Seriously thoughtful Amtrak vs. the Airlines

[phenomshel]

My daughter and granddaughter are coming up here from Texas soon, and then my son later on in the summer. What with airports being general madhouses, the hassles with TSA policies, not to mention skyrocketing airfares and stupid high baggage fees, we're looking for travel alternatives. So far the best alternative I've found is Amtrak. Yeah, it's an insanely long trip, but do the convenience factors (less station hassles, more checked baggage allowed, better food options) , and less expense outweigh the time/boredom factor? To give you an idea on expenses: Airfare for Melora and the baby (if we don't buy a seat for the baby's carseat), would be 383.00 minimum. Amtrak came in at 257.00 (but that doesn't include meals).

Any opinions or stories about riding Amtrak for long distances?

[kindlekitten]

I've only ridden it Portland to Seattle and Baltimore to DC, but it left me wishing I could travel it all of the time. GREAT! leg room! GREAT! aisle room! the dining car has actual CHOICES! which while a little more expensive than normal food, is certainly nothing like the price of airline food. you can actually see and hear the movies that are on. I have to go back to New Mexico this summer and I am seriously considering doing the AMTRAK thing. the biggest issue for me is they do not take animals, but I wouldn't be taking the dog on the airplane with me anyway since I have taken us off the callout roster

[AnemicOak]

I remember our family going from St. Paul to Seattle (the Empire Builder) when I was younger and we all loved it. Nice scenery and being able to move around was nice, IIRC the food was somewhat expensive, but not too out of line.

[GA Russell]

I love the train!

In 1961 when I was ten I travelled from Seattle to Boston and back on the train - going east with my dad's aunt, and going west by myself!

I travel by car nowadays, but if I had the choice between the train and the plane, I would take the train every time.

[astra]

I googled Amtrak. Apparently it is a train.
If I were not time restricted, I would choose the train. I love travelling by train. It is a pleasure.

[hedgehog1]

We have taken Amtrak from Jacksonville Florida to New York for the past 3 Thanksgivings. It is an 18 hour trip (~5:45pm - 11:45am). We love it!

Our kids were 5 and 7 the first time we went. There wasn't much boredom -- but we found out that it is impossible to get dinner reservations when we get on the train so late. Now, we bring our dinner in a cooler, eat dinner at ~6:30pm, read, then sleep. (We sleep in our seats -- they are quite roomy).

At 6:20am we wake up and head to the Dining car for our traditional French Toast breakfast - finishing up as we pull into Washington DC. We read some more, play games and watch the scenery for the next 3.5 hours, and then we are in NY Penn Station. We quickly run up the stairs and back down to catch the Long Island Railroad.

Again, we LOVE it. Not security lines, plenty of room to move around, no fighting the airport traffic, no baggage claim wait, not charge for our suitcases, and we SAVE money.

From our city to NY at Thanksgiving is over $2000 for the 4 of us. Amtrak for all 4 is $620 - $850 with a AAA discount, depending on when we purchase our tickets.

FYI -- Amtrak is running a special until the beginning of May -- kids travel free.

ENJOY YOUR TRIP!

[bjones6416]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

My daughter and granddaughter are coming up here from Texas soon, and then my son later on in the summer. What with airports being general madhouses, the hassles with TSA policies, not to mention skyrocketing airfares and stupid high baggage fees, we're looking for travel alternatives. So far the best alternative I've found is Amtrak. Yeah, it's an insanely long trip, but do the convenience factors (less station hassles, more checked baggage allowed, better food options) , and less expense outweigh the time/boredom factor? To give you an idea on expenses: Airfare for Melora and the baby (if we don't buy a seat for the baby's carseat), would be 383.00 minimum. Amtrak came in at 257.00 (but that doesn't include meals).

Any opinions or stories about riding Amtrak for long distances?

If she's got the time for the longer trip, I would bet she might even enjoy it. The idea that she can actually get up and walk around with the baby whenever she needs to would be a real plus, and I would think the clackety-clack would be soothing to a child as opposed to the unpleasant pressure sensations caused by flying. I haven't travelled by train since I was about 12 years old, though, so I'm no expert on it. It's something I would like to do. (On the other hand, on a shorter airplane trip she would have the expectation of not needing to hand the baby off to anyone else during the trip. During a longer train trip? I don't know. Can you wrangle a baby seat or stroller or something into a train bathroom with you?)

[desertblues]

Trains for me. i'm thinking of taking the Trans-Siberia or Trans-Mongolia express next year! Much more space and one can walk around without being in the way of attendants with their little cars.

[dreams]

It's a very long train trip and if she can do well with the length of time, I would say take the train. I've only been on one long trip by train and did the Rocky Mountaineer through to Banff, Canada. It was so much more comfortable to be able to get up and move around and the scenery was beautiful. My only complaint was that I like to snack every couple of hours and was still hungry after meals. So, the first stop we did, I went to a store and stocked up.

[Salgueiros]

I am a bit partial because i am european and there the options are far more abundant both in quantity and quality, so we are raised using and enjoying trains, much more than average people in North America, but i tried Amtrak Montreal-New York (10 hours trip on way) and i only have good things to say about it.

The seats were large and there was lots of leg room. The views were fantastic since we crossed the Appalachian mountains. Every now and then there was a long stop so i was able to buy food so in that regard, no problem for me. Besides, reading in a train is a pleasure, the rockng motion of the train makes me read for hours.

Plus, no check-in, no body search, no turbulence, less carbon emitted to the atmosphere, no delays, no cancelled flight. And the best thing was that the final stations were beautiful!

Another thing i noticed was that Amtrak workers seemed a lot nicer than air hostesses... They look like they enjoy more their job than people in the airports/planes.

Did i say the price was only 60 USD each way? That was awesome!

[sakura-panda]

I'd like to take an Amtrak trip one of these days -- thinking about maybe going to Chicago to try it out. It's nice to hear all of the postive experiences!

[phenomshel]

Thanks to all that have responded. I'm gathering then, that you can bring pre purchased food onto the train with you? So if she loads up with snacks, she should be fine even if mealtimes don't coincide with when she or the baby is used to eating.
The bathroom part does worry me, I didn't think of that, though I'm sure she could hand the baby off to a conductor for five minutes... surely they're used to people travelling with infants?

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

Thanks to all that have responded. I'm gathering then, that you can bring pre purchased food onto the train with you? So if she loads up with snacks, she should be fine even if mealtimes don't coincide with when she or the baby is used to eating.
The bathroom part does worry me, I didn't think of that, though I'm sure she could hand the baby off to a conductor for five minutes... surely they're used to people travelling with infants?

yes, you can bring food and drink with you. when my kids were little and I traveled with them if worse came to worse I had a backpack to put them in to go to the bathroom. but yes, there usually is someone around that you get chatting with.