posted
I'm going to Washington, From Australia next year to visit a friend. I've got from her the impression that firstly, crossing the US by plane is rather expensive there, and 2. Amtrak isn't very popular.
I'll be there anywhere up to 10 weeks, or just until she leaves. (her family are moving to Australia next year.) I was wondering if anyone hear had experience crossing the country on Amtrak and hoping to get a rough idea as to how long it would take to go the route, Washington through Utah then on to South Carolina, and what sort of price this is.
I've never been to America so I'm sorry for any information I've got wrong.
Posts: 1138 | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
I'm assuming you mean Washington State (which is about as far from D.C. as you can get) and not Washington, D.C. (the nation's capital)?
I would guess it would take about 4 days. And depending on a number of factors (not the least of which being where you fly from) you can get reasonable plane tickets if you search around in advance.
But if you wait till the last minute they get pretty pricey.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Amtrak has some cool deals where you pay one fare for unlimited travel within a certain time period. Plaid, on this board, did this last summer, and I believe had a great time. They also have a special pass for International travelers only. Here's the info page. You do still need to make reservations, though, so you'd need to plan when you wanted to go where. Their site is very helpful.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Washington to South Carolina will take days on an Amtrak, and would almost certainly cost more than flying. Sleeper cars can get pretty expensive, and your other choice is a single seat. I've gone the length of California on a train, and that seat was pretty uncomfortable by the end.
On the other hand, if your desire to see American scenery is stronger than your desire to save money, then you may wish to take the train. The routes aren't always through the most scenic locations, however.
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He can get a National 30 day rail ticket for $385. That's probably cheaper than 2 plane tickets, to visit Utah and South Carolina. It will, however, take a lot longer, as to get from Utah to anywhere on the East Coast he has to go up through Chicago.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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I mean the State Washington with the City of Seattle in it. I do want to see the scenery of America, I love trains and I plan on going to at least 4 state.
The State's I particularly want to go to, besides Washington, are: South Carolina, Utah, Nevada, Illinois (spelling?) and wherever Chicago is, unless that actually is the State.
Would it likely be possible to enjoy all those states in no more than 3 weeks?
Posts: 1138 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Long ago, I would take Amtrak between New York and Georgia. I loved riding the rails, loved the tiny little sleeperette, loved the feel of the wheels and the rails under the floors. The gentle rocking, the rhythm of the rails, the hours of leisure, the changing views and landscapes.
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Then I think the pass I linked to would actually work pretty well for you. You could start in Seattle, travel down along the Pacific coast, turn east in California and cut across Nevada and stop in Utah. From Utah you'd go to Chicago, and then there are a couple of different routes to get you the rest of the way east and to South Carolina. From there you'd head back to Chicago and take the Empire Builder back to Seattle, along the northern part of the country. (And I'd wave to you as you went through Minneapolis.)
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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And here is Amtrak's USA route map. Elsewhere on the site it'll tell you the time involved in all those routes.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Okay, how about: Washington > Oregon (never heard of it; anything particularly fun to do there?) > California > Nevada > Utah > Colarado > Nebraska > Iowa > Illinois > Indiana > Kentucky > West Virginia > (East carolina?) > North Carolina > South Carolina... Then fly back by plane.
Okay, it's not really an issue moneywise (except that Australian dolars are worth less there) but I'd rather spend less if possible. I have a long time to save for this, of course.
Posts: 1138 | Registered: Nov 2005
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by the way -- your friend should go with you on your cross-country trek! You know -- just to fill you in on the details of our nation as you go....
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It sounds like you will be spending an awful lot of time sitting on trains. Prepare for days and weeks of leisure hours. Perhaps you can take up knitting.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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I took Amtrak from Chicago to Detroit earlier this year. I really enjoyed it. But yeah, it's SLOW. Still well worth it, though, because it was $50 round trip, which is MUCH cheaper than a flight would have been. It took about six hours. Chicago is 300 miles from Detroit.
The USA is really big, so be prepared to spend a lot of time traveling. But it'd be a great way to see a lot of the country.
Posts: 1805 | Registered: Jun 1999
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I'd see more of the country than most of America, now that I think about it. It's going to be a long holiday, but there'll be heaps to do in Utah, Nevada, Washington and SC. (Spartanburg specifically - another friend lives there.) And yes, Farmgirl, I am going with my friend.
I think the main factor left in the decision is the time this trip would take. By the way, are most of these tracks still the same ones they laid down in Lincoln's/Washington's? (the one in the Movie Wild Wild West if that helps lol) time.
Posts: 1138 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Be careful if you have any places where you have to switch routes. Every single time I've ever used amtrak, the train has been at least an hour late. So if you have to switch, make sure you build a lot of time in between the routes.
Posts: 2437 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Well, l went to college in Oregon, and I think many parts of it are exceptionally lovely.
Portland is well worth a stop, and Oregon has no sales tax, so this is the place to buy gifts or clothes (you can find exactly the same brand and style you saw in NYC - but no sales tax!) The wineries are really lovely, but I don't know if you're 21 yet. Also, the Oregon Coast is basically one great big state park; they didn't let people build it up like in California.
Taking a train from Seattle to Sacramento will take a looooong time. If you do the trains, I suggest shooting to get a sleeper car every night. More than four hours staring out of a window will get really boring. Oh, and stop in San Francisco. Much prettier than Sacramento (although Sac is worth a stop too).
Investigate Southwest Airlines, Song Airlines, JetBlue, Ted, and Frontier Airlines, etc.. Trains in America are not the same as trains in Europe, trust me.
Posts: 471 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I’ve done a couple of trips on Amtrak, but it was about 8 years ago.
Firstly, ignore what the locals say about prices, there were special tickets for foreigners when I went. I got a pass that covered the western half of the county (Chicago west) for 118 pounds for unlimited travel for 2 weeks (1 pound less than the equivalent Greyhound ticket). Obviously it will be more than that now, but well worth seeing what passes are available for foreigners.
Secondly, don’t expect to keep to time. None of my trains were within an hour of their scheduled arrival and one of them caught fire and carried on for ages before a couple of pick trucks arrived to have a look.
Thirdly, if you decide to stop off, check the arrival time. There were places I decided not to stop because the train arrives in the middle of the night.
Finally, the seats are huge, so sleep is possible, but take a blanket as the turn the heating down at night.
I enjoyed it, I saved money on hotel accommodation and got to go to more places than I would otherwise have managed. I intend to do it again sometime. I went from Chicago to San Francisco, stopping on at Winter Park (Colorado) for a couple of days skiing, then on to Seattle.
Posts: 169 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Kettricken, since the page I linked him to was the special price for international travelers, no, he should not ignore what the locals say about prices. Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Sorry, ElJay, I missed your comment on international passes and saw several posts saying it was more expensive / not much cheaper than flying. We have cheaper travel for visitors as well and such complicated fares that most people don’t have a clue about the real cost.
Posts: 169 | Registered: Aug 2005
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I took AMtrack from Springfield MA (2 hours west from most of Boston) alll the way to San Antinio TX for my AIT school in th Army. Wile it was cool for me, and a lot cheaper at the time, I also needed time to get use to going back to the Army after almost a month off for Christmas exodous.
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Amtrack doesn't go nearly everywhere I want to go (although the Coast Starlight is very nice.) You can't, for instance, take it from Dallas to Atlanta without going through Houston and Baton Rouge, making it a two-day trip.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:Originally posted by xnera: I took Amtrak from Chicago to Detroit earlier this year. I really enjoyed it. But yeah, it's SLOW. Still well worth it, though, because it was $50 round trip, which is MUCH cheaper than a flight would have been. It took about six hours. Chicago is 300 miles from Detroit.
The USA is really big, so be prepared to spend a lot of time traveling. But it'd be a great way to see a lot of the country.
SIX hours?!? The drive can be made in about 5, even if you stop once or twice. I myself have never rode with Amtrak, but I did take trains from Windsor to Toronto, and from Toronto to Montreal. It was great, the trains were on schedule, it was relaxing, and it was also inexpensive compared to flying or driving.
Posts: 879 | Registered: Apr 2005
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I love taking the train. The day after I graduated High School I was on a train from Dearborn, MI to Raton, NM. About a three day trip. Worth it though. Made some friends on the way that were going the same place I was.
Posts: 2208 | Registered: Feb 2004
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A few years ago it took my brother 3 days to get from Indianapolis to Portland Oregon by train, he loved it, but agreed it may have been better to fly. When going to his former girlfriend's house in Wisconsin (I think, I was 8 when they broke up), he always took amtrak. I've never ridden amtrak, just the south shore from South Bend to Chicago (that was marvelous, I could do my make up and eat breakfast on the way, much easier than a car).
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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quote:SIX hours?!? The drive can be made in about 5, even if you stop once or twice
Some of us don't have cars. Also, the trains have to go slower in populated areas where there are lots of crossings. We also experienced a delay or two during the trip--the website said it'd be a five and a half hour ride, so we got in a bit late.
Still a good time, though. I really enjoyed the train. Much more comfortable than a plane, and I had a row of seats to myself!
Posts: 1805 | Registered: Jun 1999
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I got a month's rail pass for travel this spring and had a great time -- visited lots of folks all over the US, and traveled ~10,000 miles. I started using the rail pass in Ohio, and from there went to Wisconsin, Chicago (met up with Hatrackers there for BobnDana Con), Iowa, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington state, British Columbia, and finally Niagara Falls, NY.
If you want any advice, feel free to email me, cheiros; here's a few useful bits of info:
-- Sleeper cars are very expensive, something like $100-200 a night. Ow. I never used one -- since I was getting on and off the train frequently, I didn't sleep too many nights on the train. But when I did, it was OK -- the seats on Amtrak have a LOT of leg room (more than buses or planes do) and they have big padded footrests so sleeping on them's like sleeping in a big lounge chair, and if you travel in the offseason like I did (in April) then the trains aren't so crowded and you probably won't have anyone in the seat next to you and you can sprawl onto the next chair and get relatively decent sleep.
-- Like Farmgirl said, food can be expensive (though actually not too bad), so definitely bring along a lot of snacks, and then you can supplement that with the occasional hot meal on board.
-- On most trains in the Midwest and West, Amtrak has an observation car you can hang out in -- a car that's all windows, great for watching the scenery. You'll get to see some great country from the train (much more beautiful I think than from most highways). The Colorado Rockies were neat, though my favorite was desert states like Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. (If you travel during the spring, the deserts are greener and even more amazing.)
-- And as some folks have said, Amtrak can be late... I never had any problems on my own trip (an hour late was the worst I ever experienced), but allowing at least an hour between switching routes is a good idea.
-- If you can, try to get a hold of a paper copy of Amtrak's schedule (~125 pages) -- the easiest way to plan a trip is to sit down with a paper schedule and figure out all the different possibilities. (Note that a few routes don't run every day, like the one that goes from Los Angeles, California to Texas.) (And, as Kettricken noted, some cities only have stops in the middle of the night. Salt Lake City in Utah, for example, only has trains getting in ~11 PM and 3 AM.)
-- One more great thing about going on the train = getting to stretch you legs! You can get up and walk around all you want -- you can't do that on a bus, and can't do that on a plane if you don't want to make everyone nervous...
Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
Getting a plane back froma capital city seemed like a good idea. But I have recently checked the US FlightCenter’s website and it seems in the US anyone all the way up to 18 needs an adult (19+) to fly with. I will be 17 at the time and the oldest person on the trip will be 18 but that still won’t be good enough, it seems.
Now I’m not to sure which way I want to go anymore. But I know I don’t want to pay to sleep on a train for that price so I suppose I should focus going places where my American friends have relatives happy to have us over night. The one whose house I’m staying at, you should know, is literally on her way to Australia as I write this, due to arrive today. But I won’t be able to talk to her until Sunday, Australia time, so I’ll just leave this until I’ve talked to her.
In the meanwhile, I’m sure this thread will fall back to page 3 or 4 with the rate at which this forum moves, so you’ll have to excuse me for brining it up again. Thanks for your help everybody! Posts: 1138 | Registered: Nov 2005
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cheiros, I believe my 16-year-old friend flew alone to New Orleans about a year ago, so I wouldn't think there'd be an age restriction. Unless one exists for international travel? That would be news to me.
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All I know is, looking at plane bookings between Los Angeles and Washington, the minimum for adults was 1, not 0. The minimum for children, on the other hand, was 0. So that's just the impression I got.
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WOW! A sleeper car is SO expensive! From Omaha to L.A. (in August) for two people is over $1300! I've never been on a train and it looks like I never will. Posts: 2064 | Registered: Dec 2003
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quote:Originally posted by cheiros do ender: All I know is, looking at plane bookings between Los Angeles and Washington, the minimum for adults was 1, not 0. The minimum for children, on the other hand, was 0. So that's just the impression I got.
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Oh, well I wasn't looking for discounts, just a general idea of how much it would cost. Could someone please give me a link for that?
Posts: 1138 | Registered: Nov 2005
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So, speaking in American dollars, and I'll have about $17,000US to spend if the dollar rate stays roughly the same, is America a very expensive country?
Posts: 1138 | Registered: Nov 2005
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and saw several posts saying it was more expensive / not much cheaper than flying. We have cheaper travel for visitors as well and such complicated fares that most people don’t have a clue about the real cost.
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