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Having taken Amtrak's rail from Coast to Coast, if you ever want a real vacation (albeit one in a semi-confined area), I highly encourage taking Amtrak to get w

Having taken Amtrak's rail from Coast to Coast, if you ever want a real vacation (albeit one in a semi-confined area), I highly encourage taking Amtrak to get where you are going. I met several retired couples who basically to get to New Orleans went to New York City, Chicago, California, Texas, and then New Orleans. There are kids on trains but unlike air travel and car travel these kids (and parents alike) understand that they are not trying to get anywhere in a hurry. The general vibe is one of just pondering life. Spending hours in an upper-deck observation car staring at the beautiful or even quite mundane passing landscape can really help you focus. The characters who come to the onboard bar are quite interesting. If you do decide to do long-haul Amtrak travel, sleeping in the seat is quite difficult - the door opening can wake you, the observation cars so beautiful during the day are absolutely frigid at night. The costs for a sleeper car though are quite expensive (more than air travel for equivalent destination). And yes, freight has priority over commuter on the tracks because freight owns the tracks - so delays in the hours to days are possible. For some people, it is a bucket list experience. I can honestly say after 5 days on a train - I was in no hurry to get back on (I flew back). I guarantee you will meet interesting people. Two of the most interesting people I met were these two beautiful Latina teenagers who sat for hours working on something hard to figure out. I finally approached them and learned that they were making Sudoku puzzles - by hand... The wi-fi is so spotty that I don't think you'd have much luck working remote from a train if you required ssh connections. http://www.trainweb.com/coaststarlight/ http://www.trainweb.com/coaststarlight/

waterlesscloud 12y ago
Seconded on the meeting interesting people front. I never fail to meet interesting people on long distance Amtrak travel. Friendlier people too. Far more often than on air travel of any sort. I think a lot of it is that air travel is just a packed can going from point A to point B as fast as possible. Amtrak is not for people in any kind of hurry, it's for people looking for some sort of interesting experience.
wglb 12y ago
I took the Empire Builder from Montana to Chicago when I was in college. It was a 28 or 34 hour ride, depending on which of the two trains you took. sleeping in the seat is quite difficult Yes, but i ended up learning to sleep anywhere, door opening or not. But as you say the view from the upper level in the senic car was worth it. I remember the journey through North Dakota next to route US 2. Those days, everyone had one of the mercury-vapor yard lights that would turn on automatically at dark, and you could see them for 10 miles or more. There would be hour-long stretches in which you would see non of these on either side. Since I got off the train at Shelby, I never went through Glacier Park on the train. Insofar as a bucket list item, put on there taking a convertible on the Going to the Sun highway. I got to check that one off when going to the Glacier/Waterton international Hamfest with a friend when I was in high school.
- wglb 12y ago
  Oh, and I didn't worry about wifi, as my travel was done before that was invented.
porsupah 12y ago
I'd have to concur. The "Coast Starlight" route from Oakland to Los Angeles takes you through some stunning scenery, once you're past the Bay Area's industrial zones, winding up very close to the Pacific as you approach Oxnard, where I spotted wild dolphins frolicking. True, it's not the fastest method - but it's a world more enriching than navigating SFO and LAX!
pcrh 12y ago
Years ago I took Amtrak from Chicago --> Seattle --> SF --> LA --> San Antonio --> Chicago. It was a great vacation, about 6 weeks long. Awesome scenery.
seanmcdirmid 12y ago
Better yet, take a train from Shanghai to Urumuqi. It is about a 3 day journey, but incredible. Spring for a hard sleeper at least, though. These are quite economical in China, though still about the same price as flying. I also took Grey Hound as a kid from the southeast (mississippi) to Seattle...twice. The southern route through Texas, the desert, and up through California, is amazing. So the travelers on the bus are a bit lower class (many were just put on the bus after being released from prison), but they also have many cool stories to tell. Sleeping is a pain though, only do this when you are young. The northern route (through Chicago, then east finally through Montana, which never ends) is less interesting, but still an experience.
ams6110 12y ago
Yeah bucket list is what I would call any long-distance Amtrak travel. It might be worth doing once just to say you've done it, or to satisfy your curiosity. You'll likely never want to do it again unless you are retired and have zero time pressure to get to your destination. For the average traveler, using precious vacation days from work, it's not a good way to travel unless the travel itself is the point of your vacation. I traveled from Chicago to Las Vegas on Amtrak. Train was over a full day late arriving, costing me a hotel night that I never got to use, and requiring a replanning of activites once there. There was a certain romanticism to aspects of the trip, but as a practical matter I'll never do it again.
- ghaff 12y ago
  Yeah, I periodically think about taking the California Zephyr or the Empire Builder on the western half-ish of their routes if the stars ever align when I have the time on a route that I would otherwise be flying. And I may someday. But I also strongly suspect that the idea is more romantic than the reality--especially given that I'm far more into hiking and otherwise doing physical activities than sitting and looking at scenery.

waterlesscloud 12y ago

Seconded on the meeting interesting people front. I never fail to meet interesting people on long distance Amtrak travel. Friendlier people too. Far more often than on air travel of any sort. I think a lot of it is that air travel is just a packed can going from point A to point B as fast as possible. Amtrak is not for people in any kind of hurry, it's for people looking for some sort of interesting experience.

wglb 12y ago

I took the Empire Builder from Montana to Chicago when I was in college. It was a 28 or 34 hour ride, depending on which of the two trains you took. sleeping in the seat is quite difficult Yes, but i ended up learning to sleep anywhere, door opening or not. But as you say the view from the upper level in the senic car was worth it. I remember the journey through North Dakota next to route US 2. Those days, everyone had one of the mercury-vapor yard lights that would turn on automatically at dark, and you could see them for 10 miles or more. There would be hour-long stretches in which you would see non of these on either side. Since I got off the train at Shelby, I never went through Glacier Park on the train. Insofar as a bucket list item, put on there taking a convertible on the Going to the Sun highway. I got to check that one off when going to the Glacier/Waterton international Hamfest with a friend when I was in high school.

wglb 12y ago
Oh, and I didn't worry about wifi, as my travel was done before that was invented.

porsupah 12y ago

I'd have to concur. The "Coast Starlight" route from Oakland to Los Angeles takes you through some stunning scenery, once you're past the Bay Area's industrial zones, winding up very close to the Pacific as you approach Oxnard, where I spotted wild dolphins frolicking. True, it's not the fastest method - but it's a world more enriching than navigating SFO and LAX!

pcrh 12y ago

Years ago I took Amtrak from Chicago --> Seattle --> SF --> LA --> San Antonio --> Chicago. It was a great vacation, about 6 weeks long. Awesome scenery.

seanmcdirmid 12y ago

Better yet, take a train from Shanghai to Urumuqi. It is about a 3 day journey, but incredible. Spring for a hard sleeper at least, though. These are quite economical in China, though still about the same price as flying. I also took Grey Hound as a kid from the southeast (mississippi) to Seattle...twice. The southern route through Texas, the desert, and up through California, is amazing. So the travelers on the bus are a bit lower class (many were just put on the bus after being released from prison), but they also have many cool stories to tell. Sleeping is a pain though, only do this when you are young. The northern route (through Chicago, then east finally through Montana, which never ends) is less interesting, but still an experience.

ams6110 12y ago

Yeah bucket list is what I would call any long-distance Amtrak travel. It might be worth doing once just to say you've done it, or to satisfy your curiosity. You'll likely never want to do it again unless you are retired and have zero time pressure to get to your destination. For the average traveler, using precious vacation days from work, it's not a good way to travel unless the travel itself is the point of your vacation. I traveled from Chicago to Las Vegas on Amtrak. Train was over a full day late arriving, costing me a hotel night that I never got to use, and requiring a replanning of activites once there. There was a certain romanticism to aspects of the trip, but as a practical matter I'll never do it again.

ghaff 12y ago
Yeah, I periodically think about taking the California Zephyr or the Empire Builder on the western half-ish of their routes if the stars ever align when I have the time on a route that I would otherwise be flying. And I may someday. But I also strongly suspect that the idea is more romantic than the reality--especially given that I'm far more into hiking and otherwise doing physical activities than sitting and looking at scenery.