That's a good goal; IMO the experience is better on those trains anyway. Even though they're obviously longer, the logistics are also easier since they tend to end in major cities and you can plan loop trips. In my experience the hardest ones to ride just to essentially check off the list are routes like the Blue Water that reach the endpoint late at night with an early morning return departure and few or no alternative transportation modes available.
I'm not bothering about the intercity trains too much, I couldn't possibly work those into a somewhat logical tindery for the little travel I do. Just trying to check off the LD trains out here, then the LD trains in the east.
Woah how have you been able to travel so much at a young age?!? I'm not too much older than you but have significantly less mileage under my belt.
It used to be somewhat easier. I rode the Blue Water route when covered by the International all the way to Toronto. And some of the other routes by continuing on or returning on a Greyhound or other bus, when there was a lot more service. Being an employee during much of the time, also gave me an advantage. Besides the obvious free travel, I would sometimes stay at crew hotels at employee rates, and share a ride in the crew van if necessary to get there. And in a couple of instances, the crew allowed me to stay aboard the coach overnight.
I typically do 5 LD trips a year and about as many on the midwestern corridor trains. Living in Chicago, I take an annual trip to Florida, 1-2 other trips to the east coast, 1-2 trips to the west coast, and the occasional random trip to somewhere else. I've also gotten the 15 day rail pass twice which added over 10,000 miles in each case. I'm in college so I have a lot of time available during breaks and I travel entirely in coach so it isn't as expensive as you might think. For example I just got back from a trip on the CZ (about 2,400 miles each way) which only cost $88 one way due to the Black Friday sale. I also pack food for most of the trip so I don't spend any more on that then I would at home.
How many routes do you need to complete all of Amtrak's current ones? From your signature it looks like not too many
I do the same thing although I'm only at 63k miles for the past 15 years. More than a dozen LD routes end-to-end, most more than once.
I have not completed all the routes I have listed. I have only ridden on some portion of the routes. I have yet to travel on any of the Michigan trains, but hope to get 2 of them in October. I guess I need to sit down and make a list of the routes on which I have not yet traveled.How many routes do you need to complete all of Amtrak's current ones? From your signature it looks like not too many
In my opinion, you are not a creep, you are meticulous.Well that was an entertaining read for the first few pages.
I posted on this thread in August 2008 with 56,000 miles at the time. Checking my spreadsheet, I was actually at 58,457 miles as of that date and shortly took the Heartland Flyer for the first time right after that. I guess I'll update my signature with 212,106 miles as of today. But here I am being a creep for keeping track of my miles.
Well that was an entertaining read for the first few pages.
I posted on this thread in August 2008 with 56,000 miles at the time. Checking my spreadsheet, I was actually at 58,457 miles as of that date and shortly took the Heartland Flyer for the first time right after that. I guess I'll update my signature with 212,106 miles as of today. But here I am being a creep for keeping track of my miles.
Hmmm tell me more about this Slidell Los Angeles loophole trip.
Alas, the days of the Slidell Loophole trip are long gone, due to Amtrak Guest Rewards changing their point system. Note the original post is from 2008. Unlike today, where the amount of points for a trip are based on the cost of the fare, until a few years ago, the point cost was based on travel within and into different zones. There used to be three zones in the U.S. (Western, Central, and Eastern) and it cost a different amount of points whether your trip involved staying in one zone, traveling into another, or traveling into three. How the Slidell Loophole worked was you could start out in Slidell, LA, one stop east of New Orleans, and end up in Los Angeles, on just the cost of a two zone trip. Slidell was in the Central Zone, and you could take the Crescent to Washington DC, the Capital Limited to Chicago, the Empire Builder to Portland, and the Coast Starlight to Los Angeles, all for the price of a two zone trip, even though you started out in the central zone, traveled through the eastern zone, went back through the central zone, and ended in the western zone. I don't remember what the point cost was for sure; I believe it was 20,000 for a roommate for two zones. And since the cost in points was the same whether one or two people rode in the roomette, my uncle went with me on this trip. I live in eastern Washington and he lives in central Illinois so I flew out his way. The only cost concerning the train was a roomette from Champaign to New Orleans and coach fare from New Orleans to Slidell.
Which timetables? And I’ve made several trips where I get off halfway as well (such as LAX-FTW)
this is the vision, it's a long way from this now
