We Tried Living On An Amtrak Train

Im a 100% disabled veteran, its a dream of mine to live on a train. Id love to do atleast the whole united states at least once. 🙁 thanks for sharing your adventures and letting some of us live vicariously.

For her 18th birthday, my daughter and I went around the country. Coast Starlight to Seattle, Empire Builder to Chicago, Chicago to DC, DC to New Orleans, NO to Los Angeles. And we stayed a few days in each spot, which I highly recommend. Definitely recommend this!

I REALLY ADMIRE THE FACT YOU TWO SEEM TO GET ALONG & GET THROUGH DIFFICULT TIMES WITH SUCH EASE. YOU GUYS SEEM TO HAVE SUCH A GREAT RELATIONSHIP. HOW BLESSED ARE YOU TO HAVE EACH OTHER & YOU HAVE THE SAME HOBBIES THAT YOU ENJOY & SHARE TOGETHER. God Bless & happy train travels :)

You need to add graphic rail maps to these videos so us viewers see where you were traveling.

When I was studying abroad in college, my dad took the opportunity to travel all the way around the perimeter of the US on Amtrak. He would get off occasionally to golf. He spent 3 or 4 weeks on the trains in total. He made lots of friends that he still keeps in touch with, and I enjoyed getting postcards from all over the country.

Because of you guys and your wonderful videos, I have been on all of the longer routes. My last trip was 19 days and 9 trains. If you throw your dining car attendant a few bucks, they have made me some off the menu items, like chef salad, steak salad and omelets. I always hit up the burrito lady and take subway from Los Angeles and a sub from the deli (can't remember the name) right around the corner from the station in Chicago. If you have a long enough stay in Emeryville. Right around the corner from the station to the right is an indoor neighborhood market that has about half dozen or so restaurants, all with take out and there tables to sit down at to eat. Each restaurant is of a different nationality. Maybe you guys can put together a short video on "your" favorite food hacks or close by places to get food on long stops or overnight stays between connections. I hope my home town Las Vegas, gets an Amtrak route back, so I don't have to take the bus to LA.

A senior solo train traveler, (coach), here; only since 2020. I was told by staff, “Once you start riding the train, you’ll never go back…” and I really haven’t. 🙂 I will have my first ever train trip, where I will NOT know anyone upon my arrival. Kinda like my first real vacation where I’m not staying with family or friends. I am excited! 🙏🏾 would be appreciated. 🙂 In my research for my upcoming adventure I discovered your channel, so a new subscriber, and have found your insights very helpful. You both are very brave for “living” on a train. I enjoy reading and “art-ing”; mainly quilting while I ride. In my past rides I haven’t explored the cafe, diners, nor observation decks, (kinda an introvert), but maybe with this upcoming ride, cross country; I’ll leave my seat. You’ve inspired me. 🙂 Thank you both.

Last June, I got the USA Railpass, supplemented it with the California Railpass, and booked a few trips in the Pacific Northwest besides. 27 days, start to finish. Ten overnight stays in hostels or hotels, the rest in a coach seat. I had to deal with two trains that were seven hours late and one derailment of the Coast Starlight when we hit a water truck blocking a crossing. All in all, a fascinating experience, and I’m planning on another trip soon that will get me all the US routes I didn’t take on this last trip, though I was quite ready to get back home by day 27. I’m 65, taller guy so sleeping in a coach seat was challenging but doable. Entire cost of the trip, including food, lodging, some tourism, was $2300.

Okay, I have one question....laundry? Just curious as I don't have 30 different outfits. 😊

I love being on the rails. I hate having to get off. For one of my Christmas vacations when I was working, my company that I worked for gave us so many days. Couple that with the weekends and the fact Christmas and New Year's fell on a Tuesday and I added 5 vacation days to it, I was gone on the train for 3 weeks. I covered much of the West, South and east Because of the routes I took and availability like trains, bedrooms etc, part of my trip led me back home in Emeryville for 2 days before I had to get back on the train for the rest of my trip. Aside from being home for 2 days, my lay overs were either overnight or 4 or 8 hours before I had to get back on my next train. So I was on the train for 3 weeks and I loved every moment of it and I hated to get off when getting home. Back then I took 2 train trips each year for my vacations from work; my 4th of July trip which was short and Christmas holiday trip which was the longest. Yes! The food gets repetitive and it's a bit difficult getting your exercise in. But still for me that's all second nature. It's just being on the rails is what does it for me.

How awesome! I'm currently writing a novel which includes the Auto Train in a prominent role to the story and the passengers aboard play key roles. Due to the circumstances in the story, the passengers have to live on the train for a prolonged period of time. This video, and channel, is a great resource for me. If anyone cares enough to help me out, I could use some impressions about some of the smells, sounds, feelings, and other sensory experiences when staying on a train. I'd like to diversify beyond my own experiences riding on Amtrak trains to give my characters more realism since I know my own experiences and impressions will differ from other people, but I only have my own experiences to draw from.

I’m on the City of New Orleans right now, sitting in Memphis. I’ve done a lot of long distance Amtrak travel, and boy do I hate flexible dining- you REALLY must have been tired of the dining car food to have been happy to eat that! You can get lots of steps in by marching in place in your room, listening to podcasts casts. Just did 1.5 miles 😁 Thanks for another lovely video!!

It's better than being on a plane where you always have to be seated.

Train trips are point A to point B for me. While usually enjoyable, they are definitely a means of transportation rather than being the sole purpose of my trip.

LOL - thanks for living that experiment and sharing with us! Two years ago I discovered your channel and you showed me the potential for a newly widowed woman to travel around this country solo and safely. My first trip was a true test for me: Downeaster, LSL, Empire Builder, Coast Starlight to Emeryville, CZ, LSL, and Downeaster back to Maine. I took your advice and scheduled a night’s stay at most transition points: Chicago, Seattle, Emeryville, Chicago, and Boston. As it turned out at the time, there were some cutbacks in some route schedules during the pandemic so I had to spend 2 nights in Seattle which was an unplanned for treat to walk around that little city for one day (strictly during the daylight hours!) I became a complete fan of train travel! I have since taken a few other trips, bringing my parents on one. I agree about the inability to really move around as being one of the most difficult, and unhealthy, aspects of a longer train trip. Family needs at home keep me from taking any extended trips this year but when I am able to travel it will include Amtrak, though not for a solid month 😄. Thank you for all your videos! I often refer friends to your channels. 💜

A couple of points. If you know the route, you can do some research and find places where food can be delivered to the train. An hour before arriving at one of the major stops (like Havre) you call ahead for a pizza (or other takeout) and have it delivered to the train station. The conductors probably know the stops where this works. I’ve seen it done. On your next trip maybe you can research the stops where this is possible. And if you jump off at every “smoke stop” and walk the length of the train outside, you can get a couple thousand steps in every day. You can also walk the whole train inside a couple of times, if you have good “train legs”. Thanks for a great video.

Sheesh! You guys don't look like you are old enough to have grown children! Looking GOOD! I guess that is what love does for two people. So fun to watch people get along and love!!!

For medical reasons, I would never be able to do this for extended periods. I'm a big DVT risk. Been on trains before and enjoyed them! Have fun!

My husband and I traveled for the first time a few months ago on Amtrak. We took the Lakeshore Limited to Chicago and then some other train (I can't remember their names) to a little town in Montana where we got off to visit family for a week. We then did the trip in reverse to go home. The entire round trip was 6 nights on the train plus one in a Chicago hotel because of trains being delayed. That was the roughest ride I've ever experienced. I was constantly being thrown into the walls and occasionally into other people's rooms. I had a few people thrown into my roomette as well. I fell on someone once. I saw three other people all on the floor. When I got home I had 14 bruises on my legs. They couldn't pay me enough to travel overnight on Amtrak again.

I've been riding trains since the '50's and always anticipated getting off after 3 days of travel. Living in cramped quarters stifles my thinking with limited mobility for extended periods of time. I'd love to own my own private rail car-won't happen in my lifetime. Amtrak once had different menu choices on all long-distance trains. Now menus are limited to fixed traditional and flexible choices. There have been times I wanted to choose not to eat the 3 meals offered because I had the feeling of being force fed or passing up the value of complimentary meals. Amtrak provided complimentary coffee, tea, & juice to sleeper car passengers until the '90's when meals were included. Accommodation charges increased on its account.