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43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

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Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

#131

Post by pwg »

wincy wrote: post #128
munificent wrote: post #35

This past summer, I took the Coast Starlight from Seattle to Monterey with my wife and kids. I loved it. It's hard to convey how different it is from flying. Whenever I fly somewhere, especially these days when flying is such a miserable cramped experience, I always feel like my vacation starts after I endure the entire airport + plane experience. The whole travel part is in the same "chore" bucket as packing, findin…

So, do normal people not feel like they’re going to throw up literally the entire train ride? I had a hard time taking a half hour train ride, much less a long one, but I also have a hard time being in the back seat of someone else’s car. I feel like they must not because it’s very seldom talked about. But googling it says 1 in 3 people experience motion sickness. Maybe mine is just really severe? Without Dramamine o…

> So, do normal people not feel like they’re going to throw up literally the entire train ride?

No, no issues with the motion at all. And absolutely none of that onboard a cruise ship for me either.

> But googling it says 1 in 3 people experience motion sickness. Maybe mine is just really severe?

That sounds to be the case. Perhaps discuss with your MD?

Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

#132

Post by laurencerowe »

wincy wrote: post #128
munificent wrote: post #35

This past summer, I took the Coast Starlight from Seattle to Monterey with my wife and kids. I loved it. It's hard to convey how different it is from flying. Whenever I fly somewhere, especially these days when flying is such a miserable cramped experience, I always feel like my vacation starts after I endure the entire airport + plane experience. The whole travel part is in the same "chore" bucket as packing, findin…

So, do normal people not feel like they’re going to throw up literally the entire train ride? I had a hard time taking a half hour train ride, much less a long one, but I also have a hard time being in the back seat of someone else’s car. I feel like they must not because it’s very seldom talked about. But googling it says 1 in 3 people experience motion sickness. Maybe mine is just really severe? Without Dramamine o…

I’m unable to read on a bus or car due to motion sickness but never have that problem on trains.

Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

#133

Post by Ephil012 »

kylehotchkiss wrote: post #2

"enjoying comforts like ... the airport lounges." Hah! The credit card rewards ruined these. Now they're all crowded and it's just as hard to find a seat as it is outside the lounge. Plus the food in them isn't that great anymore. The best benefit is usually a better view out the window. Real frequent fliers just get PreCheck+Clear and arrive at the airport closer to departure time. I did this same train journey myse…

Amtrak might have recycled air in the past, but apparently they now intake fresh air with an exchange rate of 4-5 minutes.

Source: https://www.amtrak.com/coronavirus

Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

#134

Post by adgjlsfhk1 »

bobthepanda wrote: post #86
adgjlsfhk1 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The TLDR is that most of the US is single tracked and the freight trains are bigger than the passenger train has to wait even if it has priority because the freight train is too big to wait.

Also, because Wall Street is so obsessed with making the balance sheets as efficient as possible, they have pretty much no interest in capital improvements like longer sidings or additional tracks.

It's worse than that. They have a specific interest in not having longer sidings. The companies that own the tracks own the freight trains, so longer sidings would be worse since then their trains would have to yield.

Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

#135

Post by morpheuskafka »

komali2 wrote: post #97

I love that the author mentioned onebagging as well. It's one of those things that you witness once on a group trip and from them on can't help but think "wait, that's obviously the superior way to travel, what do I need well this luggage for?" I've been thinking about it cause I'm wondering what else in my life I'm doing in an inferior manner simply out of not thinking about it / following a bad pattern / tradition…

On the counterpoint, it probably bears mentioning that the massive free baggage allowance (two carry on and two free checked, two more paid) is one of the distinct advantages of Amtrak vs flying. You could practically move house with four checked bags.

Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

#136

Post by jdwithit »

throwaway892238 wrote: post #102

The Zephyr from Denver to SF is the best Amtrak trip any time of year, but summer provides the most daylight. Coast Starlight is a strong second. The rest are meh. I also wouldn't take a sleeper; if there's an observation car, I'm in there whenever there's light out. Once it's dark, I'm either looking at my laptop or sleeping, and the economy seats are big enough to snooze in if you bring some blankets/jackets to bal…

The article and some of the posts here make it sound like the observation cars are closed to anyone except sleeper/first class. Would be curious to know if that is true. Cause yeah booking coach and then hanging out in the observation car all day sounds like the best play unless you're really looking to splurge on a special experience.

Also driving and rail aren't really comparable. To each their own, but driving is very stressful to me, even along desolate stretches of Nebraska or Wyoming or whatever where there's no traffic. It's easy to get drowsy on a long haul. And it only takes one moron or sudden severe weather event to ruin your day/life. But, you're right, you do get the tradeoff of complete freedom. It's just a different thing. One is a chance to fully relax and unplug and just be carried along, one is an opportunity to explore.

Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

#138

Post by anderber »

CraigRo wrote: post #112

Tons of foamers in the HN community. I'm sure that it is a lovely experience, and seeing America is incredibly powerful. But the truth is that you are in an extremely heavy, expensive, and slow vehicle that requires over 1000 man-hours to carry fewer than 300 seats the whole length of the ride. That doesn't account for the capital costs of the vehicle or maintenance on the route, or overhead for the stations. Looseni…

Unfortunately, private companies own most of the rails so unless they decide to upgrade them, that's as fast as we can go. A lot of other countries with successful rail infrastructure has the government own them.

Taking a train vs plane can cut your CO2 emission quite a bit: https://www.seat61.com/CO2flights.htm

What are the regulations on staff? I'm not aware of what Amtrak is required, currently. I'd imagine that's their biggest cost, not weight. Although, I do like the idea of having a more compact/denser sleeping cars. The Roomettes are really small, but they come with attendants, etc.

Amtrak is currently upgrading some of their long distance cars: https://www.travelandleisure.com/amtrak-upgrades-overnight-t...

Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

#139

Post by jdwithit »

komali2 wrote: post #94
lennartkoopmann wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I mean... which one? ;) I'm from Houston. I'll take any public transport. ;)

Houstonian here as well. Guess the one tram is down again due to pick-up truck laying sideways on the tracks?

This is so Texan it hurts.
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