Anyone taken an Amtrak vacation?
 

My husband is dead set on taking an Amtrak trip. I think he just wants to experience the high speed train. Any of the local trips from around here are coach and we would have to go some distance to get a sleeper car. And after looking at the prices! I just can't see paying up to $1,000.00 so the 2 of us can take a 17 hour drive and get 3 meals and sleep in a 6 x 7 room! And then when we get there we have to rent a car and get a hotel! If we did this I would at least want to make sure we had a scenic trip. So I looked at Chicago to Denver. It would be about $2,000 and we would be sleeping most of the time we were going through the mountains.

So I looked into cheaper train trips. There is a 3 hour train trip in Bardstown Ky, $75 a piece. You get a gourmet 4 course meal and have a ride through the mountains in Ky. Not quite the mountains out west but what the heck. The cost is a lot better.

Retirement for him is going to be hard. He wants to travel but that's so expensive and he isn't the easiest person to drive with and I'm not the easiest person to have at the destination point.

Good Evening Doydie:
I have a ton of experience taking Amtrak so I thought I would chime in on things:) There are a lot of good and bad things about Amtrak so I'll start of with the good things. It really is a wonderful time just to get away, enjoy the scenery with no cell phones, computers, TV and all that stuff. It's sort of a great way to get your head together so to speak and do a lot of thinking. I've met some wonderful and very interesting people during my train travel. I was surprised at how many doctors take Amtrak. They seat you for your meals with strangers so conversation is always awkward at first but before you know it, you're finding some of the same hopes and dreams. I've experienced nothing but very nice Amtrak employees(while on the train) from the cabinet steward to the wait staff. I really enjoyed watching the terrain change as we moved from state to state. There are some really neat train stations t/o the country with a ton of history behind them dating all the way back to the civil war. I love history so that was great to see. I especially loved the Denver and D.C. train stations. The food is equivalent to airline food but the coffee is great. I really just love the meal conversation more than anything.-meeting new people... If you have a sleeper car, your meals are included and they can bring them to your room if you want or are unable to get to the diner car. In the morning they bring you the paper as well.

Okay now here's the bad. Amtrak is notorious for being hours late so be prepared for long delays, sometimes for many hours. The ride is usually very rough, especially in the lower cabins. You can hear and feel every bump. I'm a rather ah-hum... heavy person and sometimes it gets so rough it almost knocked me out of bed. I would never recommend trying to sleep upright in a coach seat as it can be very uncomfortable for long hauls. This is difficult though because the cost of a sleeper is so expensive. If your handicapped, you can get a very decent handicapped rate for a large sleeper room but you have to call reservations for this. I think it's 15%. I was just fine in their smaller room-ette which sleeps two. One on bottom and the other on a drop down bed from the ceiling which is very close to the ceiling and somewhat claustrophobic. I would not recommend two adults for these room-ettes though and you have to share a bathroom with the rest of the train which really can be very gross. The larger sleepers have bathrooms. I would take some type of cleaner with you and give the bathroom a good wipe down before use. If you have to use the shared bathrooms and showers well.... they can be rather gross and very small. The older trains have larger bathrooms.

Ok I did say you do meet interesting people. Well, this is true to the negative too. You have to be fairly wiley with Amtrak passengers as I've met everything drug dealers, pimps, felons and more. They do due routine security and drug sweeps in certain parts of the country. On my last trip from D.C. to NY I met a man that was actually very nice, reminded me a lot of Jack Black, anyway, I prayed that he wouldn't sit next to me but that didn't work. He plopped down, pulled out a large can of beer from his backpack and starting drinking, this went on and one for about 5 beers and at every stop he went out for a smoke. I have a few good stories about my encounters but hey it makes for some fun conversation and is always a learning experience. Speaking of stops, Amtrak makes so many stops that it gets real annoying after awhile, especially if you 've been on the train for hours already and especially coming in out out of major hubs like Chicago, NY, DC and LA. If they would just cut out half their stops they would get there faster.

I'm not sure I will ever be able to take Amtrak again because of my physical condition and it is very difficult to get around the train walking as the ride is very rough as I've stated, especially trying to maneuver going from one train to the next, for meals and such.

This last trip was the first time I've used Amtrak as a disabled person and I have to say that it isn't quite there. They do help as best as they can while you're on the train, but getting to your train from the station is difficult but the really do try. For the most part, they were very courteous in attempting to help but some of the Amtrak employees refuse to help you with your language even with a visual handicap.

Well, I can't think of anything else now. I'm glad I had the experience and I would do it again because I know what to expect and not expect. I've had some lovely quiet times with my daughter while traveling on Amtrak and I wouldn't trade those memories for anything.

If you have balance problems such a vertigo or prone to sea sickness be very cautious when riding trains. Maybe like you said, talk a small, less expensive train trip first and see how you like it before spending more money on a long excursion. A lot of the people I talked on the train take things like Dramamine(SP?).

If Amtrak had a better on-time schedule, less stops and smoother rides, it would be much more enjoyable. FYI- I've traveled their high speeds from DC to Boston and they aren't very high speed(compared to euro-trains) and are still very rough.

Good luck with your decision and I hope you have a great time either way.


Gail:)

Hey Doydie.....did you see AMN's thread about the Amtrack Mooners? Think your DH knows something about this?? :p :D

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread49590.html

Hey, Doyd, AllenTGamer just did a great review of his recent Amtrak trip with pics and everything. Check it out here:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread49276.html

I've taken several train trips for entertainment, not so much for the travel itself. I love the murder mystery ones, and the dinner trains that run through major cities because you get to see "the rest" of the city, the back sides— the graffiti is excellent art!

I think you have the right idea, start more locally and see if you actually like travel by train. I tend to prefer driving over flying, train, or cruises because when I see something I want to look at, I can just go on my own schedule. The other modes force me to watch things as I pass them and wish I could stop to look, it's kind of frustrating.

Definitely take at least one or two shorter trips, everyone should go by train at least once! :)

We went back went we only had 2 kids (1998), we got a sleeper car and went from Orlando to Washing DC, we did the auto train so we had our car with us when we got to DC, we drove on to NY and did the train back to Orlando. It was really fun.

Hi Doydie,

I went to Chicago a few years ago, and took Amtrak from there, through Indiana, to Kalamazoo, Michigan. I don't remember how long the trip took (maybe somewhere about 5 hrs :confused:), but I loved it. The cost was only something like $80 round trip too, which is probably cheaper then gas (especially now-a-days).

I don't know that I would enjoy a trip where I stayed on there for days on end, but I think it's a great way to get around. The scenery is great. I won't forget that never-ending (goes on for 5 miles, I'm sure) set of old buildings just over the Illinois border, in Indiana. The business was Matel (or something like that), and I couldn't wait to research it when I got to a computer. Amazing & creepy!

The major difficulty I had was when I arrived at my destination, especially if I needed to transfer to the metro trains. That happened in Chicago, where I had to walk about 4 blocks to get to the suburb train, with way too much luggage. Then, when I got off that train, I had to get to my destination still . . . and there were no phones to be found (to call a cab). I eventually found a sleezy bar that let me use their phone. :)

I loved the trip though, in small doses. I took a book, and when I wasn't reading, I was people-watching. I didn't like having to drag my bags everywhere (i.e. coffee lounge) as I wasn't about to leave them unattended. Overall, it was a great and relaxing experience, and I'd do it again.

Cherie

I have tried to convince DH to just go from Indy to Chicago to see what it would be like. It's just coach, not even a dining or snack car but I think it would be nice. Right now he is saying no. I think it's to expensive though to use as a way to go from Indiana to, say, Denver. You would have to rent a car and have motel expenses once you get there. I would rather just drive.

Hi doydie....you could drive to South Bend and catch the electric train to Chicago...It's the South Shore and takes about 2 hrs. 20 mins. No food but great way to see the country side. Seniors ride round trip for 11.00...we always take this in to the windy city..rather than drive and pay to park. And from the train station in Chicago you can catch a train to lots of places.

We love to ride the trains..most beautiful trip was in the fall on the Canadian train..all across their beautiful country..starting in Toronto and ending in Vancouver. It left and arrived on time, unlike our trains which always leave and arrive late.