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WOOHOO! Yes we've been trying to let everybody know about the sale - it's an AMAZING deal! Please let us know what questions come up as you begin to plan your trip. We're happy to help!

Awesome! It's on sale this week for $299 if you're not already aware 😉🚂

I've heard that extension cords have been a problem for people in the past on multiple cruise lines, but that the cruise line might be able to provide you with one if you need it. Hopefully at least your multi-usb plug will make it through! Please let us know how it goes. Happy cruising!

Hi there! Yes, Amtrak usually runs some sort of sale on the USA Rail Pass in January, but it has gone back and forth in recent years with how much $ off the offer is. You should have a code in your confirmation email after purchasing your pass that you can enter online when booking a segment instead of a credit card payment 😉

Hi there! This is an excellent question, and I think this other short Q&A video we have will help you: th-cam.com/video/vQ7DSSuGLa4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=hBBxInoTTbiQqOt9

Glad you found it helpful! Please let us know if you have other questions about Amtrak 🚂

Glad you're finding our videos helpful!

Oh I'm glad to see that you're considering the California Zephyr! Please let us know if you have any questions 🙂

That sounds great! Good for you! If you're doing a multi-city tour of the country, the USA Rail Pass is definitely going to be cheaper than flying 😉 Where are you thinking about going?!

Hi Willem, I'm so happy you found our video helpful! We have SO many suggestions for you! Where you should stop along those routes (or any routes) depends on what you’re interested in seeing. For what it’s worth, both of the routes you’ve chosen will show you the desert of the Southwest, so if you wanted to see some desert and some of the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Coastline instead, you could consider taking the California Zephyr and Coast Starlight back from Chicago to Los Angeles instead of the Southwest Chief. The California Zephyr is my personal favorite train. But if you have your heart set on the Texas Eagle and Southwest Chief, then here are our recommendations for places you could stop along the way: Stops along the Texas Eagle: - Tucson, AZ for Saguaro National Park - El Paso because you’ll be close to a few national parks and also Mexico - San Antonio because you should absolutely see the Alamo and their downtown Riverwalk is nice too - St. Louis for the Gateway Arch and to try some American BBQ - Then you would be in Chicago, which is a great city with a lot to offer Stops along the Southwest Chief - Kansas City to try some American BBQ, especially if you don’t stop in St. Louis - Flagstaff, AZ or Kingman, AZ are really close to the Grand Canyon and Antelope Canyon - Anaheim, CA is where Disneyland is - Los Angeles is also worth spending time in at the beginning or end of your journey. We live in LA so we have tons of recommendations if you want them, but you’ll have to tell us what kind of stuff you’re interested in doing. If you wanted to take the California Zephyr and Coast Starlight back from Chicago to LA instead, here are our recommendations of stops you could make: - Denver for tons of breweries. Their zoo and botanical gardens are great too. - Glenwood Springs, CO is a popular weekend getaway destination for Denver residents. There’s a natural hot spring there and it’s just gorgeous in the Rocky Mountains. - National Parks in Utah are awesome! - Truckee, CA for a cute small town close to Lake Tahoe. There will likely still be snow in that area in March so you could go skiing or snowboarding if you’re into that. - San Francisco (Emeryville, specifically) would be your transfer point from the California Zephyr to the Coast Starlight - Salinas, CA would get you close to Monterey Bay, which has a world-class aquarium. March is one of the best times of the year to go whale watching in that area too. (You could also take a whale watching tour out of somewhere closer to Los Angeles but Monterey Bay is really known for it.) - San Luis Obispo, CA is a great place to stop for wineries - Santa Barbara is a picturesque beach town and is close to Solvang, CA, which is known for Danish architecture Here are our videos about the California Zephyr and the Coast Starlight… CA Zephyr: th-cam.com/video/5LLskbL_S7A/w-d-xo.html Coast Starlight: th-cam.com/video/iyEs6DgwcWg/w-d-xo.html Please feel free to reply with more questions! And if not, then happy travels! 🚂

Thank you so much, Adam and Phoebe! I will study this and will come back to you if I need more information. 🎉❤

Yes it's very flat.

I'm going to assume, and you can correct me if I'm wrong because I'm saying this with love and understanding (no shame), that you've never seen what Amtrak coach seats look like. We fly with Spirit fairly regularly, but Amtrak coach seats are SO SO SO much better than Spirit. The slow travel of the trains isn't for everyone so I totally understand if you're one who would prefer to be less comfortable for a shorter amount of time to just get where you're going, but if you WANT to take the train and have that more scenic slow travel experience, I just hope you know that it will be far more comfortable than coach on a plane 🧡

In what way? The seats are the same, but again, there may be less rocking on the lower level, and possibly less noise since there should be less people.

@ I heard someone say the noise from the tracks was right below them. Sounds like the top is the best, though. Thx!

@@forestrun2967 I hadn't heard that before, so that's a good point! We always sit on the upper level so we haven't tried sleeping on the lower level but I could see that being a problem.

Hi Sean, while we appreciate your feedback, you could stand to be a little more kind and constructive about it 😉 If you watch our newer videos you can see that we've already adjusted from this kind of feedback.

Thank you! Happy New Year! 🎊

I would be interested to hear more details about how your itinerary got messed up and what ended up happening if you're open to sharing.

Hello 👋🏻 We have these 2 other short Q&A videos that I think will answer this question 🙂 Here are the links: th-cam.com/video/WMciYE3qk3E/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/gf0PhFDe968/w-d-xo.html Please feel free to send us any other Amtrak questions that come up as your son is planning his trip 🚂

You know what, you're right that Calgary is not directly north of North Dakota, but is that really the takeaway you get from this video? One offhand personal anecdote - even if it has incorrect information, which I try REALLY hard to avoid - does not cancel out all of the other information in this video.

It sounds like you'll definitely want to take your own food on the trains. We use a soft cooler now with some ice packs so we can take all of our own food and it works well for us 😉 Some of the trains have wi-fi and some don't, so it depends on which route(s) you're taking. A lot of the long distance trains go through remote areas that have very spotty or no cell signal at all, so you should definitely take other things to keep yourself occupied. Download movies onto a laptop and/or music onto your phone, take a book to read, or if you're into knitting or something like that you can do that. We've seen people bring card games and small puzzles too. We've made videos reviewing several of the Amtrak routes we've taken, in which we include info about wi-fi availability, cell signal, which side of the train to sit on for the best views, etc. Here's our Amtrak playlist that you can find them on (along with lots of Q&A videos): th-cam.com/play/PLRIKGdqms2y2JkAoYN-aymF1vsmMekOUO.html

Hi there 👋🏻 I'm glad you found our video helpful! Once you purchase your USA Rail Pass, you can book your legs essentially as if you were buying the ticket individually (on Amtrak's website or app), but instead of paying for the legs individually, you have a code for your pass you'll enter. We'll make a video about this the next time we use the pass because I know a lot of people are wondering 😉 As for the upper or lower decks on the double decker trains, here's a short Q&A video we made about it: th-cam.com/video/F47xekb9sLE/w-d-xo.html I hope that helps! Please let us know if you have more questions 🚂

@@inthegreatwide Motion sickness, never heard before, I know what you mean I was also suprissed about how shacky the train from Buffalo to NYC was. Thank you very much, I will use the upper deck too. I will do the master crazy tour in May 298 hours on Amtrak using each mayor connection around and in the middle of the USA. Merry Christmas

@@alexanderchessa1319 Sounds like you have quite the adventure ahead of you! Safe travels and please feel free to chime in in the comments of our videos to share your own experiences on the trains - it's good for us to all learn from each other 🙂🚂

Hello 👋🏻 We actually have another short Q&A video to answer this question! Here's a link: th-cam.com/video/YppePXJnAeo/w-d-xo.html

LOVE your insight! Thank you for sharing! It's kind of strange that they don't all have a standard way of handling it, but I guess maybe they're still trying to figure out the best way of doing it...? Or maybe Amtrak is just leaving it up to the individual crews to do what they think is best 🤷🏻‍♀

At the prices we've been hearing for dining car meals for coach passengers, I think $100 for all 3 meals is actually a little low, sadly. We've heard multiple people say they paid $45/person just for dinner 😬 I *think* that's multiple courses, so it's a decent price if it is, but it's definitely not budget-friendly. We take a soft cooler with ice packs on the train now and bring all of our own food and drinks, even for those long 2-day journeys. We save a bunch of money that way and can choose to bring healthier options like hummus, baby carrots, nuts, and whole or dried fruits. We usually also stop by a grocery store and pick up some pre-packaged sandwiches or salads too - they're better quality and cheaper than what is served in the cafe car 😉 But yes to buying food from vendors who come sell their stuff on the platforms during fresh air breaks! On the Sunset Limited heading into El Paso, the crew told everyone about "Juanita the Burrito Lady" - she had a few coolers full of warm, homemade burritos and just about everybody was out there lined up to get some (including us). It was super casual but she obviously knew the crew, so she must be there all the time.

@ I had so many burritos from that lady I could hardly get back on the train.

Such interesting insight you have! Thank you for sharing! We bought some guavaberry rum in the Dominican Republic but haven't tried it yet. We'll have to compare it side-by-side with the one from St. Maarten 🙂 But a PIE! Man, I would love to try guavaberry pie!

The Wildlife Learning Center takes care of animals who can't survive on their own in the wild, plus there was nothing to stop this parrot from flying away if he could / wanted to; he was out in the open already.

We haven't been on a high-speed train like that yet. It will be interesting to try out when we get the opportunity. I hadn't heard about the fatalities around the Brightline train in Florida. From the few news articles I just read, it sounds like the proper safety infrastructure was not put in place to warn pedestrians and vehicles of oncoming trains, which Brightline claimed they would fix (not sure how they have followed up on that in the last couple years). It also unfortunately sounds like many people were committing s*de and others made poor decisions such as stopping their vehicle on the railroad tracks, walking along the tracks, or bypassing gates that were warning them of an oncoming train. I'm certainly not defending a company who apparently didn't put the money in for the proper safety measures in the first place, but it's also only fair to look at the actual statistics. It's still very sad, of course.

Screenshots from the app work too 😉 But if you're more comfortable with a paper ticket, then go for it 👍🏻

Point being: there are a lot of factors that come into play when it comes to the question of if you'll be able to sit with your companion when traveling together on Amtrak. For the most part, yes, you will get to sit together.

Screenshots also work if you don't have service 😉

Hi there 👋🏻 We've never seen security dogs on an Amtrak train but we have seen them in major stations. As for how strict Amtrak is about carry-on bags, here's a short Q&A video we did about that: th-cam.com/video/gf0PhFDe968/w-d-xo.htmlsi=PeXtHANzKNtiME1p To our knowledge, our checked bags have never been searched.

Aw, thank you! Please let us know if you have any questions we didn't answer 🙂🚂

I'm glad you found it helpful! Thanks for taking the time to leave us a little note 🙂

Hi 👋🏻

Oooooh interesting! I've never thought about trying 👀

That's us too! We have electronics and things that we usually carry in our backpacks and then we keep our clothes and toiletries in a suitcase. And we usually have an extra bag (like a reusable grocery bag or soft cooler) with just food 😆 I wouldn't call us light packers

How long would you say a trip can be before it requires a suitcase?

@inthegreatwide 2 or 3 days. A week is a suitcase or duffle bag.

@@PaulGodfrey That's definitely reasonable if you ask me. I'm more team suitcase all the time now after my back injury just so I don't have to carry stuff, but if you don't have a back injury then I would say a backpack for 3 days is totally doable.

I'm curious about some more details of your experience having dinner on the train as a coach passenger, if you don't mind 🙂 Did you share a table with strangers? Was it a multi-course meal? Did it include 1 alcoholic drink like it does for the sleeper car passengers? I wish Amtrak would provide more of this info directly but they don't so we all just have to learn from each other 🙂

I hadn't heard that suggestion yet! Do you think that's better than using public transit from the Emeryville station?

Hi Lulu! It's normal to be nervous about your first time traveling on Amtrak, but we have a ton of info to help you! Let me try to answer your questions one-by-one, many of which we have other videos for already 🙂 1 - Where to you get your checked bags once you arrive at your destination? - This depends on the specific station you're at. Some have luggage pick-up similar to what you would see at an airport inside the station, while some other stations will bring the bags out on the train platform. If you're unsure, you can ask an Amtrak employee either on the train before you arrive (preferable) or at the station when you arrive. 2 - Where in the train are checked bags kept? - We talk a little about this in this video: th-cam.com/video/Gvl_KySfY0k/w-d-xo.htmlsi=BS9eslRyYQk8MV2n 3 - Are there areas on the train to avoid? - Not really. The basic rule is that if you're in coach, don't go into the sleeper cars, and vice versa. You're also not allowed to just hang out in the dining car, but you ARE allowed to hang out in the cafe car and/or observation car, no matter if you're coach or "first class". 4 - Do you have to print your Amtrak ticket? - Nope! The best way is to download the Amtrak app on your phone and they can scan your tickets digitally on there. 5 - Do they provide food for you? - We have a full food & drink guide for Amtrak here: th-cam.com/video/PoYmBN5XT8I/w-d-xo.html I hope that all helps! We have a bunch of videos about Amtrak, including guides, route reviews, short Q&As, etc. Here's a playlist of all of them that I bet will answer a lot of your questions: th-cam.com/play/PLRIKGdqms2y2JkAoYN-aymF1vsmMekOUO.html Please feel free to send us more questions; I'm happy to help!

@@inthegreatwide Thank you so much for responding! This was a huge help. Can I ask more questions in the future regarding using the Amtrak?

@@LNLNLN55510 Yes, of course! Feel free to leave comments on whatever video of ours you're watching when a question pops into your head. We're happy to help you figure all this out! 🧡

@@inthegreatwide Thank you for indulging me. I do have another question. I have to travel with two big suitcases, a carry on, and a personal item. Where do they store the big suitcases? Would it be best to still use Amtrak instead of a plane? Is Amtrak really secure? Also, have you ever gone to Boston Back Bay Station? Do you know whether there is a baggage claim area there?

​@@LNLNLN55510 If you're checking the 2 big suitcases, then you can refer to this video about checked bags on Amtrak: th-cam.com/video/Gvl_KySfY0k/w-d-xo.html However, now that it sounds like you're going to Boston, you should know that Boston Back Bay Station and Boston South Station don't offer checked bags, so if that's where you're getting off the train, you won't be able to check your bags even if your route allows them. As for the question about whether it's better to use Amtrak or a plane, that's a personal preference and also really depends on your specific circumstances, such as where you're traveling to & from, the purpose of your trip, your budget, what kind of accommodations you're already accustomed to, and how much time you have for your trip. Train travel is not for everyone but there are loads of people out there who really enjoy it (like us). The question about the security of Amtrak (in comparison to flying, for example) also depends on what aspect you're asking about. Are you asking about how much they're going to check everyone's stuff before they get on the train? Or how well your stuff is protected on the train? Or how well you can expect to actually get your checked luggage back at the end of the journey?

Just curious if you kept watching to hear about what the coach seats are like...? It's not for everyone so no judgment if that's an absolute deal-breaker for you, but for what it's worth, the coach seats are WAY more comfortable than coach on an airplane, which is what most people think of when they hear that word.

Hi Lory, when we published this video, it was Amtrak's policy that coach passengers were not allowed in the dining car, but they have since changed that policy to what you recently experienced. We talk about it briefly in a short Q&A video that we posted this year, if you're interested: th-cam.com/video/Cdsoc9ksklw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Qu80JoTFo0pGqWGv 🙂 I'm glad to hear the specific price you paid for dinner though. What all did that price include?

We really enjoyed the section of this route through Washington, so I agree that Steven's Pass is beautiful 🙂🌲 And especially in autumn when we were there! It looks like you're right about the sunrise with Amtrak's current schedule heading east (at least approximately). You'd get a short amount of time in the early morning hours of seeing the mountains in western Montana in the winter and a bit longer in the summer. I imagine it's worth setting an alarm for! You can always nap later on once you're in the plains anyway 😆

@ I go to bed at around 6:30 am so I’m in bed by whitefish. I work nights at home

@@DJNX4995 How does that work for you while you're on the train? Do you sleep all day and miss all the views?! 😟

Interesting that you had that experience. We've only taken the Empire Builder heading west, and our experience was the cafe car being in the same place as it was on all the other double-decker trains, which is in-between coach and the dining car. I'm wondering how what you saw would work for the people coming from Seattle to Spokane, because it would mean that they don't have access to a cafe car for that part of their journey, unless Amtrak is doing a full cafe car detachment and reattachment during the link-up with the Portland train in Spokane, which doesn't make sense to me. If anyone else reads this and has had a similar experience with the cafe car being at the back of coach on a double-decker train, please chime in! We haven't seen that before but I always appreciate when people leave comments with their different experiences, so thanks 🙂🚂

@ there’s a mini snack bar in the dining car leaving seattle. Smaller selection but there are some snacks and drinks from there served there. The ppl going from Portland have the snack and lounge but have flex dining till they get to Spokane. Order goes engine 3 seattle sleepers dining car 2 coach cars from seattle and then Portland coach car followed by lounge car and Portland sleeper once they connect

@@DJNX4995 Man I would be so upset if I got on the train in Seattle and didn't have the observation car for the ride through the forests in Washington! We had one on our train heading west, even after the train split in Spokane. I wonder if Amtrak has changed that since the last time we were on it.

We've never had our luggage measured by Amtrak, but they do weigh checked bags. As far as carry-on luggage, we actually have another short video about that: th-cam.com/video/gf0PhFDe968/w-d-xo.html I hope that helps! Please feel free to send us more questions 🙂

Oh I am just now seeing your other comments, so that answers my question about if you were in a private room or in coach. If you don't mind sharing, how much did you pay for your roomette from Emeryville to Chicago and back?

I'm glad to hear you loved it! In the spirit of this video, how was your experience with luggage in your roomette? How much stuff did you have, and how easy/difficult was it to store everything in you room?

Since I know now that you were in a roomette, I'm wondering if you can tell me if you were able to control the temperature in your room...?

Glad to hear it! The California Zephyr is my favorite route 🤩 We have only ridden it from west to east. Did it feel different going the other direction? Which would you suggest? Also, I'm curious to know if you did the journey in a private room or in coach...?