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Especially when passing through Washington state national park. At that moment all of us agreed that the trip was worth it.
Note that the author took a sleeper car. In terms of price, this is a bit of a luxury. As someone who has taken the Lateshore Limited service all the way from Chicago to Boston in just a regular seat, I would strongly advise you NOT to do that. It is just miserable.
I have done the sleeper car from Chicago to Los Angeles with my parents. Lucky we had one with a private bathroom, as my dad has stomach flu most of the ride. I think the possibility of a shower, and maybe even a private bathroom are the only reasons I'd shell out more money for a sleeper over coach.
In May, myself, my wife, our two kids (8, 6), are amtraking from Chicago to San Francisco in a family sleeper. I'm excited. We've enjoyed our (much shorter) amtrak trips from Ashland, VA to DC.
My wife and I did this several years back, New York to Chicago to San Francisco, and it really was a wonderful experience. But get a sleeper compartment, don't sit with the cattle. It's worth it, really. And that's even though we spent little time in our compartment almost the whole trip we were up in the observation car watching the American landscape roll by. One highlight of the trip was when storms over Helper, U…
How much does it cost?
If Amtrak would add reliable paid WiFi and upgrade their cars, train would be exceedingly worth it. The next step would be to repair the tracks, which are shared by freight and passenger, which makes the ride worse.
For anyone interested in more train-travel stories I've written (partially) about my trip across Russia, starting with: https://www.gregkogan.com/journal/russia-trans-siberian-rail... Still have half the trip left to write about, which I'll do bit by bit.
Thank you for writing it.
> Amtrak food is on a par with the fourth-best airplane meal you could ever imagine. Well that's charitable...
> Amtrak food is on a par with the fourth-best airplane meal you could ever imagine. What does this even mean? Do you only get a minor case of food poisoning if you eat it?
Note that the author took a sleeper car. In terms of price, this is a bit of a luxury. As someone who has taken the Lateshore Limited service all the way from Chicago to Boston in just a regular seat, I would strongly advise you NOT to do that. It is just miserable.
Yeah that's a big difference. The regular seats are a much different story. I've never done it but I read about how it's basically 3 days of sitting shoulder to shoulder with someone and there's no showers. Can't imagine what that would be like in a car filled with 50+ people. I did take the Amtrak from CT To Boston once and it wasn't too bad, but that was a few hour trip. Much different than a few days.
I think there are two kinds of people in the world. One kind needs a sleeper for the trip to be enjoyable, the other couldn't care less. I used to be the second kind, but I don't think I am anymore.
This article shows how culturally different Sweden and U.S. are. In Sweden it has become taboo to use the plane for any travel destination where you can go by train, to the level where we see the complete opposite headlines here ("There is no reason to fly when you can take the train"). You need to have a very good reason to fly at all or the pitchforks will get you. I've personally completely stopped flying.
No it hasn't. This might be true in your direct social circle, but I know enough people who shuffle between Sthlm and GBG a few times a week on the plane to prove otherwise.
The most difficult part about rail travel seems to be booking it. I've looked multiple times at using Amtrak for both travel and for rail tourism, and I've never been able to fully understand what to book and how to book it. Maybe I'm being dense about it but it always feels unnecessarily complicated and confusing.