50 days travelling the Eastern parts of the US

[Rupert]

Hi everybody,

This looks like a great forum and community. I am an Australian currently between study and my job and am looking for some adventure. With my deep interest in the US its people, culture, geography history and politics a trip around the East seemed like a no brainer. At present I am arriving in Boston on September 29 and then will proceed to make my way all around over approx. 50 days. I have put together a rough route of places I would like to visit based on the Amtrak interactive map and some research into decent routes (I hear the cardinal from NYC to Chicago is amazing).

Boston -> NYC -> Chicago -> St Louis -> Memphis -> New Orleans -> Birmingham -> Atlanta -> D.C. -> Philly (with possible side trip to Atlantic City) -> NYC -> Boston

I have given myself about 5 days in the bigger cities and 3 in the smaller ones. From my research the worst section of this route would be St. Louis to Memphis which is by overnight bus (leaving at 1am!).

Does anybody have any thoughts on this route, what I might add or subtract, nice places to visit that few people see. My problem is that I don't drive so that may be limiting. I will probably be couch surfing in each city and filing stories (I freelance as a writer). Are taxis pretty common at the train stations?

I would like to get an special pass like the unlimited travel card or something. By the looks of it I'll be spending roughly $350 on train and bus fare...

Thank everyone,

Rupe

 

[Railroad Bill]

A Big Welcome to the USA Rupert

Sounds like you have a great plan to see the eastern US by train.

I agree I would not care for the bus ride from St Louis to Memphis but without returning to Chicago and riding the CONO down to Memphis (which could work well into your schedule since the CONO southbound does not leave until the evening hours from Chicago) there are fewer alternatives.

I would suppose that you have allowed a few days to explore New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Washington DC and Boston. Great museums, great food and transportation that makes it easy to get around without a car or using a cab much.

If you are riding coach on all trains, then the Amtrak pass can save you money, but you must adhere to the rules of acquiring tickets, time spent on given routes, etc.

I am sure other members will comment further on your great trip.

Best wishes.

RRB

 

[Devil's Advocate]

My problem is that I don't drive so that may be limiting.

There are several US cities where you can easily travel around without a car, but I'm not so sure that includes cities like Memphis and Atlanta.

Are taxis pretty common at the train stations?

For major stations in large cities taxis are typically common. However, unless you are going to be staying close to the station taxi fees can add up very quickly and potentially dwarf your other transportation fees, possibly by several orders of magnitude.

I would like to get an special pass like the unlimited travel card or something.

To the best of my understanding Amtrak has discontinued the unlimited pass. There is a newer and more restrictive pass available today, but it's not unlimited and requires that you plan well in advance in order to find seats that qualify for the new pass. If you must make changes closer to departure they will likely require additional fees to be paid, at least per my understanding.

Boston

NYC

Chicago

St Louis

Memphis

New Orleans

Birmingham

Atlanta

D.C.

Philly

 

[Rupert]

Thank you both for your replies.

By the sounds of it I may be better off buying a few tickets in advance and then purchasing the others as I go, do you think this makes sense?

I am looking at the 45 day, 18 segment USA-Rail-Pass are these cost effective? It seems if it is going to cost almost $900USD I may as well just buy the tickets as I go... am I missing something here?

I think it also sounds like a better plan to backtrack to Chicago and take the CONO down to Memphis instead and then to New Orleans.

 

[benjibear]

I am not sure where your interests are but you can easily spend a week in Philadelphia, New York, Washington, and Boston. Each of these citys have good public transportation and should be easy to get a taxi.

Your side trip to Atlantic City would be by NJ Transit. To me Atlantic City is primarily for gambling but it is one of the few beach locations you can get to by train. When you get there, you can avoid the taxi and take a free shuttle bus to the many casinos. They leave right after the train arrives so don't delay getting to them.

 

[Bob Dylan]

:hi: Always great to hear from our "Down Under" Cousins! That's a nice plan you have, in your case Id recommend NOT getting the Rail Pass since a 45 day Pass costs about twice what you figured your Train and Bus Fares to be! Also, I would say that you consider using MegaBus or Bolt Bus instead of Greyhound for your Bus travels, they have some Fares (very few!) as low as $1, first come firest served! As others have said, most of Amtraks Trains are reserved so you will need to get your tickets in advance, Amtrak uses a "Bucket" system with Fares that Rise and Fall based on Supply and Demand! One of our members developed Amsnag.net, you can look upo all Trains for up to 30 days @ a time, you will need the Station Codes and your Dates, then it will give you the Coach Fares, Sleeper Prices (Roomette and Bedrooms)and Business/First Class Fares (Regional Trains and Acela on the Northeast Corriddor) for your selected Routes!

As far as routes and cities to visit, I suggest that you DO take the Cardinal from New York to Chicago, then consider riding the Southwest Chief from Chicago to Kansas City (a nice City),then take the Missouri River Runner to St. Louis, a much better ride than CHI-STL on the Lincoln Trains! Then ride a Lincoln Train back to Chicago, take the City of New Orleans to Memphis, then ride it on to New Orleans, then the Crescent to Washington D.C., then ride an Acela (our 150mph High Speed Trains) from Washington back to Boston! Not much to recommend about Atlanta, I'd skip it (as well as Birmingham, thats a City whose time has passed, very ugly place!)

Also, look into using the Hostels International to save money on Hotels, the one in Chicago is especially nice! New York and Boston are especially pricey for Hotels, as you know there are lots of Discount Travel sights to save money on Hotels etc.

As to the Rental Car thing, Id also say to take a pass on that, our Cities are very crowded, traffic is a mess and Parking is very Dear, both Price Wise and in Availability! The Cities you want to vist, with the exception of Memphis, have Passes for the Mass Transportation (Subways/Light Rail/Busses), they are Good Deals and mostly easy to use!

 

[Rupert]

Thank you everyone for the terrific advice and for the warm greetings too, makes me even more excited to get exploring your fine country! The reasons I am interested in going to places like Atlanta, Birmingham etc. is that they are somewhat off the beaten track, tourists and travellers flock to the Northeastern and Western cities but I want to visit the places that get less coverage, try and get a feel for other parts of America too. Also they break up the journey.

I would definitely consider putting Kansas City onto the list though...

 

[Amtrak Cajun]

Rupert, welcome to AU, and I hope that you have a pleasant journey when you visit the US.

Anthony

 

[Devil's Advocate]

One of our members developed Amsnag.net, you can look upo all Trains for up to 30 days @ a time, you will need the Station Codes and your Dates, then it will give you the Coach Fares, Sleeper Prices (Roomette and Bedrooms)and Business/First Class Fares (Regional Trains and Acela on the Northeast Corriddor) for your selected Routes!

Excellent advice Jim.

Also, look into using the Hostels International to save money on Hotels, the one in Chicago is especially nice! New York and Boston are especially pricey for Hotels, as you know there are lots of Discount Travel sights to save money on Hotels etc.

I think you'd be hard pressed to find a hostel that could undercut couch surfing.

The reasons I am interested in going to places like Atlanta, Birmingham etc. is that they are somewhat off the beaten track, tourists and travellers flock to the Northeastern and Western cities but I want to visit the places that get less coverage, try and get a feel for other parts of America too. Also they break up the journey.

Don't forget to post some of your stories here, or remind us to visit your blog, as the case may be.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

You could use an alternate schedule on Greyhound if you think your STL-MEM bus is poorly timed:

http://extranet.greyhound.com/Revsup/schedules2/pageset.html

 

[Tracktwentynine]

Welcome, Rupert!

I think you should find it easy to get around most of the cities you've listed without a car. Memphis and Birmingham are probably not worth stopping in and will be difficult to get around in.

Despite what others have said, Atlanta should be fairly easy, though it depends on what you want to see. Many of the city's attractions are within walking distance of the subway.

 

[City of Miami]

Rupe, my experience is that public transit in all American cities is adequate to good. You are undoubtedly accustomed to using and will be fine.

 

[cirdan]

There are several US cities where you can easily travel around without a car, but I'm not so sure that includes cities like Memphis and Atlanta.

I don't know about memphis, but Atlanta is easily doable without a car. There is a bus from the Amtrak station to downtown, and all the main tourist attractions are in the same sort of walkable area. I'm from England myself and a lot of people tried to talk me out of going to Atlanta (don't know why) but I found it a lovely welcoming city and can say nothing negative about it. I also travelled on the MARTA trains and several buses just to see where they went and found nothing I didn't like. In fact on the contrary, I remember one occasion where I was struggling with my map to work out where I was (I think I must have got off at the wrong stop) and within seconds several people had approached me offering to help and explain.

 

[cirdan]

Thank you everyone for the terrific advice and for the warm greetings too, makes me even more excited to get exploring your fine country! The reasons I am interested in going to places like Atlanta, Birmingham etc. is that they are somewhat off the beaten track, tourists and travellers flock to the Northeastern and Western cities but I want to visit the places that get less coverage, try and get a feel for other parts of America too. Also they break up the journey.

Quite.

I've never been to Birmingham so can't comment, but personally I do prefer the less obvious destinations when I'm visiting the USA as I like to discover the interesting things for myself rather than following the tourist trail and seeing what millions of others have seen before me. That's why I mostly go for the more average cities rather than the famous ones, and so far I've never really been disappointed.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Rupe, my experience is that public transit in all American cities is adequate to good. You are undoubtedly accustomed to using and will be fine.

Surly you jest?

I don't know about memphis, but Atlanta is easily doable without a car. There is a bus from the Amtrak station to downtown, and all the main tourist attractions are in the same sort of walkable area. I'm from England myself and a lot of people tried to talk me out of going to Atlanta (don't know why) but I found it a lovely welcoming city and can say nothing negative about it. I also travelled on the MARTA trains and several buses just to see where they went and found nothing I didn't like. In fact on the contrary, I remember one occasion where I was struggling with my map to work out where I was (I think I must have got off at the wrong stop) and within seconds several people had approached me offering to help and explain.

I had no idea Atlanta had so much to see and do.

 

[TimePeace]

Welcome, Rupert!

I think you should find it easy to get around most of the cities you've listed without a car. Memphis and Birmingham are probably not worth stopping in and will be difficult to get around in.

Despite what others have said, Atlanta should be fairly easy, though it depends on what you want to see. Many of the city's attractions are within walking distance of the subway.

Hmm well Memphis might well be worth stopping in if you like Barbecue, and/or Blues!

 

[Bob Dylan]

Welcome, Rupert!

I think you should find it easy to get around most of the cities you've listed without a car. Memphis and Birmingham are probably not worth stopping in and will be difficult to get around in.

Despite what others have said, Atlanta should be fairly easy, though it depends on what you want to see. Many of the city's attractions are within walking distance of the subway.

Hmm well Memphis might well be worth stopping in if you like Barbecue, and/or Blues!

And Sun Records and Graceland, even if Elvis has left the Building! :lol:

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Rupe, my experience is that public transit in all American cities is adequate to good. You are undoubtedly accustomed to using and will be fine.

No way! Birmingham's transit is next to useless and the train station is totally horrible!

 

[AlanB]

Memphis and Birmingham are probably not worth stopping in and will be difficult to get around in.

While one can't get to Graceland by rail transit, downtown Memphis has a rather nice trolley car system that can get one around and most certainly between the Amtrak station and many of the hotels. One can also do Mud Island, which has a really neat water filled map of the entire Mississippi River.

 

[NW cannonball]

One of the best things about rail travel here in the US of A is that you get to see amazing scenery - I remember my (then) 4 year-old daughter saying on the ride from WAS - NYP - "dad- it's beautiful" riding along the coast in April.

Or the New River gorge, or the many backwoods places the trains go.

You also see the backside of several cities - like North Philadelphia - graffiti everywhere - burned-out-city blocks - out-of-service ancient factories.

Or even now approaching New York from New Jersey - acres of wasted swamps -

Some of that in CHI area.

Visit Birmingham - I haven't - see what it's like there also.

Oh, yes, this is a nation of contrasts - do avoid the (relatively small) dangerous parts of the major cities - you will see them from Amtrak, but won't get dropped near these places at any major station.

But mainly, don't sweat it --

I remember my first visit to Grand Central about 1989 - the guy in the overcoat ahead of me dropped his icepick on the floor - I just stood back to let him retrieve it -- no problem no worries - what he was scared of wasn't me.

You will not likely have any problems, go where you choose to, ride the local transit even where it's not good -- I've done that a lot and liked it and learned from it.

And please, please - report what you see back to us here - it's really good to get feedback.

The few Australians I've met on trains here were "doing the tour" and not paying attention. (Their ignorance of local tipping customs quite reasonable)

So - bless you - have a good trip - no worries -

Thanks for posting

 

[NW cannonball]

Rupe, my experience is that public transit in all American cities is adequate to good. You are undoubtedly accustomed to using and will be fine.

No way! Birmingham's transit is next to useless and the train station is totally horrible!

here's the link birmingham transit - the amtrak station is probably not very good - If you want to visit places that are not "world cities" Birmingham is probably a lot better than Pune

 

[Rupert]

Wow this is an overwhelming response rate thank you all for the incredibly helpful advice.

Taking all your advice under consideration I have decided that I probably won't do Birmingham this time and replace it with Kansas City. I have been doing some research on each of the stops (Boston, NY, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Memphis, New Orleans, Atlanta, DC, Philly) and they all sound like amazing, vibrant cities full of wonderful people, food, sights and nightlife.

I am a walker so am happy to walk to various places when I am in different cities too. I plan to couchsurf and will be doing my best to stay as close to the downtown locations as possible to enable me to get around with ease.

I have previously travelled quite extensively by train/bus/boat/motorbike and plane in Southeast Asia and by train in Europe. In these cases I have generally bought an entry-exit flight and then played it by ear when I am there, booking the trains the day before and going where I hear it is cool to go or if contingencies arise. I feel like this may be less feasible with Amtrak and I will have to set more solid plans prior to leaving (I fly out of Australia on the 22nd of September, Honolulu for 5 days then Boston via LAX).

Should I be booking my trains ahead of time and not waiting until the last minute?

Second draft plan: Boston->NYC (bus), NYC -> Chicago (Cardinal), Chicago -> Kansas City (Southwest Chief), Kansas City -> St. Louis (Missouri River Runner), St. Louis -> Memphis (via Chicago) (City of New Orleans), Memphis -> New Orleans (City of New Orleans), New Orleans -> Atlanta (Crescent), Atlanta -> D.C. (Crescent), D.C. -> Philly (Acela), Philly -> NYC (Acela), NYC -> Boston (Acela).

This sounds pretty solid to me, my next step is to work out how many days I should spend in each city and, in turn, the dates at which I'll be travelling between them.

As I said I'll be blogging the whole time and trying to pen 2-3 proper freelance articles on different topics. In terms of photography from the trains is there any advice on this?

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Wow this is an overwhelming response rate thank you all for the incredibly helpful advice.

Taking all your advice under consideration I have decided that I probably won't do Birmingham this time and replace it with Kansas City. I have been doing some research on each of the stops (Boston, NY, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Memphis, New Orleans, Atlanta, DC, Philly) and they all sound like amazing, vibrant cities full of wonderful people, food, sights and nightlife.

I am a walker so am happy to walk to various places when I am in different cities too. I plan to couchsurf and will be doing my best to stay as close to the downtown locations as possible to enable me to get around with ease.

I have previously travelled quite extensively by train/bus/boat/motorbike and plane in Southeast Asia and by train in Europe. In these cases I have generally bought an entry-exit flight and then played it by ear when I am there, booking the trains the day before and going where I hear it is cool to go or if contingencies arise. I feel like this may be less feasible with Amtrak and I will have to set more solid plans prior to leaving (I fly out of Australia on the 22nd of September, Honolulu for 5 days then Boston via LAX).

Should I be booking my trains ahead of time and not waiting until the last minute?

Second draft plan: Boston->NYC (bus), NYC -> Chicago (Cardinal), Chicago -> Kansas City (Southwest Chief), Kansas City -> St. Louis (Missouri River Runner), St. Louis -> Memphis (via Chicago) (City of New Orleans), Memphis -> New Orleans (City of New Orleans), New Orleans -> Atlanta (Crescent), Atlanta -> D.C. (Crescent), D.C. -> Philly (Acela), Philly -> NYC (Acela), NYC -> Boston (Acela).

This sounds pretty solid to me, my next step is to work out how many days I should spend in each city and, in turn, the dates at which I'll be travelling between them.

As I said I'll be blogging the whole time and trying to pen 2-3 proper freelance articles on different topics. In terms of photography from the trains is there any advice on this?

Book as early as possible! if you see a cheap fare, grad it! To find the cheapest fares use www.amsnag.com. Travelling by train in America is a lot harder than elsewhere. Trains sell out quick due to equipment shortages and prices fluctuate fast.

 

[City of Miami]

I will make one further suggestion and that is to consider a stopover between Atlanta and DC - Charlottesville Virginia. C-ville is a much smaller city than any of the others on your list and is stunningly beautiful in the autumn. The Amtrak station is right in the middle of town and there is a lot of vitality both in the Downtown Mall area and the Univ of VA both of which are walking distance from the station. Public transit (CAT by name) is excellent and cheap which I know from spending 3 months there this summer. There are 17 trains/week to continue your journey northward. Lots of history around there, both revolutionary and civil war eras.

 

[Ryan]

As I said I'll be blogging the whole time and trying to pen 2-3 proper freelance articles on different topics. In terms of photography from the trains is there any advice on this?

In our train photography subforum, we have a whole topic devoted to just such advice.

I would second the nomination for C-ville as a good place to stop. If you have any other questions on the cities and what to do there, there are tons of knowledgeable people around that would love to help (I'm a DC native, so if you have any questions about seeing Washington, let me know).