Review of Amtrak Auto train

[Nick12]

I took this service to get back to Florida and it was a very pleasant experience. Leaving at 1600 from Lorton VA outside of Washington DC and arriving at 0900 in Sanford FL outside of Orlando. Hot meal for dinner ( you choose either 1700 or 1900 seating), and continental breakfast the following morning. Meals included in the fare. The coach seats were very spacious and lots of leg room. Wi-Fi was very sporadic. Met a lot of nice seniors going to Florida. Saved about 900 miles of driving. Amtrak employees were very nice. No security bag check before boarding the train and you can bring your own food and drink into the train. One needed to be in Lorton train station no later than 1400 and when you arrived in Sanford the next day at 0900 it took about an hour for my car to be off loaded. You see real poverty when you look out the window and see how people in the South live near the train tracks. I would take this service again. There is a drinking bar part of the train but a number of customers brought their own booze on the train. The restrooms on the first floor were smaller than an airplane bathroom. I did not use the sleeper car option which cost more $$.

 

[SumDay]

This is beginning to appeal to me. The Retirement Manifesto blogger detailed his ~6900 mile trip, and then generously did a blog post with a guide to cross country Amtrak travel.

https://www.theretirementmanifesto.com/what-i-learned-from-an-epic-7000-mile-train-journey/

https://www.theretirementmanifesto.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-cross-country-train-travel/


Thanks for sharing Nick!

 

[sengsational]

Thanks for those links SumDay. My train travel experience was across Canada, a long time ago. Had the sleeper cabin, but the train was 'side tracked' regularly, all night long. So we stopped, I fell asleep, then we'd start again, I'd wake up. About the time I was lulled to sleep by the clickity clack, we'd stop again, and I'd wake up, lol! The scenery was really enjoyable at times. I still remember playing cards with some young people, loads of laughs. As mentioned in the links, stress melts away somehow. Time doesn't have any meaning. There's so much nothing to do that doesn't happen at home or on a cruise. So there's value in train travel for those reasons.



Several times since, I've researched train travel, but it was so expensive (when compared to my usual vacation like it: an ocean cruise), I didn't pull the trigger. I think his 8 nights were about $250 per person per day, food included. Not that bad, really.