the Zephyr between CA and Denver is a breathtaking journey, the span from Denver to Chicago is nothing but an infinite plane of corn punctuated by a crossing of the Mississippi. If you're just in it for sightseeing, you can skip half the trip.
- splonk 4y ago
  For some of us taking a train across the Mississippi was part of the point of the journey, but yes, the scenery is considerably better from SF/Emeryville to Denver.

kediz 4y ago

That is amazing! Hope the view didn't distract your ability to focus since it is so gorgeous. Does the train have WiFi? Or you are just coding offline?

mcv 4y ago
I don't know about US trains, but many European trains offer free Wifi. I hope the ones in the US do too.
- db48x 4y ago
  It’s not important whether the train has a WiFi router or not. What is important is what the WiFi router connects to. I don’t know what is common on European trains, but in the US they connect to whatever cell–phone network is closest. That is ok in urban areas, but in the US there are wide stretches of countryside where nobody lives. Somehow the phone companies never end up building cell towers in the middle of the deserts or on top of the Rockies. The train could easily be 50 or a 100 miles away from the nearest cell–phone network at any given time. https://www.google.com/search?q=amtrak+rockies&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=amtrak+rockies&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=amtrak+sierra+nevada https://www.google.com/search?q=amtrak+sierra+nevada https://www.google.com/search?q=amtrak+desert&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=amtrak+desert&tbm=isch
dionidium 4y ago
The train does have free WiFi, but my experience with it is pretty bad. You're also often remote enough that you can't use a cellular hotspot, so I wouldn't ever travel on Amtrak assuming you'll have a reliable Internet connection the whole time.
- db48x 4y ago
  The train’s wifi is just hooked up to the same cell networks anyway. Maybe soon they will have Starlink instead.
  - kibwen 4y ago
    Starlink appears to require the dish to be stationary.
    - coder543 4y ago
      It doesn't.[0] Nothing about Starlink inherently requires the dish to be stationary. Starlink is being integrated into several airlines[1][2] over the next year, and I'm certain other airlines are exploring Starlink as an option... the existing in-flight internet options are terrible, so Starlink could make a real difference there, especially over the oceans. Proper support for moving vehicles probably benefits significantly from a dish designed for that, but airlines, trains, cruise ships, yachts... there are many markets where such a dish would be valuable, so Starlink would be pretty dumb not to be designing one that works well for that. Hawaiian Airlines certainly isn't planning to just bolt the existing dish to the outside of the plane and hope for the best. [0]: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1529089543969943553 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1529089543969943553 [1]: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/25/spacex-signs-hawaiian-airlines-for-free-starlink-wi-fi-on-flights.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/25/spacex-signs-hawaiian-airlin... [2]: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/21/spacex-first-starlink-inflight-wi-fi-deal-with-charter-airline-jsx.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/21/spacex-first-starlink-inflig...
    - db48x 4y ago
      Current subscribers are only authorized to use their dish in one specific area. However, this has more to do with capacity planning than anything else. Starlink recently announced a slightly more expensive plan that allows the user to roam from area to area without contacting customer support to reauthorize them for each new location. And as someone else pointed out already, the are definitely working on providing service to customers on boats and planes and other moving vehicles. I doubt they will ever make a dish designed to be mounted on the roof of a car, but larger multi–passenger vehicles are an obvious move. Incidentally, Starlink dishes showed up on the landing barges used by SpaceX some time ago; they use them to stream live video of the landings now.
pengaru 4y ago
Mostly coding offline, but I did have a cellular hotspot that managed 4G LTE for most of the trip. I didn't investigate the train's WiFi since my needs were covered. There was one state I didn't seem to have any cell service at all, Wyoming maybe? It seemed very similar to driving cross-country via i80 in terms of cellular coverage, with a few additional dead-zones where only the train goes. But in those spots the scenery is so beautiful you won't miss the cell network.

smcl 4y ago

That's a pretty incredible price, was it a special offer?

pengaru 4y ago
Not a special offer, just booked a month in advance before the train filled up.
- secabeen 4y ago
  That is the lowest bucket for the Zephyr, a fare of 220 or 270 would be more common: https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/long-distance-train-coach-sleeper-fares-buckets.77062/post-956782 https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/long-distance-train-coa...
  - pengaru 4y ago
    It required very little effort to get the ~130 coach rate though, the biggest price knob seemed to be booking far enough in advance. What was far more challenging was getting a "trainside checked bike" ticket. The Amtrak web site just kept saying sold out for the +bike option no matter what I tried. But I had no trouble getting the same rate +bike when I went to the SAC station IRL and spoke to a ticketing agent. Apparently my problem was ending the trip at NPV instead of CHI, because NPV can't handle checked bikes. The web site is awful WRT +bike tickets. Maybe this will prove helpful for anyone reading wanting to go ride some distant trails via Amtrak.
    - secabeen 4y ago
      Yeah, if you're flexible on time, far enough out, and willing to ride coach, it's definitely doable. Summer is also peak season (more sunlight); avoiding June-August helps too. Amtrak's system is terrible when something you want is not available, it usually reports "Sold Out" or "No Train Service" when the actual issue is that there is no train that day, or no facility for checked luggage, as you describe.

db48x 4y ago

It’s definitely skimpflation (great word, btw). They eliminated traditional dining service entirely on several other routes. Instead of sitting at a table with other passengers having a nice conversation while waiters take orders and serve meals, everyone now gathers quietly in the dining car waiting for a single waiter to prepare tv–dinners and shout out room numbers.

CaliforniaKarl 4y ago
Per https://www.amtrak.com/onboard/meals-dining/dining-car.html https://www.amtrak.com/onboard/meals-dining/dining-car.html, it looks like traditional dining is available west of Chicago/San Antonio.
- db48x 4y ago
  Yep. I was super disappointed the last time I went cross–country. The service was so bad that I haven’t bothered since then.

kibwen 4y ago

Note that while the Zephyr between CA and Denver is a breathtaking journey, the span from Denver to Chicago is nothing but an infinite plane of corn punctuated by a crossing of the Mississippi. If you're just in it for sightseeing, you can skip half the trip.

splonk 4y ago
For some of us taking a train across the Mississippi was part of the point of the journey, but yes, the scenery is considerably better from SF/Emeryville to Denver.