BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Solo Travel Deals on Amtrak

Check out the Independent Travel site for hot news about great specials on train travel with Amtrak. Chicago to Los Angeles. New York to New Orleans. 70 to 80 per cent discounts! Let us know if anybody decides to take them up on these deals. I'm a sucker for train travel, and with Amtrak's new easy-to-use web site and new phone-computer travel agent Julie, I'm back to train travel in the USA!

WOW! Massive discounts. Thanks for the tip Trish!

I have taken the "Empire Builder" route a few times between Wisconsin and the Pacific Coast and the trip is just gorgeous (and mostly on time).

A couple of years ago, I had a disasterous experience on the "Sunset Limited" between L.A. and Florida (via New Orleans). It was not Amtrak's fault. There was terrible flooding in Texas so they kicked us off the train. Nightmare.

I have never found the "Coast Starlight" from L.A. up to Washington to be very timely, but the scenery is so lovely. Our train once broke down on the lava beds in northern California and it turned out to be a great unplanned stop for a few hours!

Anyway. The trains are great if you have the time to allow for delays that will, let's face it, probably happen. The cabins are awfully small, but who cares! Get out and about.

Oh and a tip for smokers...

All Amtrak long-haul trains are smoke-free. Smokers can jump on to the platform for a quick puff only at designated smoking stops. These are few and far between -- sometimes spaced 8-9 hours apart! Solution: When traveling with my mother (a heavy smoker), we make fast friends with the Amtrak staff and let them know she is a smoker. Most of them are pretty receptive to letting her know in advance when a stop is coming up so she can sneak off the train at some of the shorter stops (not official designated smoking stops). It's all very shadey, but I do NOT enjoy traveling with my mother if she is nicotene deprived! Especially not in those tiny little cabins!

I've never done a cross-country journey in the US on a train, but I would really like to. And with prices like these, I could actually consider it! It's true that you need some extra time, but I usually think of a train trip not simply at a "getting there" type of experience but as an integral part of the vacation itself.

Absolutely!

Here's a helpful address for train trips in France:
http://www.voyages-sncf.com/dynamic/_SvH...=UK&_AGENCY=VSC

Their website has an English version.