I've got a solo trip starting in a few days that starts with a flight from SLC to LAX and then is two weeks of trains and busses through the heartland (Kansas City, MO, Oklahoma City) and the gulf coast (San Antonio, Lafayette LA) and ultimately a long railroad back home to SLC. The rail portions are all paid with Amtrak points. There's one Greyhound bus portion in there too. And watching the Intercity Rail Map / transitdocs site over the past few weeks (even days) I've watched more than once one of the trains I'm scheduled to be on just completely disappear - storms disrupting Sunset Limited about a month ago; a bomb scare causing evacuation of a Heartland Flyer train in Oklahoma; I don't know what happened to the California Zephyr today but there's no 5 or 6 in Colorado and only a '1005' originating in Grand Junction going back west...
And there was this a freight derailment somewhere in Kansas disrupted at least one Southwest Chief train this week (source):
I've been riding Amtrak cross-country for years and have only had one hard cancellation, and a few heavy delays. But this is one of my more complex trips with a lot of parts, following a music group around to a few shows, and that "No alternate transportation will be provided" line scares me.
I've largely built in time to allow for moderately to extremely late trains - ie, I get in at least a day early to all but one show (which I'm going to because of scheduling convenience). But I'm a bit worried about things like the above happening: instead of being really late, the train just gets cancelled and I'm taken back somewhere with no easy way of resuming schedule (I don't drive so I can't fall back on renting a car to get from New Mexico or Colorado to Kansas City if the above happened to me).
Should I plop some money down for travel insurance in case I need to cover getting a $500-$900 last minute plane ticket between locations? Would it cover it? Or should I just make sure I'm prepared to roll with the punches? The good thing is I've got four chances to see this group (though only the first couple of shows are with full-perks tickets) so if one segment gets completely messed up, I could stand to miss one. But part of me is also feeling like i gave myself too many moving parts, too many trains, too many chances for storms and heat and freight derailments to interfere. But I also feel like I'm just insanely restless after a long bout of seclusion and isolation and I just need to get off the computer and back out in the world and on a train.
And there was this a freight derailment somewhere in Kansas disrupted at least one Southwest Chief train this week (source):
Southwest Chief Train 4 which departed Los Angeles (LAX) on 07/23 is canceled between La Junta (LAJ) and Kansas City (KCY). No alternate transportation will be provided. Customers currently en route will be returned to originating stations.
I've been riding Amtrak cross-country for years and have only had one hard cancellation, and a few heavy delays. But this is one of my more complex trips with a lot of parts, following a music group around to a few shows, and that "No alternate transportation will be provided" line scares me.
I've largely built in time to allow for moderately to extremely late trains - ie, I get in at least a day early to all but one show (which I'm going to because of scheduling convenience). But I'm a bit worried about things like the above happening: instead of being really late, the train just gets cancelled and I'm taken back somewhere with no easy way of resuming schedule (I don't drive so I can't fall back on renting a car to get from New Mexico or Colorado to Kansas City if the above happened to me).
Should I plop some money down for travel insurance in case I need to cover getting a $500-$900 last minute plane ticket between locations? Would it cover it? Or should I just make sure I'm prepared to roll with the punches? The good thing is I've got four chances to see this group (though only the first couple of shows are with full-perks tickets) so if one segment gets completely messed up, I could stand to miss one. But part of me is also feeling like i gave myself too many moving parts, too many trains, too many chances for storms and heat and freight derailments to interfere. But I also feel like I'm just insanely restless after a long bout of seclusion and isolation and I just need to get off the computer and back out in the world and on a train.