Amtrak

I didn't post yesterday - I spent HOURS on Amtrak & Canada's VIA websites, trying to plan a trip. Hours. Lost about half of my day, really. I forgot to eat, even.

First off, for those of you who complain about Amtrak's website being difficult to use, you've obviously never tried to navigate VIAs website. Amtrak was a no-brainer in comparison.

To take a trip from coast to coast on Amtrak will take 3 full days one-way. We're planning a holiday trip next fall, as my sister-in-law will be back in the states briefly. We usually fly, but I have so turned off by the whole flying/airport experience, that the idea of traveling on a train for 3 days is actually appealing, if it means that I can avoid the airport, parking, traffic & delays. If we pack just right, we'll require no luggage, although there is a checked-luggage service (I'm not yet sure exactly what that means - whether they'll handle the transfers for you or not). There's an outside chance we might bring some snowboards, but its not likely.

I once took an around-the-country (kind of) trip on Amtrak when I was about 10. We went from Boston to SW Kentucky, up to Michigan and back to Boston. I thought it was great, but then again, I was 10.

The appeal of this trip is this: if I can convince someone (my neighbor, my mother, a friend) to drop us off at the local commuter rail, which is about 10 miles away, we can get door-to-door from our house to Tacoma with about 20 miles of car driving, which is really kind of cool when you consider it. To get to the airport, we have to drive an hour & on the other end of our trip, we have to drive 40 minutes from the airport to my in-laws. There is the hassle of getting to the airport, getting home from the airport, and the $80 or so for parking at the airport (IF you can find a spot) or the same amount for a shared-van service, which may or may not make you miss your flight. Then there is the traffic. The security lines. And the fear of falling out of the sky.

Which brings me to the gas mileage issue. Somewhere on their website - I can't find it now, of course- was a little table comparing the carbon emissions of train travel to the carbon emissions of air travel for traveling between a few cities. Apparently, the carbon emissions for rail travel were approximately half of what they are for air travel. There is no comparison to motor vehicle usage - which is even worse than air travel.

It'll be interesting. We've flown this route many times. Each time it's miserable in its own little way. We've driven cross country, although not directly from Boston to Tacoma, which always has its own set of stresses (and frequently involves dogs, which is fine, except when booking hotel rooms). My only concern is that there is no wireless service on the train. Which seems odd - if they could get wireless service, then my spouse could work during those 3 days of travel, cutting down on his vacation days required for the trip. He get's 6 weeks and can never use it all, so it's not THAT big of a deal. But still.

Amtrak vs. VIA: Amtrak made it relatively easy to plan trips as compared to VIA. The original thought was to take Amtrak out, and then take the train back through the Canadian Rockies on the way home. However, it looks to be roughly double to triple the cost for taking VIA back. And there was a bit of an issue getting from Toronto or Montreal back to Boston. All the maps SHOW routes going this way, but it's difficult to book, and the train schedules were off just enough to necessitate staying overnight not only in Toronto or Montreal, but also in Albany, which would turn the return trip into a 6-day trip, and much more expensive. Not really worth it, all things considered. So we'll take Amtrak both ways.

Cost: The cheapest flight I found on Orbitz for 2 people involved one layover, and a 6am departure from Boston (which means we'd have to either get up at 3 am, or stay over at the airport hotel - which adds $100), and the round trip tickets (alone) for two ended up being $100 less than the round trip tickets for 2 on Amtrak, including a roomette on the 2-day leg from Chicago to Seattle.

If we had decided we didn't want a roomette, it would have been several hundred dollars cheaper. But alas, I like to stretch out. The roomette also includes all meals (for the leg we order the roomette for), a picture window, 2 reclining seats (that turn into a bed), a bed that folds down from the wall, electrical outlets, climate control, a fold-down table, a small closet, bed linens & fresh towels, soap & shower anemities, bottled water, coffee, newspaper, and they'll make the bed at night, and fold it away during the day. No bathroom/shower in the room, though - those are shared facilities within the same car. We could upgrade to a proper bedroom, but that adds an additonal $250 each way, I think. Might be worth it though. A bedroom has all the stuff above, with the addition of a sink, a toilet & a shower, and an arm chair and a sofa. AND it holds 2 suitcases, not just 2 totes. But with a total additional cost of $250, it's probably not worth it. Maybe if I had small kids and didn't want to take them to the bathroom in the middle of the night - and if we had a baby, then diaper changes would be easier. Interestingly, there is a shared bathroom on the top floor of the superliner car, and a shower & changing area on the bottom of the car (with a baby changing area), as well as a luggage storage area. So I guess if you had a roomette, your luggage could go in there, although it's a shared area, and thats a little creepy.

So basically, as long as we don't mind adding 6 days to our trip, it looks like rail travel might fit our lifestyle better. I mentioned this to a friend, who replied I must be nuts. But then again, she's not fond of the outdoors, or any little inconvenience really, and has lived a very comfortable life (only child). Since we've car-camped our way across the country with 2 dogs, rail travel seems like a step up. No tent. No cold. They feed us, even if its bad food. No rain. Takes half the time compared to motor vehicle travel. No traffic. And we can BOTH nap when we want to - no one is driving.