@Jack_Stafford

7 months ago

Another thing that I'm surprised was skipped because it never is in airplane videos, is it all of your meals are included with rooms, so if you're in the train for 2 days that's 6 full meals and they are really very good , and far beyond anything and airline can serve. In the morning my purser gave me the menu selections for the day and a choice of reservation times for the dining car, and although it was very nice with real glass and silverware, I am just a little too introverted to be seated with strangers while eating (even though they were very friendly) so my purser was kind enough to bring the rest of my meals for the trip to my roomette. I believe they came in foam boxes with that was perfectly fine for the more relaxed eating experience, and I also was given the option of getting anything from the cafe which is distinctly different from the dining car. The dining car can you thought of it as more of a restaurant experience in the cafe is very much like a snack bar but they are in two different places and people may not be aware of that and of course food from the cafe is cheaper, but sometimes you just want a burger and fries :-) I have no idea how much the food would have cost if it weren't included in the room, but it was definitely sufficient for a big guy appetite and the food came frequently enough that I had enough saved muffins and rolls that I thought I would eat snacks later, but there was always another full meal just around the corner! I think there were two shared bathrooms in my car and I never had trouble walking the few steps to use it, it was clean and there was no smell I'm not so sure I would want one right next to my chair though. A cool tip I read here was that when you flush the toilet if you're in a room with one to follow with water from the shower or water bottle and that will prevent any build-up or odors in your small space. The attendance for the rooms really are nice and helpful. If you want turndown service at the end of the day and have your chairs converted to a bed, you can do that. I elected to do that.just once since the bed takes up nearly the entire room at with just enough room to stand up between the bed and the door, I found it just as comfortable sleeping in the chair with it reclined. Also if you're not planning on using the upper fold-down bunk bed, you can use that space for additional luggage or storage of pillows during the day etc. The attendants really can help you with just about anything you need, they will get you pretty much anything you want, or can give you complete privacy just depending on what you prefer. It was nice to have a shower room available, the one in my car was downstairs but very large I think designed to also accommodate wheelchairs so I took a late night shower and it was cool to have that experience on a train. All of those things added together, as well as someone to help you with your luggage and all the rest, was worth the upgrade for me which was an optional upgrade after the fact and nowhere near the advertised price, about $100 over Coach and that part can be a little tricky, and you do gamble a little bit by buying a coach seat and then waiting for the inevitable upgrade email, but for me it was well worth the price for really being treated like a first-class passenger on the Southwest Chief from Kansas City to LA was a trip of a lifetime and not having to worry about packing snacks or worrying about having enough money for food aboard was great, and you're also were local foods available in at several of the stops not that I needed any more food but I did have to try some homemade burritos being sold vendor on the platform in Albuquerque, they were amazing! Plus unique souvenirs and keepsakes, I bought some authentic Indian Arrowheads and jewelry there as well. I could have made the flight in 3 hours in been crammed into a seat designed for skinny teenagers and been subjected to intrusive body searches and the crazy hubbub of an airport but I wasn't no hurry and the 35 our train trip was extremely comfortable and enjoyable, extraordinary views of abandoned missions in the middle of the desert with no roads in sight as well as flying across the tracks in Western Kansas at ninety miles an hour at night and crawling through canyons so narrow in New Mexico that have the windows opened it seems like you could touch the walls, you don't get experiences like that flying at 35,000 ft. Although during that high-speed segment of the trip we did hit some real turbulence and I got tossed into a luckily vacant booth in the dining car lol I would recommend staying in your seats when the train is going 90 + miles per hour ;) Everything I needed was taken care of and it was cool being pampered. My only regret is that since I was traveling on a budget and my first time on a train, I was not able to tip my excellent car attendant very much. I would next time make sure to figure that into my plans because they really work hard. I hope everyone gives Amtrak chance and I hope that their routes are expanded so that most cities are serviced!

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