Need advice planning long trip

[Sobrina]

I recently suffered a painful loss and I'd like to spend some time traveling and having new experiences. I am an AGR member and I regularly ride the Coast Starlight and the Cascades. I am looking for advice on other long distance routes, how to connect with people to share a sleeper and any ideas on accumulating points faster.

I am specially interested in recommendations on the most scenic routes and any reference materials that may be out there.

I'd like to know your opinion on the AMTRAK passes and whether or not they are a good deal comapred with single tickets.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Sobrina, my girlfriend and I spent a week in January circling the country. Partly due to the massive service disruptions involved, and the fact that someone didn't pull one of our tickets, the total cost to us came to $640 and 15,000 AGR points. For this we got a week in sleeper, all meals included. If there hadn't been a service disruption, it would have came to $800.

The routing was NYP-WAS-CHI-SAC-PDX-CHI-NYP.

It worked as such: I paid for NYP to LNK via Regional, Capitol Limited, California Zephyr, sleeper on the Cap. Then I put in a one zone reward from LNK to CBS (Lincoln, Nebraska to Columbus, Wisconsin) for 15k points, giving the two of us sleepers on the CZ, CS, and EB. At CBS we were not required to transfer to our coach for the final miles into Chicago (but YMMV). From CBS to NYP we paid, with a sleeper on the Lake Shore Limited.

We had the time of our lives (although, due to the circumstances, we got more due to the service disruptions). One thing that helped me is my unfailing belief that Amtrak wouldn't do me wrong. And they didn't. We even got a free night in a Holiday Inn Express in Seattle.

 

[RailFanLNK]

There's all sorts of ways to garner points on AGR at the AGR Topics forum at this website. If you are familiar with the CS, I would vote for your to take it to Sacramento and board the California Zephyr and take that through the Rockies and Sierra's. Absolutely beautiful trip, then take the EB from Chicago back west to WA.

 

[the_traveler]

One of the best ways to accumulate points is to get and use the AGR MasterCard from Chase. I use mine for EVERYTHING, but much is for luxuries like food and gas! I usually earn 1,000-2,500 AGR points EVERY MONTH - just for doing what I would normally be doing! And there's no annual fee!

 

[sunchaser]

Sobrina,

Welcome to the board. I'm sorry for your loss.

You can build up points pretty fast by-

Renewing your cell phone contract- 5,000 points.

Rent a car through Enterprise-1,000 points.

If you have pets, order some stuff-6 points per dollar.

If you like wine, sign up for one of the wine subscription services.

You can also buy up to 10,000 points per year, right now you will get an extra 30% in points for free-costs $275 for 10,000 points. (3,000 extra free)

Check out the online shopping mall on the Guest Rewards website. There are so many ways to get points, I'm sure you'll find some cool ways to buy things you would normally buy & get point too.

 

[PaulM]

Regarding your question about sharing a sleeper, I don't know how you might find someone to do it; but then that's what the internet was invented for. If you were to find someone, technically you would need to get their name on your reservation.

The purchase of sleeping accommodations is considered to be an upgrade to your regular rail fare. The charge is applied as an add-on, usually to the lowest rail fare available. When you share a sleeper, you will be charged only one accommodation charge for all parties sharing the sleeping accommodation. Each passenger pays regular rail fare.

The quote from Amtrak.com is confusing as to the coach fare charged. It's what is known as "low bucket", i.e., the lowest price that type of room on that date was ever sold for.

I'm not sure if this is possible once on-board. "Hello Julie, I have roomette 05 in Car 531 between CHI and DEN for today. I would like to add Bubba G. Schwartztrauber to the reservation at GBB."

That being said, not too long ago there was a long thread dealing with this question. The overwhelming consensus was that this couchette-type of travel would be un-American.

 

[DaveKCMO]

i did a very long trip (26 days) a few years ago. i based my trip plan primarily on the places i wanted to go, then found the best routes to fit that plan... i had friends in some cities (LA, portland, hartford, boston) and had not been to others (albuquerque, ann arbor, montreal, toronto). beyond that, the book "USA by Rail" was indispensable for describing the routes... as well as reading existing threads (there are many) on this forum and others.

since you've already taken the coast starlight, i would start with the empire builder. i cut that trip in half, spending a night at the izaak walton inn in essex, montana. read up about it... an great stopover and isolated in a good way. i personally didn't find the EB that interesting east of montana, having already been on the SWC and CS by that point. i have to give props to the SWC for the desert scenery. never taken the CZ, but i think it still suffers a bit on timeliness, so keep an eye on your chicago connection (or make it an overnight stay, plenty to do there).

i really fell in love with montreal. getting there from chicago wasn't seamless -- you need transport between detroit and windsor and the schedules don't align well. i'd also rank coasting into new york along the the hudson (adirondack) a highlight of my trip.

i intentionally avoided the southeast because (a) i hate the south and (b) it's a bit of a dead end in the amtrak system. but the weather is always nice.

i traveled alone and didn't even think to share a sleeper... and probably wouldn't with a stranger. if you can sleep in coach (i made a one-night trial run on the texas eagle before committing), just go with that. upgrading on board didn't really work for me, but others have had success.

good luck!