Planes, Trains and Automobiles
I used to take Amtrak from NYC to Orlando, Florida once a year, work related. Last time was 2004.
Get the little sleeper car. It is worth it. Meals included in the Dining Car (which were very good).
Your own toilet and seating and in my case pull out beds. I always slept in the upper bunk to get a great view at night.
So relaxing and so much time to read a good book. There was also a little TV that played a movie.
The Porters treat you like gold, at least they did with me. So tip them well.
It is more expensive than flying but a really nice way to travel.
The seats are bigger and more comfortable than airlines, nice and roomy. We like to pack drinks and food to picnic and snack, so we have our favorites. We also like to bring tablets to surf the internet when the WiFi is working, and read e-books when its not.
Time goes by quickly, compared to other forms of travel. I find it relaxing, so you arrive feeling fresher than with air travel. Also, airplanes only pressurize the cabin to the equivalent of 6,000 to 8,000 feet altitude, so the thinner air saps your energy.
I’m jealous-——do it,and have a great time.
(You might take it up to Boston also) :-)
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1994 - I forget the train name - but I went from Harrisburg to Denver. Might have been the California Zephyr out of Chicago.
I don’t fly so I can’t really compare it to anything.
Long trip - but fun.
My most striking impression was approching the Rocky Mountains.
From the time you could frist see the mountains - until you actually got there was a really long time!
Great range of scenery. Entering Chicago was a bit sobering. You’ll see all of America that’s for sure.
Fellow passengers ranged quite a bit in character.
On the trip back I was packing a dufflebag of local craft beers from the I had amassed during my visit to Boulder.
I was anxious to impress my pals at home - but not one of those suckers made to Pennsylvania!
And I also concurr on the bar/lounge car - particularly if you happen to have some barstool skills.
Met some cool people - we had two tables of characters stay kind of late - playing guitars, carrying on a bit - total strangers.
That seemed like good way to pass the time - and make yourself a little tired.
The service was good and the seats are comfy. :D
Depends on which route you take but, by and large, comfortable traveling. I’ve enjoyed the trips I’ve taken, which have spanned the country. Try for one with an observation/bar car. Sipping a cold beer while the Rockies parade by is great!
Last August, Denver to SF over the Rocky Mountains. Beautiful countryside, we had a family bedroom for me wife and me and had a great time. The ride and room were comfortable, the beds slept great, the food was good and we were more or less on time. Then we took the train from SF to LA, again, great 11 hour ride through magnificent scenery of agriculture and ocean front rails. I highly recommend it but like others, only if you have the time and money.
My daughter, grand daughter, and me took one from Slidell,La., to Charlottesville, Va., in 2016. My grand daughter was about 10 months at the time so it was a wonderful way to travel with a little one. We got a cabin. The conductors were wonderful and the fellow travelers we met were nice. Met a really nice couple in which the guy was a navy vet so we had a nice conversation about the military, current events, politics, fishing etc. It was a 24 hour trip but it was nice. Not cheap though but taking into account the time, gas and stress of traveling with a little one by car it was well worth it. On time too.
The food was not the best and the menu was limited but it came with the roomette so no out of pocket there. Pack snacks and water and if you drink bring your own, alcohol is expensive. AC worked fine so you may want to pack a little blanket. My daughter likes her own pillow so she brought one also. View was nice of course.
Don't know if my experiences as a pre-teen back in the 1960s travelling from Oakland to Seattle and back will be of much use to you, but...
The Negro porters were very friendly.
The bathrooms were stinky (tobacco).
The food in the dining cars was adequate.
Regards,
It would have been nice if the windows had been a little cleaner and less scratched up, but the view was still quite beautiful.
This was only a few hour trip each way so no sleeper car or diner car required. They had a diner car but it was packed so I just went back to business class for more coffee and sweet rolls.
Grand Rapids to St Louis.
Pros:
Great adventure for my train-loving nephew.
Cost less with less hassle than flying.
Cons:
Waiting hours in Chicago for the train to St. Louis.
Waiting longer for the train to Grand Rapids on the way back.
The return trip wait was long enough to take Short Stuff to see Millenium Park.
Great way to travel if you don’t have to be at the destination at any particular time. Was on a trip that was supposed to take 6 hours and it took 13. Another trip I was stuck outside NYC for four hours with no explanation so that trip only took ten hours. Too many people were overserved on that trip too.
I’ve had good luck on Amtrak although I generally travel the Atlantic corridor. The cars are clean and well maintained and threats comfortable. If you are not going to get a compartment I suggest you go business class. Less crowded than coach.
My experiences were many years ago and I have no idea what conditions have changed.
Two or three times I took a particular train that went from New York City (departed 2:PM), through Philadelphia and then, overnight, on a “milk run” (many stops) through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and up to Chicago (arriving about 8:AM). I went on South from Chicago to Champaign, Illinois, after about a six hour layover changing trains in Chicago. If I remember right, my schedule back from Champaign through Chicago required me to stay over night in Chicago as I could not, by train, arrive early enough in on the same day Chicago to get the train back to New York.
Conditions were just O.K. The cars were old but clean. The seats were more comfortable than airplane seats, but I am not a good sleeper in any mode of transportation, and over the hours in little discomfort seems worse over time. I tried the sleeper compartment, once. It was so bad I spent the night in the club car. I’d call the dining room food, just O.K, but on the cheap side. Same for the food offerings in the club car.
I’ve also taken the AMTRAK round trip between Washington, D.C. and NYC. It’s O.K., but there are now much more comfortable and less expensive big tour bus companies with good direct NYC-Washington D.C. runs. My GOd daughter has taken them a number of times and likes them.
Keep in mind, your trip will be long, lazy hours through lots of countryside. It is not hard to get bored if you do not plan on things to keep busy with. I always took a lot of reading. In the club car I played card games with others who had brought cards with them.
As I said, most of my AMTRAK experiences are at least 20 years old, not current.
Plenty of youtube vids available of the seats/cars/sleeping cars on Amtrak. Check those out. Gotta say, after seeing some of those, I’ve lost all interest in trying Antrak. Now if someone ever gets a private passenger train service going, I’ll check it out. I refuse to fly anymore.
My Amtrak adventure was more than 30 years ago. Broke down in St. Louis for 4 hours (brakes). No heat in late December. Lousy food. Surly workers. Arrived 8 hours late. Never rode one again.
Taking the California Zephyr from Omaha to Chicago should be an interesting daylight trip. I have ridden Iowa-Chicago several times and always enjoyed it. The eastbound Zephyr can be delayed so check recent timeliness. There are two trains Chicago-DC, the Capitol Limited, and Cardinal. It is a much longer trip. I would only recommend it in a sleeper, not in coach, where sleep would be difficult. Check fares at:
http://www.biketrain.net/amsnag/amSnag.php