Does this cross-country itinerary look feasible?

[niemi24s]

I get the "C" = coach and "R" = reserved? Yes? Beyond that I have no idea what FB and B mean. And why a list of all those number in each square?

C = Coach, R = Roomette, FB = Family Bedroom and B = Bedroom. If you see a BC, that's the surcharge for Business Class seating (nicer than plain old Coach). The list of 5 or 6 numbers below each heading (i.e., R) are the prices levels for that heading. Folks here call them buckets, for some reason. The price level for each day of travel is determined by a process called "yield management" which is sort of like Supply & Demand.

 

[Austruck]

Yep, you've caught the Train virus for sure Austruck!

There's no cure, just never ending travel and thinking about and planning more trips that include train rides!

You won't hear my complaining about the lack of a cure.

 

[niemi24s]

[Please delete this]

 

[Austruck]

I get the "C" = coach and "R" = reserved? Yes? Beyond that I have no idea what FB and B mean. And why a list of all those number in each square?

C = Coach, R = Roomette, FB = Family Bedroom and B = Bedroom. If you see a BC, that's the surcharge for Business Class seating (nicer than plain old Coach). The list of 5 or 6 numbers below each heading (i.e., R) are the prices levels for that heading. Folks here call them buckets, for some reason. The price level for each day of travel is determined by a process called "yield management" which is sort of like Supply & Demand.

FB and B. Duh! Obvious now that you answered me.

Apologies for this still not sinking in all the way... So in this new attached image, those are the five different fares you might find on each of those five days? Meaning 29 Jan = $305, 30 Jan = $225, etc. etc.?

I'm really a smart person, honest. The light-bulb moment on this just hasn't happened yet.

 

[niemi24s]

So in this new attached image, those are the five different fares you might find on each of those five days? Meaning 29 Jan = $305, 30 Jan = $225, etc. etc.?

Yes. But that situation is probably quite rare. It does, however, show that AmSnag is a great time and money saver. You can get the same info from the Amtrak website, but it just takes longer - one query for each day of travel. With AmSnag you can get 30 days of info with a single query. Just made a 30 day Amsnag query for a full length Empire Builder trip starting this afternoon and found 3 different Coach prices, 5 different Roomette prices, 4 different Family Bedroom prices and 5 different Bedroom prices, as shown below:



But both query methods (Amtrak and AmSnag) provide fare data as it is on the day you make the query. There's no reason to assume the same fares will be offered the next day. Could go up, down, or remain the same.

Nifty, huh? :blink:

 

[niemi24s]

This is a simplified, compact version of the previous image with the highest and lowest of each of the fares highlighted:



If you wonder why the $143 Coach fare isn't highlighted, that fare is the Saver Fare and you can only get that if you ride Coach. When you book a Sleeper, you get charged the low bucket Coach fare of $179. The Saver fare is technically not an official bucket (price) from what I'm told here on this Forum - it's just 20% off the low bucket fare :wacko: .

 

[tomfuller]

Take the Coast Starlight to Portland and spend at least one night there before taking an Amtrak Cascades train up to Seattle in coach.

 

[Maglev]

I would like to suggest also that you might want to spring for a Bedroom for one or more nights (sometimes you can find a bargain). It's nice to experience the spaciousness--the lower berth is a full foot wider than that of a Roomette. Among the other added amenities are a private shower/toilet, sink, and extra room to move around even at night.

I usually reserve a Bedroom if I am traveling with my wife. I have also booked the Family Room, which is nice because it has windows on both sides, although no private toilet/shower.

 

[niemi24s]

There are several ways to get a feel for what lies along each leg of a trip:

• Close-up aerial views with the help of the satellite imagery of Google Earth

• Highly detailed and scrollable topographic maps such as those available here: http://www.mytopo.com/maps/index.cfm?

• Amtrak route guides available here: https://www.amtrak.com/route-guides

• Videos posted on YouTube

• Verbal descriptions from helpful forum members with an occasional picture

While the first one provides good images of everything along the way it falls a bit short in providing the names of the smaller towns, settlements and other (perhaps) interesting features. As an example, Google Earth provides the names of only 6 things along the rather desolate stretch between Salt Lake City UT and Elko NV - all of them towns or settlements. However, the topo maps show 43 named features along that same stretch of track: populated places; ghost towns; railroad junctions and sidings; an occasional place with a name for which no data can be found.

 

[Austruck]

I've tweaked my schedule and stations a few times and I keep coming in under my budget, so I think I will spring for a bedroom on the 45-hour stretch.

And I think I'm seeing the beauty of the AmSnag thing... especially since I am flexible on exact dates and could then see whether a shift a few days this way or that could save me money (meaning I could upgrade somewhere else).

You guys are all SO SO helpful. You'll have to go into the Acknowledgments in the book.

 

[silmaril]

AmSnag is awesome! I'm planning a trip in October next year, it's amazing to see the differences in prices.

 

[Lonestar648]

Hope you have a great trip. This summer when I took my 16 year old granddaughter for a loop from Texas to LA to SEA to CHI back to Texas, stopping off along the way, I had created for her a daily trip diary for notes, best thing of the day, photos, funny stories to remember, etc. You are going to see so much, having the notes will be helpful to remember the highlights.

Having grown up in the Pittsburgh area (Mt. Washington, Bethel, Forest Hills, and Murrysville), I am planning a trip to the area someday with one of my grandchildren to show them my former homes and the Three Rivers area.

 

[Asher]

Read the post "Horror Story posted 12/30/16 maybe you can spin a little humor into that trip.

 

[KmH]

There are several ways to get a feel for what lies along each leg of a trip:

• Close-up aerial views with the help of the satellite imagery of Google Earth

• Highly detailed and scrollable topographic maps such as those available here: http://www.mytopo.com/maps/index.cfm?

• Amtrak route guides available here: https://www.amtrak.com/route-guides

• Videos posted on YouTube

Yep.

I use all of those in advance of a train trip on a route I've not yet been on.

 

[Austruck]

Lonestar648: I have two other books of humor essays already out there, so I'll have everything I need to write and take good notes: tiny laptop, digital voice recorder, Alphasmart Neo, Moleskine notebooks, digital camera. I'll be ready for anything.

I spent many years up near Forest Hills and Murrysville (Wilkinsburg, mostly, plus East Liberty). I'm now slightly west of Pittsburgh in Beaver County, but still only half hour or so from downtown Pittsburgh. Came out here for college at CMU back in the early 1980s and never left.

I'll probably be settling on the general route this weekend and will buy the tickets on Monday or Tuesday at the latest! So excited!

 

[niemi24s]

There are several ways to get a feel for what lies along each leg of a trip:

• Close-up aerial views with the help of the satellite imagery of Google Earth

• Highly detailed and scrollable topographic maps such as those available here: http://www.mytopo.com/maps/index.cfm?

• Amtrak route guides available here: https://www.amtrak.com/route-guides

• Videos posted on YouTube

Yep.

I use all of those in advance of a train trip on a route I've not yet been on.

Have you found any others that were useful?

 

[Austruck]

Read the post "Horror Story posted 12/30/16 maybe you can spin a little humor into that trip.

How wrong is it that I, as a humor writer, kept thinking something similar would make for a GREAT chapter in the book?

 

[Asher]

I agree