Amtrak Tips?

[TheWanderingScholar]

So right I am planning my exchange trip to Finland and I have a general idea of cost of getting there with preliminary est. being $800 to $900 using a combination of flying and Amtrak.

While I have experience with flying from previous trips I have no experience with Amtraks. So does anyone have experience with Amtraks. If so any tips to this easier on myself. I am taking a train from Texas to Chicago transfer to a train, then from there I go to Washington D.C. Union Station where I get on my flight.

[jacob]

It's like flying but without the security theater. Buy your ticket online (maybe at the station?). Get to the train station and wait for the train. Because of silly rules about giving priority to freight over passengers(*), your train may be delayed for hours, so take that into account if you have transfers. Get on the train. Sit and travel. Bring food and drink if desired. There may or may not be way to buy food on the train. I wouldn't count on it.

Greyhound is much the same but cheaper.

(*) There are no such rules in Europe and over there you can almost set your clock according to the arrival time of the trains.

PS: Why not fly directly from Texas?

[Dragline]

I've ridden them all over. It's actually pretty easy and much more pleasant than the plane experience, at least to me.

Bring food and water. Food on board is limited and generally expensive. And bring reading/listening material. And earplugs if you have any trouble sleeping where there is noise. If you have any tendency towards motion sickness, you may want to avoid riding backwards. This does not bother most people.

See if you can figure out what kind of train you are on, what kind of seating is available and whether it has a shower. Also some trains have wifi, but others don't.

What you really need to figure out is how you are getting from Union Station in DC to the airport (and which of the three local-to DC airports is it? Dulles, Reagan-National or BWI-Marshall? You can take local trains to the two latter ones, but not to Dulles. You would probably need to take a bus/shuttle or a metro train and then a bus.

[A Brit]

Reading the posts here and having looked at their website, it looks like a very different rail experience to here in Europe!

It might not have the security drama of air travel but it seems you have to prove your identity in order travel.

I've travelled all over Europe by rail and love it (it's so easy and pleasant compared to driving or flying) - but the Amtrak/USA version looks much more of a challenge.

[dot_com_vet]

Great plan, I've had very nice experiences on Amtrak.

If traveling coach, I like to spend a lot of time in the lounge car. You can meet people, and it can turn into a social event. I've even seen people bring instruments and play for the rest of the passengers. The scenery can be amazing too.

There's a historic part of Union Station in Chicago, if you have any time to kill.

[TheWanderingScholar]

It's like flying but without the security theater. Buy your ticket online (maybe at the station?). Get to the train station and wait for the train. Because of silly rules about giving priority to freight over passengers(*), your train may be delayed for hours, so take that into account if you have transfers. Get on the train. Sit and travel. Bring food and drink if desired. There may or may not be way to buy food on the train. I wouldn't count on it.

Greyhound is much the same but cheaper.

(*) There are no such rules in Europe and over there you can almost set your clock according to the arrival time of the trains.

PS: Why not fly directly from Texas?

To Finland? It is much more expensive really. I think $1,600-$1,700 for a one way ticket. However with from Washington D.C. with 2-stops is goes down to $700 range and considering Amtrak tickets will cost around $200, I will save $600 to $700 dollars doing it this way. Besides it is also the experience of being on an Amtrak that matters to me.

@Dragline: Dulles it seems.

[jacob]

@A Brit - Compared to [Western] Europe a lot of the US infrastructure (trains, electric wires and cables are still above ground, no co-generated heat) is like going 30--50 years back in time. The US is really optimized for cars, planes, and cheap energy, where it leads Europe by about 10-20 years.

[Dragline]

Here's a couple links that may help:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/t ... ID=2306421

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g2 ... umbia.html

But if you are up for it and you let me know when you are coming, I may be able to take you part way or all the way there depending on the timing. My older kids go to school near Union Station and I live in the direction of Dulles. PM me if you are interested.

[EdithKeeler]

If you're not wedded to the train idea, check out MegaBus. It's very inexpensive, and I've ridden it several times between Dallas and Memphis, and it's been a very pleasant trip each time. I ride at night, pop a sleeping pill, and wake up at the other end. The most I've paid is $30 each way, but have paid as little as $5 for a trip (reservations made well in advance). I suspect a MegaBus trip will take the same amount of time, or possibly less, than the train. Much better than Greyhound, which will stop in every little Podunk town.

[Chad]

Amtrak is great in the Northeast Corridor (Boston to DC), as passenger trains have the right of way. The rest of the country, as others have pointed out, can be frustrating as freight trains have the right away. You will be spending a lot of time on that train, which might be part of your goal.

If not, it still might be cheaper to fly. I just looked on Kayak and Dallas to Helsinki is only $933 with 1 stop. Both Austin and Houston had similar prices (I was curious, as the train to DC with flight to Finland being cheaper was worth investigating). I'm not sure where in Texas you are coming from (or where in Finland you are going), but if you can get to a major airport there it would be similar to the mid $700 flights from DC + train ticket + meals + transportation to the DC airport.

Just a thought.

@EdithKeeler

Just an FYI. The bus companies like Megabus (though, Megabus was not one of the ones closed down) appear to have been cutting corners and creating safety issues. I'm not saying don't take them. Just giving info.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/list ... t-21188112

[henrik]

(or where in Finland you are going)

I think he mentioned Turku on another thread. That should be < 3 hrs and ~15€ by bus from Helsinki. On the scale of getting there from Texas, flights to Stockholm and Tallinn are also worth checking out, it's easy enough to get to Turku from both.

[TheWanderingScholar]

I am going to Turku, Finland. I will check out other possibilities in Texas for cheaper plane tickets places. Sounds interesting to me.

So far, I found a lot of prices flight that are around $700.

[henrik]

Sorry to derail (haha) your thread from the Amtrak question, but I made a few random flight searches and the second one brought up a €414 ($570) offer of a one way flight from Houston to Helsinki via Istanbul (Turkish Airlines). I've flown with TA a lot and they're one of the best airlines in Europe. My search was for a random date (22 Jan 2014), but I just mention it so you know you might benefit from some more flight info surfing. PM me or why not make a separate thread if you'd like some help with it.

Also, does your flight need to be one way? It would be cheaper if you could plan for a return date and buy the flights on the same ticket.