It's been a little over a month since I returned from Arizona and finished up my first long distance travel on Amtrak. Several people have ask the question, "would you do it again?" Well, the answer is an overwhelming YES!.Even though there were a couple of minor issues and one major issue, I really enjoyed my trip out to Arizona and back on Amtrak and I learned some valuable lesson and will do thing differently if and when I take my next Amtrak long distance trip.
1. MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS AS FAR IN ADVANCE AS POSSIBLE: I made my reservation for for my October the trip out to Arizona in May. By doing so I got a pretty low price on my trip. From Roanoke, Virginia to my final destination in Maricopa, Arizona the fare for the 3-nights, 4-days of travel ended up being $756. I kept checking the identical fare a couple of times a month until I departed and never found a lower fare. The week before my departure there was no roomette available on the days I needed to travel and and when I modified the date the fare was well over $1,000.
2. ALWAYS GET A ROOMETTE FOR OVER NIGHT TRAVEL: My trip total trip going out was 4-day and three nights. I traveled business class from Roanoke to Washington, D. C. on one of Amtrak's Northeast Regional Trains. From Washington to Chicago I boarded the Capitol Limited for the overnight trip to Chicago's Union Station. My trip from Chicago to Maricopa was two night and three days on the Texas Eagle. So I spent a total of three nights in my roomette. Traveling in a roomette afford you some privacy. It is a small room with two facing seat during the day. At night your room attendant will fold the seats down and make your bed. There is a door that locks so you can sleep secure. Travel in a roomette is very comfortable for one person, but it can be a little crowded for two. You also have access to a shower when traveling in a roomette and your meals in the dining car are included. (more about that later)
3. GET TO KNOW YOUR CAR ATTENDANT: One of the most important things you can do when traveling in a roomette is get to know your car attendant. Each sleeper car has an assigned room attendant that will greet you upon boarding and shortly after departure will come around and introduce him/her self to you. You room attendant will take your dining car reservations and make make up your room for sleeping at night and return it day setup in the morning. Like every thing the quality of service from your room attendants vary and during my trip out I had three outstanding attendants. On the trip back I had two great attendants and one that did only the bear minimum. A good car attendant can really enhance you total experience.
4. SECURITY ON AMTRAK: One of the biggest pluses for traveling on Amtrak is you don't have to deal with all of the TSA issues that can be found airports. Roomette and sleeping car passengers are allowed to board first, usually about 30-45 minutes before schedule departure. Not having to deal with TSA doesn't mean there is no security. On many of the boarding platforms, especially in Washington, Chicago, San Antonio and El Paso Amtrak or local Police with K-9's who checked all checked baggage and are standing by at the boarding gate to observe boarding passengers. On a couple of legs on my travel uniformed Amtrak Police officers were seen walking between cars. I don't know if they were looking for anyone in particular or had a tip but they were there and were not trying to hide or blend in. After a few miles and stops your car attendant knows who belongs in each car and will quickly send people who don't belong in sleepers packing.
5. DON'T TRAVEL COACH FOR LONG DISTANCE: As I have already said, I would never travel coach on a long distance train. First of all you are confined to a single seat and have no say in who your seat mate will be. It is more often than no very crowded and you have no privacy. Kids with toy will be playing in the aisle and trust me there will be crying babies. Another reason and maybe the most important is coach passengers do NOT have access to a shower and after a couple of days of travel, they tend to get rather ripe. Just walking through the coach cars to the dining and lounge cars is a rather smelly experience. If there is going to be a problem with passengers on your trip it is going to be in coach. Twice on my trip out to Maricopa on the Texas Eagle I saw passenger expelled from the train. One was put off in Dallas for smoking on the train. Another was put off in Alpine Texas for an altercation with another passenger.
6. FOOD AND EATING IN THE DINING CAR: If you travel in a roomette your meals in the dining car are included in your fare. That includes Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Breakfast starts at about 6 or 6:30 a.m and runs through about 9 a.m. and seating is first come first serve. Reservations are required on most trains for Lunch and Dinner and either your car attendant or a member of the dining car staff will walk through your sleeper car to take your reservation. One of the best part about eating in the dining car is that it is community seating, which mean if you are travel alone, like I was or as a couple you will be seated with other people. While you don't have any say in who your dining companions will be I for the most part enjoyed getting to know people over a good meal. I met people from New Zealand, Canada, England along with people from all over the United States. Only twice did I get placed with a person that I really didn't enjoy but my other two dining companions made up for it. The quality of food in the Texas Eagle was really quiet good. The steak is cooked to order and served with a baked potato green beans and a salad. The burger or wraps at lunch were also very good and I really enjoyed the omelet with potato's and bacon for breakfast. I can honestly say you will not go hungry on Amtrak. I can't say the same for the Capitol Limited. Back in the summer the powers that be decided to remove the dining car from the Limited and the Lake Shore Limited. So on the Capitol Limited we were given Box Lunches for Dinner and Breakfast. The food was filling but there is just so much they can do with a microwave.
7. DON'T STAY IN YOUR ROOMETTE: One to the best things about traveling on Amtrak is you are free to get up and move around the train. While my roomette afford me a great deal of comfort and privacy another way to see the country is in the lounge car. It affords you the opportunity to relax as you view the countryside through large floor to ceiling windows. It also gives you the opportunity to meet and visit with fellow passengers. I enjoyed spending the morning and afternoons in the lounge car especially as we traveled through west Texas. Again I met some really nice and interesting people while relaxing in the lounge car.
8. PACK AND TRAVEL LIGHT: The first thing you need to realize when traveling long distance on Amtrak is that fewer and fewer stations offer the option to check your bags. So you are going to have carry and store your luggage in your roomette or in the common storage area of your sleeping car. The roomette is small and there is not a lot of room for anything more than a good size backpack. I traveled with a backpack that contained all of my clothes, computer and toiletries. I also traveled with a smaller backpack that had all of my cameras, video equipment, chargers and cords. The is only ONE power outlet in the roomette so it you want to charge more than one device be sure to bring a power strip. Its a good idea to bring one anyway because a few time during service stops the train lost power and when it was restored there may be a danger of a sudden surge. A power strip will protect your devices from getting fried. That was about all that I could fit comfortably into my roomette. One other thing to consider is that you will pickup a few things along the way, like souvenirs and keepsakes so you need to leave room in you luggage for those items.
9. AMTRAK HYGIENE: As I said earlier, traveling in a roomette you will have access to a shower. Each sleeper car has 4 small bathrooms and on shower room. All of the roomettes are located on the upper level of the car. There is one bathroom on this level, and three additional bath rooms downstairs on the lower level. The bath rooms have a toilet and a sink and are very small. So small that anyone larger than an average size person may have some difficulty. The bathrooms are clean and the car attendant checks them numerous time every day and if they need attention they will take care of the issue. I traveled 4 days out and 4 days back and never experienced any issues with the bathroom. Most of the passengers in the roomette are really good about cleaning up after themselves. The shower room is basically what you will find in a medium size RV. There are clean towel and wrapped bar soap provided for all roomette passengers. I brought my own shampoo. The shower head is adjustable and there is plenty of hot water. I found that the single shower is most busy in the early morning either before breakfast or just after breakfast or in the evening before bedtime. I usually took my shower in the late morning before lunch or in the mid afternoon and never had to wait. Again the shower is checked several times a day by the car attendant and I never experienced a problem.
10. AMTRAK RULES: Each coach and sleeping car attendant are responsible for overseeing the passengers assigned to their cars.These attendants are responsible for overseeing the conduct of the passengers assigned to each car. The attendants are also responsible for enforcing all rules and for reporting issues to the conductor. There is no smoking permitted on any Amtrak Trains. There are designated smoke stops along the way where passengers can get off the train and smoke. Most of these stops are designated crew changes stops or service stops where train is replenished with food and water and the trash and holding tanks are emptied. I know of at least twice on the Texas Eagle passengers were caught smoking on the train. One person was caught a couple of time and eventually put off the train in Dallas. Amtrak takes smoking on the train very seriously and the conductor will not hesitate to put you off if you smoke on the train. Another rule that Amtrak takes very seriously is you much wear shoes when moving about the train. Even when moving about your car you have to wear shoes. When moving between cars there are some severe pinch points where the cars are joined together. These pinch points can be very dangerous if you walk between cars without shoes. While I did not see anyone put off the train for violating this rule, I did see one passenger get a very stern talking to from the conductor. The conductor is basically in charge of the train and the overall safety of the passengers. Traveling between Del Rio and Alpine in west Texas there was some type of altercation or dispute between two coach passengers. What ever happened resulted in one of the passengers being removed and arrested in Alpine. When the train pulled into Alpine local police were waiting and two passengers were interview. One was allowed to return to the train, while the other was handcuffed and taken away.
11. IF YOU HAVE A TIGHT SCHEDULE DON'T TAKE AMTRAK: If you chose Amtrak as you method of transportation, you much accept the fact that Amtrak is almost always late. The reason being is that Amtrak Trains use the rails owned by freight companies. The freight companies, like Norfolk Southern, CSX, BNSF and Union Pacific make their money from moving timed freight. Amtrak is often held while these freight trains get priority. So if you have a tight schedule you might want to consider other forms of transportation. During my trip I was late at every extended stop except one. We arrived about an hour early into San Antonio. From Roanoke to Washington we were 45-minutes late arriving into Washington. My over night trip on the Capital Limited from Washington to Chicago saw us arrive and hour and fifteen minutes late arriving into Chicago. The first leg of my Trip on the Texas Eagle was from Chicago to San Antonio. We left Chicago Late afternoon and arrived about an hour late into St. Louis. We traveled through the Night and when I woke up the next morning we were in Texarkana and departed Texarkana about 90 minutes late. The next major stop was Dallas and we were still about an hour late. We had a long service stop at Fort Worth and while we arrived late all of the service was performed quickly and we departed on time. The trip between Fort Worth and San Antonio saw us arrive into San Antonio about 50 minutes early. This was a very long service stop where our train was joined with the Westbound Sunset Limited. The joined trains departed San Antonio on time at a little after 2 a.m. arriving about 30-minutes late into Del Rio. The long run between Del Rio and El Paso is on a busy freight Route and several times we were stopped for freight traffic to pass. We arrived in El Paso about 2-hours late. El Paso was a crew change and we manage to pick up some time and departed El Paso about an hour and 15 minutes Late. From El Paso to Maricopa we managed to gain a little more time and arrived in Maricopa about an hour late. Amtrak does have built in stops along the way where they can make up time but the fact of the matter is Amtrak is at the mercy of the Freight Companies who own the rails.
Those are the major things that I learned during my first long distance Amtrak Trip. I know this is a long post so I have decided to break it up into a couple of posts. Next time I will tell you what I would do different the next time I take an Amtrak Trip.
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