Confused by booking system and availability Texas Eagle

[Ryan]

The OP is from outside the US and doesn’t have to start in Chicago.

 

[cpotisch]

The OP is from outside the US and doesn’t have to start in Chicago.

True, but she said she's planning on starting her trip in Chicago. She could switch the trip around, but either way, Huntsville is a lot harder to get to by train than St. Louis would.

 

[PVD]

Since it is a year away, it is probably safe to say they will not stick with the Chicago plans If Huntsville is the actual destination, they will likely rebook....HSV-ATL-MAN-JER comes to mind....maybe spend a day or 2 in Atlanta...

 

[jebr]

The OP is from outside the US and doesn’t have to start in Chicago.

The OP states that they are arriving in Chicago, though...

Hi everyone

We will be visiting the US next August from Jersey (Channel Islands, not NYC), arriving in Chicago.

Certainly, if the ticket isn't from Jersey to Chicago isn't booked, or can be easily changed, I'd highly recommend not arriving into Chicago. Chicago is over 550 miles (over 9 hours) from Huntsville, AL, and not terribly accessible without renting a car. (Buses are an option, but there's no listed Thruway connections from Amtrak, so any connections would be on your own.)

If you're able to change your ticket, flying in, and able/willing to drive in the US, I'd fly into Atlanta and rent a car to drive to Huntsville. It's a 3 and a half hour drive, but there should be plenty of flights (some possibly direct) to/from Atlanta to international destinations. Any closer airport would require a connection once arriving in the US. Huntsville does have bus service via Greyhound, and that route can be ticketed from Atlanta, but there would be a transfer in Birmingham. That said, if you're not wanting to drive in the US or minimize driving, I'd suggest paying the extra to fly direct to Huntsville and relying on Uber/Lyft/taxis or their public transit system.

If you're really desiring to take an overnight train journey, I'd fly into any of the NYC airports (JFK, LGA, or EWR) and take the Crescent to either Atlanta or Birmingham. Birmingham would be less driving, but I'm not sure how easy it is to get a rental car at the Birmingham train station. (I'm not sure how easy it is to get one right at the Atlanta train station either, but there is bus service to MARTA's rail system to get you to the airport, which has plenty of 24/7 rental car options.)

 

[the_traveler]

Even before the Internet, there were problems.

In 1980, the Olympics were in Lake Placid, New York. So many foreign visitors flew into New York, New York. Some of them hailed a cab at the airport and told the cab driver they wanted to go to Lake Placid. The driver said sure - and drove, and drove, and drove, and drove, and ...!

They did not tell the passenger that Lake Placid was over 300 miles (500 km) from New York City!

 

[PVD]

Yup. So true. It is 299.8 miles from my door to the Olympic Training Center on Old Military Rd right outside of town But if I hit a few rest stops I get over 300...and JFK is about 4 1/2 miles South of me. But its only 112 miles from LP to Montreal.....Little did folks know.... One year, I had a NYSAHA meeting in LP and took the train to Westport, with the van connection to my hotel. With tip for driver, still below half the price of my mileage and tolls....slow, but very pretty in the fall.

 

[Ryan]

The OP is from outside the US and doesn’t have to start in Chicago.

True, but she said she's planning on starting her trip in Chicago. She could switch the trip around, but either way, Huntsville is a lot harder to get to by train than St. Louis would.

The OP is from outside the US and doesn’t have to start in Chicago.

The OP states that they are arriving in Chicago, though...

Hi everyone

We will be visiting the US next August from Jersey (Channel Islands, not NYC), arriving in Chicago.

I gave the OP sufficient credit to not do something dumb and fly into the wrong part of the country. Given that the trip is over a year away, it's not likely that tickets are bought yet.

 

[chakk]

Many cases have occurred where folks wanting to travel to San Jose (California) wound up in San Jose (Costa Rica).

And a few years ago, someone wanting to go to Oakland (Calif) was ticketed by the airline to Auckland (New Zealand).

 

[AmtrakBlue]

The OP is from outside the US and doesn’t have to start in Chicago.

The OP states that they are arriving in Chicago, though...

Hi everyone

We will be visiting the US next August from Jersey (Channel Islands, not NYC), arriving in Chicago.

Certainly, if the ticket isn't from Jersey to Chicago isn't booked, or can be easily changed, I'd highly recommend not arriving into Chicago. Chicago is over 550 miles (over 9 hours) from Huntsville, AL, and not terribly accessible without renting a car. (Buses are an option, but there's no listed Thruway connections from Amtrak, so any connections would be on your own.)

If you're able to change your ticket, flying in, and able/willing to drive in the US, I'd fly into Atlanta and rent a car to drive to Huntsville. It's a 3 and a half hour drive, but there should be plenty of flights (some possibly direct) to/from Atlanta to international destinations. Any closer airport would require a connection once arriving in the US. Huntsville does have bus service via Greyhound, and that route can be ticketed from Atlanta, but there would be a transfer in Birmingham. That said, if you're not wanting to drive in the US or minimize driving, I'd suggest paying the extra to fly direct to Huntsville and relying on Uber/Lyft/taxis or their public transit system.

If you're really desiring to take an overnight train journey, I'd fly into any of the NYC airports (JFK, LGA, or EWR) and take the Crescent to either Atlanta or Birmingham. Birmingham would be less driving, but I'm not sure how easy it is to get a rental car at the Birmingham train station. (I'm not sure how easy it is to get one right at the Atlanta train station either, but there is bus service to MARTA's rail system to get you to the airport, which has plenty of 24/7 rental car options.)

I do not have exact travel dates as yet because flights are not yet available to book but it will be in August 2019

 

[Ryan]

 

[the_traveler]

There is also a commercial that says you wanted to vacation in Athens, Greece but you booked your flight to Athens, Georgia (US)!

In New York State, there are towns named Peru, Mexico and Greece. There are also an Amsterdam, Rome, Kingston and Florida.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I once had an Airline Rez Clerk, back in the days before Computers, try to book me to Austin,Minnesota instead of Austin,Texas.

 

[Ryan]

My boss just today told me of the work trip that he tried to take to Minneapolis at the same time a cow-irker was traveling in Indianapolis.

Hilarity ensued, neither of them ever made it to Minndianapolis.

 

[jebr]

I once had an Airline Rez Clerk, back in the days before Computers, try to book me to Austin,Minnesota instead of Austin,Texas.

There's an interesting spam museum in Austin, MN. Not sure it's worth flying to, though, unless you're really into spam.

These days you can't fly into Austin, MN commercially. It'd be a tad tougher for an airline agent to make that mistake today!

 

[Bob Dylan]

Thanks Jeb, there's lots of places and connections you can't get to or make anymore on ALL types of Transportation.

 

[jis]

There is also a commercial that says you wanted to vacation in Athens, Greece but you booked your flight to Athens, Georgia (US)!

In New York State, there are towns named Peru, Mexico and Greece. There are also an Amsterdam, Rome, Kingston and Florida.

There is a Delhi in NY State too, but it has no airport, perhaps fortunately.

Then again, I live in Melbourne in Florida which has a commercial airport with regular commercial service from at least two of the majors.

 

[PVD]

NY has loads more. When I was little, I used to help my father study for the periodic exams he took as a distribution clerk/outgoing NY Mail (mail sorter before machine sorting) They had little cards with the name of a town, and on the back was the place where the mail was routed through. I would read the name of the town, he had to call off where the mail went after leaving NYC - Potsdam, Warsaw, Dunkirk, Jamestown, Long Beach, Boston, Bombay (and many others)

 

[Bob Dylan]

Texas has Many towns with the same Names as those in other Countries and States.

Among them: Atlanta,Albany,Athens,Bloomington,Bogota,Buffalo,China,Cleveland,Fresno,Memphis,

New London,New Boston,New Berlin,Naples,Omaha,Pittsburg(sp)Palestine,Petersburg,St. Paul,

Italy,Iraan(sp),Paris,Portland,San Diego,Sunnyvale,Victoria,

Also noted for Cities with Wierd Names, my Top 5: Welfare,Gun Barrel City,Dime Box,Old Dime Box and Muleshoe.

 

[cpotisch]

Texas has Many towns with the same Names as those in other Countries and States.

Among them: Atlanta,Albany,Athens,Bloomington,Bogota,Buffalo,China,Cleveland,Fresno,Memphis,

New London,New Boston,New Berlin,Naples,Omaha,Pittsburg(sp)Palestine,Petersburg,St. Paul,

Italy,Iraan(sp),Paris,Portland,San Diego,Sunnyvale,Victoria,

Also noted for Cities with Wierd Names, my Top 5: Welfare,Gun Barrel City,Dime Box,Old Dime Box and Muleshoe.

Whoah. Maybe all the Viewliner diners are just named after cities in Texas, and not after eastern capitals!

 

[the_traveler]

You can book a train to Albany, OR, Rensselaer, IN or Albany-Rensselaer, NY (better known as Albany). You can also book a train to Portland, OR or Portland, ME.

You can also take a train to Newark in NJ or DE and Vancouver in WA or BC - and both Newarks and both Vancouvers are on the same route.

 

[CCC1007]

How can you pass through Belgrade, Manhattan and Amsterdam in a single hour?

 

[JayPea]

Also noted for Cities with Wierd Names, my Top 5: Welfare,Gun Barrel City,Dime Box,Old Dime Box and Muleshoe.

Washington has its share of interesting place names too: Dexter by the Sea, Six Prong, Jims Corner (thought you might like that one, Jim ), Snoose Junction, and my personal favorite, Humptulips. One can do a lot of domestic and world travel here in the state of Washington too: Miami Beach, Bangor, Brooklyn, Fairbanks, Ireland, Rhodesia Beach, Egypt, and Trinidad amongst them.

 

[jis]

But none has Intercourse like Pennsylvania does [emoji51]

 

[Emma]

Me again!

We had a funny situation here this year where a guy from New Jersey joined a Facebook group about businesses in Jersey. He posted on the page his mistake saying he didn't know there was a Jersey or the history of people from Jersey coming to US and hence New Jersey. The people of Jersey clubbed together and paid for him and his girlfriend to fly here, putting him up for a few weeks, staging welcome parties in the different Parishes and showing him the sights! He had a great time out of simple mistake and now I feel so welcomed by you all and your kind suggestions and stories from my error.

Anyway just to explain a bit further. My daughter is going to the NASA Space Camp in Huntsville and our plans were to:

Fly to Chicago - train to St Louis (Doh!!) drop our daughter off, have a child free week in Nashville, collect her, go back to Chicago and then RV Lake Michigan.

Now thanks to the kind posters here I have realised my mistake and we are either flying from London to Nashville or Atlanta, dropping off daughter at Huntsville, spending a child-free week in Nashville, collecting her and then not sure. We could just fly back to Chicago but I have my heart set on the Amtrak and we could do an RV trip somewhere else.

Any suggestions on the best/scenic routes would be wonderful but no expected....

Best,

Emma

 

[bms]

From Huntsville you could drive about 2 hours south and catch the Crescent in either Anniston or Birmingham, Alabama. From there you could take the Crescent south to New Orleans, see New Orleans for a day or two then take the City of New Orleans which is an overnight train north to Chicago. You would be able to see a great city and experience staying in a sleeper car.