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The good news is that you won't need good luck upon arrival by Amtrak in either San Diego or Los Angeles to get around.
Both stop in intermodal stations with metro rail, commuter trains, and buses!
I always dreaded going to LA until I went by train. I figured out how to get around. It was easy if you had close access to the train station or the metro rail stop. And there are plenty of daily trains from there if you want to make a side trip to San Diego or somewhere north.
I took Amtrak from Birmingham to New Orleans a few years ago. While it was much MUCH more comfortable than a plane, the travel time was absurdly slow. The trip back wasn't as bad. Being able to go to the dining car is really nice.
My in-laws did the same round trip last year, and it was a nightmare of delays both ways. 8+ hours each. Absolutely ridiculous.
Friends did the round trip a few months ago and also had a bad experience of very slow travel down to New Orleans. They upgraded to a sleeper car coming back and thought that was okay.
Since I value my time too much to risk the delays, I won't likely use Amtrak again in this region.
We have taken probably 20 Amtrak trips, over 30 years, because my wife has an unusual phobia of highways. Mostly Amtrak trips from Wash. DC to Florida, but a number of times from Wash. DC. to N.Y.C. - Boston, twice to Buffalo, and a few times to the Midwest plains region as well.
The northeast corridor routes are O.K. - but the others never keep on schedule, and are nearly always an hour or more late. Because they are required to pull-over to let freight trains by, who have the right-of-way. You meet the most interesting, friendly passengers with fascinating stories, while waiting in the station or on the platform, while riding, or at breakfast in the dining car.
The seats are very comfortable vinyl now, instead of fabric. If you're riding overnight, I recommend bringing a pillow. The conductors have stopped handing out tiny mini-pillows, (maybe due to Covid?). The cars have overhead baggage racks, as well as floor space to store larger bags at the end of each car. You can recline your seats if desired, and can also pull up your foot rest to prop up your feet when sleeping. Tiny curtains can be pulled up or down, and tiny overhead lights over each seat can be turned on or off.
The conductor writes each passenger's destination on a card above the seat, and they come through to remind you to get off at your destination. They help lift your heavy baggage as you get on and off the train. Sometimes they show recent Hollywood movies on small screens over every other seat.
Sometimes the station ticket windows don't accept cash money. (which I don't understand -- because all paper money has printed clearly on it "This note is legal tender for all debts"). So on a couple occasions I offered to charge tickets for strangers, and then took their cash).
This year at one station, we had to hike about 1,000 feet along a platform, carrying multiple heavy suitcases, to reach the designated car we were instructed to board. Many small-town stations which have infrequent service, are only opened and manned for say, and hour or so just before the train comes. In such cases, you may find yourself sitting outside in freezing or inclement weather, sometimes in sketchy neighborhoods, like Petersburg, VA if you arrive assuming the train will show up on time, but it arrives late.
Although it's very scenic (with views of white-water rafters), the main east-west trunk lines creep along barely at a snail's pace when going through the Allegheny mountains of PA, or going north-south through the Adirondack mountains of NYS, using I suppose the same original track they did in 1850 or so. Through a special program, occasionally volunteer tour guides will board and entertain passengers a short while with stories of the history of the area you're passing through.
Last edited by slowlane3; 06-13-2022 at 07:06 PM..
I have ridden on Amtrak in California between Los Angeles & San Jose r/t, between Los Angeles & Salinas o/w, between San Diego & Irvine o/w and various o/w trips on Irvine-L.A./L.A.-Irvine route (sometimes Amtrak & sometimes the Metrolink commuter rail). I have also taken Amtrak o/w from NYC to Baltimore and then o/w from Newark, Delaware to NYC. Also I have taken Amtrak between NYC and Hartford, CT r/t.
Quite a bit between Boston and New York. It's my preferred way to travel between the two cities. I've done a couple of trips as far as Baltimore and Washington, but I'd rather fly than travel that distance by train. If Acela were upgraded to reach Shinkansen speeds (about 200 vs. 150 max on Acela) and maintain those high speeds for longer distances (it only reaches max speeds on a few segments of the route), DC-BOS would be a very reasonable train ride. But it is not great at the moment. Especially with both DCA and BOS being so accessible from the city centers.
Seattle cross country, to East, sleeper car , round trip with a friend (she has a credit) would you go on such an adventure; if so, what route ? Southern, Northeast ?
Have read, scanned most Posts of 9 pages, there's pros, cons. Appreciate your Posts. Thank you.
But my trips usually involve DC to NYC or DC to Philly. On the Southern leg from DC to Virginia, the furthest I've gone is out to Norfolk. And that's been most recently within the last 2 months.
Seattle cross country, to East, sleeper car , round trip with a friend (she has a credit) would you go on such an adventure; if so, what route ? Southern, Northeast ?
Have read, scanned most Posts of 9 pages, there's pros, cons. Appreciate your Posts. Thank you.
Where are you going? My daughter recently went to Chicago from Portland (Empire Builder) and enjoyed the trip. You need a sleeper, which includes meals in the price. The Empire Builder runs east from Seattle (Glacier N.P., Fargo, Twin Cities, Milwaukee) to Chicago.
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