California Student on a Budget

[Shagpin]

Until recently, I've never considered going on a train somewhere, but today my freind and I were at the train station(I had to take an Amtrak bus to my college), and we got to talking about a railway adventure.

What we would like to do is go down the coast of California all the way to the border and cross over into Mexico, so as this is my frist time not only traviling on a train, but planning a trip I have questions that are pretty basic.

1)We would like to take our time going down the coast of California, staying in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, LA and San Diego. What is the cheapest way to do this? Would we have to buy seperate fares on each trip?

2)What is the best way to cross the Mexican border when one doesnt have a car?

3)Perusing this board it sounds like it is better to go north than south if you're on the coast of California. Is there anyway to avoid that?

4)We would be eligible for both the student discount and the AAA discount, is it possible to combine the two?

4)Finally if anyone has any ideas on how to cut costs on this trip, feel free to let me know, or if you have any other general advice feel free to say it.

We were thinking about doing a 2 week trip, from Sacramento to Mexico and back.

 

[Shagpin]

Sorry I also forgot, what exactly is the diference between the student advantage card and the ISIC card?

 

[PRR 60]

1. What is the cheapest way? Buy a California Rail Pass. The cost is $159 and allows you to travel on an unlimited number of trains within California on seven days within a 21-day period. That means the pass is valid for three weeks and can be used for train travel on any seven days in the three-week valid period. You will still need reservations, however, so you have to call Amtrak to book each trip in advance, or you can show up on the day of travel and get your reservation and ticket at the station. The later runs the risk that the train will be sold out. I suggest calling as soon as your next train plans are firm even if that is just hours before your train. You can order a California Rail Pass by phone. The Amtrak link is here.

2. Get to Mexico? Take the San Diego Trolley to the border and literally walk over. There are buses on the other side to take you into town.

3. Northbound or southbound? The direction is not a big deal. The Amtrak train that runs between northern California and San Luis Obispo is the Coast Starlight from Seattle and coming south that train is often hours late. But from SLO south you can use the local Pacific Surfliner trains which are pretty reliable. Northbound or southbound really does not matter that much.

4. AAA and SA discounts? Almost all Amtrak discount programs are not combinable. So, it is AAA or Student Advantage, but not both. Neither is applicable to the California Rail Pass.

5. ISIC (International Student Identity Card) and Student Advantage are competing youth discount programs. They are very similar with each offering various deals with selected vendors. Student Advantage offers Amtrak. ISIC does not.

 

[PRR 60]

Let me make a major correction to my prior post. If you book all your trips ahead of time, you can beat the rail pass price pretty easily. For example, San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara on one day, then to LA another day, then to San Diego on a third day will cost just $55 if booked as a multi-city trip. Take SA or AAA off that and you get down to under $50. So, if you can tie down your plans and book all your train trips on one reservation, it gets really cheap: much cheaper than the pass.

 

[rail rookie]

Do your homework. I wished I would have found this forum "before" I booked our trip instead of after. I'm riding the CZ to California this week and if I would have booked it to leave Lincoln Ne. just two days later, we could have saved $300.00 on the sleeper car by leaving on a Monday instead of a Saturday. We are only taking carryon luggage as well. We are taking the train and flying home and we wanted our trip to be as "simple" as possible. I will give you more tidbits once I have experienced Amtrak.

 

[soitgoes]

5. ISIC (International Student Identity Card) and Student Advantage are competing youth discount programs. They are very similar with each offering various deals with selected vendors. Student Advantage offers Amtrak. ISIC does not.

It's a relatively recent development, but ISIC cardholders *do* get a discount on Amtrak travel now. http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServe...009170&ssid=442

An ISIC card is a student ID card that has worldwide acceptance as proof of student status for student discounts. In some countries in Europe, for example, if you want to get a student discount, you need to show an ISIC card. Also, some student airfares (from STA Travel, for example) require an ISIC card.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Student Advantage offers Amtrak. ISIC does not.

Wrong, ISIC holders get the same discount as Student Advantage card holders. Just pull down the menu when you book and choose ISIC instead of Student Advantage.

Student Advantage is relatively useless outside the USA - an ISIC is a very good investment if you're travelling overseas in the next year, and I think you can sometimes get fifteen months for twelve months fee if you buy your card in the early autumn.

Happy travelling,

*j*

 

[PRR 60]

Thanks for the correction!

 

[Anthony]

It may be worth noting that Greyhound still only recognizes Student Advantage and not ISIC.