The Great Amtrak Escape, Day One

Originally published on onlyonewaytofindout.travel

The grand trip begins! After performing the normal pre-trip ritual, checking my lists, collecting my travel bags, and topping off on the essentials, I realized I was far more excited for this than I had been for a trip in quite some time. I think the majority of that excitement was due to doing something completely different, something I normally wouldn’t necessarily consider a trip, and something many people may not even consider a vacation. Typically, the train is a means to a destination, but in my case, it is the destination.

Quickly things were packed and ready to go and it was brought to my attention by a few close friends that I should get a map. A MAP! It honestly hadn’t crossed my mind. One of the joys of a road trip in my opinion is marking your road and finding your way via a paper map. The kind that folds out and never really seems to fold back together just right. Well… Turns out trying to buy a country-wide map is next to impossible in my neighborhood just outside of Manhattan. I walked for hours (I’m really not exaggerating) to the CVS down the street, a Staples (which to give them credit had Northeastern road maps), a few pharmacies, a Goodyear Tire Warehouse, a local bookstore, and a RiteAid. Eventually I gave up and headed home, a little discouraged, but it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

The time came to head out to Penn Station to catch the 3:40PM departure. My bag packed, and a small plastic bag with some snacks (you know, just in case…) I locked up and left a bit early. Maybe I’ll try the Barnes and Noble on 5th ave… Not only do they have maps… they have MAPS! With the last item crossed off, I reached Penn Station with some time to spare.

I decided to utilize my “Club Acela” guest pass (included with the Amtrak credit card) to hang out in the lounge. It was going to expire anyways at the end of the month, but I later learned that since I was traveling on a sleeper car it is likely they would have let me enter the lounge pass or not. Realistically, so far at least in both NYC and Chicago, the whole lounge “check-in” process is the attendant just asking what train you’re on and you walk on through. The Club Acela was not particularly nice, but it was an air-conditioned room away from the crowds. Heh – who am I kidding it was packed in there with business travelers.

Come boarding time we were led from the lounge area down to the train and up to the sleeper cars. The first conductor was checking tickets, so I showed him my phone with my boarding pass and he informed me I was the next car up. I proceeded up to the next conductor, started to show him my phone and he stopped me. “No we don’t do that here”. A little taken aback and confused, I looked at my phone and told him my train and room number. He shook my hand and welcomed me aboard.

Settling in for the ride, I shook off my shoes, unpacked the essentials and kicked back.

Some assorted photos below of the Viewliner roomette:

Independent HVAC controls for each room. Tons of lighting options for each side of the roomette. A fold out table with a checkers board! Nothing like keeping your bag on top of the toilet! Down the hallway with all the roomettes. The sink was a flip down, with slots in the rear to drain the water. Pretty cool!

To provide a bit of a back story to this whole wild west trip I’d say it all really started on my first long haul train ride on the West coast. It was a 6-8 hour trip on the West Coast Starlight train, which included an observation and cafe car, and a dining car. I think it included some sleeping cars – and its really what clued me into this being a possibility. After that ride I looked into booking an overnight ride on an Amtrak train and realized how expensive it was. I lost a bit of interest after the sticker shock – it just didn’t really seem worth it. It easily would cost $600-$700 for a sleeper car and that’s a bit hard to justify when I could fly to another country twice for that…

A few years later a deal caught my eye – an Amtrak Credit Card sign up bonus of 30k points for a $1,000 minimum spend in 3 months. Skipping over the logistics, technicalities, and my view of financial institutions and the associated credit cards, I took advantage of the deal. All things considered this really wasn’t a bad deal at all – and it would enable me to effectively ride a train across the country for effectively (apart from fees associated with the card, and other travel expenses) free.

I didn’t do too much research into the trip and all the route options. Most routes would bring passengers through Chicago via the Lake Shore (along the great lakes!) and then pivot from there. For no particular reason I opted for the California Zephyr, mainly because it sounded cool. Looking back on it now it seems like the more popular route. We’ll find out if that’s good or bad.

I hesitated for a while before booking it; I wasn’t sure what I had planned. I originally intended on traveling with Ben, my long-time travel partner, however something about this trip pulled me in the direction of going it alone. Eventually, I pulled the trigger. 28,000 Amtrak Points and trip was booked across the country for late August.

Rocking back and forth on the train, we flew up through the city, past familiar rivers, and started blowing through small town after small town until eventually, the towns and cities were no longer familiar. Soon we reached Albany and I began the habit of getting off the train at nearly every stop longer than 5-10 minutes (assuming I was awake for it). It provides a great chance to get out, walk up and down the platform, and get some fresh air.

I headed up to the cafe car to grab some dinner as the sun set. Sitting there enjoying some boxed (yes, boxed and reheated) penne pasta with chicken and cold beer I watch as we raced the sunset West. I was a little disappointed with the meal situation, but the food was good, and the view was even better.

Content with the night I headed back to my room, found my conductor and asked for some help getting my bed ready. With a flick of the wrist (and quite a bit of clunking and squeaking from the aging seating) my seats were folded down into a bed. Pretty cool!

We went through Syracuse, Rochester, and late into the night, Buffalo. The night’s sleep was a little restless, being jostled awake by I think various railroad junctions, street crossings and generally our less smooth rail infrastructure.

My overall impressions for the first day? My expectations were certainly exceeded. My roomette on the Viewliner was comfortable, cozy, and complete with everything I wanted. And didn’t want, such a toilet… slightly reminiscent of a prison cell. The food didn’t meet my expectations – I remember what started it all, the dinner in the dining car, on real plates, with real silverware. But I was willing to overlook it, after I am partaking in what some might consider a dying service. I was still excited for what’s to come.

Cost Breakdown