Category: Train Trip

Continuing from my previous post, number 5 is Railbookers, the Amtrak travel agent and the one I used. I asked them to do something out of the ordinary and they did the best job they could. I don’t know how they would have done if I had just done a canned trip.

Communication was the problem. I didn’t make myself clear as to what was important to me and I didn’t check the itinerary close enough. If I had I would have noticed that I was on the train at night in the northwest and would miss all the views and I would have caught that I would be on a bus. Both could have been changed if caught early. Unfortunately I didn’t get the vouchers until the day before I left and the advance trip details were not clear.

Lessons learned for next time. I still would have used them for the initial trip because it was very complicated. But next time I go I will do the planning myself.

Let me start this by saying I had a great time and I would do it again, wait a minute, I will do it again. Most things went as planned and the hiccups were either unforeseen or the result of miscommunication among the parties involved. But there are always things that could be done differently when viewed in hindsight.

First is Amtrak does not own the tracks it runs on. They are at the mercy of the freight trains. Many times we sat on a side rail for an hour waiting for a freight train to pass. So don’t believe it when someone says trains run on time. If you can’t deal with a delay, don’t take the train. This also means if your schedule calls for you to arrive in a station to meet another train due to leave in a couple of hours, don’t expect to make the connection. Amtrak will get you where you need to be, it just might be by bus and a different train. This is what happened to me when I was on the Southwest Chief leaving Albuquerque, heading to Los Angeles to get the Coast Starlight. There was a 2 hour window but the Southwest Chief left Chicago 3 hours late and lost 2 more hours enroute. I really wanted the Coast Starlight because of the views but I would have had to stay over in LA an extra day, pay for the hotel and lose a day in San Francisco. So Amtrak took 14 of us off the train in Barstow, bussed us to Bakersfield and put us on a train that went up the middle of CA, affording magnificent views of junk yards and farms. We got there, just not the way I wanted to.

Number 2 on the list is the Amtrak app. This is a case where no app would be better. You know it’s bad when the only thing on the opening plate is an ad for their credit card. I booked my trip using Amtrak Vacations which uses Railbookers. It was not a standard trip, more on that later.

Number 3 is being your own medicines. A lady seated at the same dinner table as me had a headache. Amtrak does not sell medicine and the attendant told her she would be fired if Amtrak found out she gave her some from her personal items. Most of the stations are too small to sell anything and there isn’t enough time at stops to go find a store.

Number 4 is don’t take the train because you want to see the scenery in national parks. That was my number one reason and what I told the travel agent when I was planning the trip. We went through the parks at night, there was no daytime train. I asked an Amtrak agent about that and was told the trains were not allowed to run through parks during the day. So don’t believe what you read on the internet. This could change in the future, but for now, no great views.

This is getting to be a very long post. So let’s call this part one and I write the next one tomorrow.