New member from Germany traveling on the Southwest Chief

[Petra]

Hello,
I will be travelling from Chicago to Lamy on September 10th and am very excited about this journey! Originally, I booked a roomette, but now I would rather upgrade to a bedroom for the sight and convenience. I live in Germany and sent a request to Amtrak on their booking site. Hopefully, there are some bedrooms available, the pricing is ok and Amtrak will sent some information.
Looking forward to a great trip
Petra

 

[Rasputin]

Welcome, Petra,

I hope you have a great trip. I hope you have arranged transportation from Lamy and you may want to check some of the recent posts concerning Lamy and the availability of transportation between Lamy and Santa Fe. Lamy is a small remote community without any services and it would not be a convenient place to be stranded.

 

[pennyk]

Hello,
I will be travelling from Chicago to Lamy on September 10th and am very excited about this journey! Originally, I booked a roomette, but now I would rather upgrade to a bedroom for the sight and convenience. I live in Germany and sent a request to Amtrak on their booking site. Hopefully, there are some bedrooms available, the pricing is ok and Amtrak will sent some information.
Looking forward to a great trip
Petra

Welcome to Amtrak Unlimited. If you have any specific Amtrak related questions, please post them in the Amtrak Rail Discussion forum.

 

[Petra]

Welcome, Petra,

I hope you have a great trip. I hope you have arranged transportation from Lamy and you may want to check some of the recent posts concerning Lamy and the availability of transportation between Lamy and Santa Fe. Lamy is a small remote community without any services and it would not be a convenient place to be stranded.

Hello Rasputin,
thank you very much, yes Lamy seems to be a rather small town. I will be travelling with the Amtrak throughway to Santa Fé, then to Taos and head to Albuquerque to catch the Southwest Chief directed to L.A.
Very excited to meet some train afficionados....

 

[Rasputin]

Then it sounds like you are all set since you have arranged transportation from Lamy! Hope you have a great visit to Santa Fe and Taos.

 

[Petra]

Thanks a lot! I am very excited....

 

[BalmyZephyr]

I did this trip in 1985 to Lamy and again in 2019, to Flagstaff, both round trip. You will love it! We had a super bedroom both times, but spent most of the daytime in the dining car and observation lounge. Much better views from there, since you can see out both sides all along the car. Also sometimes there is a ranger speaking in the lounge with interesting facts and stories. We greatly enjoyed meeting strangers and hearing their stories too. Have a great time!

 

[Petra]

Hi Balmy,
yes, I am very excited to meet peoplewgo are as interested in travellinb by train as I am. Rangers giving talks- that's great news, I didn't know that.
Thank you so much!
Petra

 

[Rasputin]

The Ranger program on trains was unfortunately canceled during the pandemic. I am not sure that it is back.

 

[cirdan]

When it comes to changing bookings, in my experience the easiest and most pain free way is to phone Amtrak.

The people there are helpful and competent.

When phoning from Germany you should take the time zone difference into account. So best to phone when its afternoon or evening in Germany.

 

[jpakala]

I found the Amtrak agents (by phone) very helpful in booking the trip (I'd reported on) this March from Alton, IL to Tucson for my wife and her sister and then changing it from one roomette to two, and then changing it again when my sister-in-law got a pinched nerve so I went instead (2 roomettes each way).

 

[Willbridge]

Petra, you'll get to see a part of the West that lots of foreign visitors miss when they go to the usual places by plane. Here's a look out the window of Train 5 between Lamy and Las Vegas. (Most tourists go to that other Las Vegas in Nevada.)

And a piece of trivia for you: between Raton and Garden City you'll be bypassing most of the population of Colorado. Colorado has a German history: it's first constitution {gründungsdokument) was printed in English, Spanish and German, representing the three largest language groups here in the late 19th century.


Reisen Sie gut mit den Schienen!

 

[cirdan]

I found the Amtrak agents (by phone) very helpful in booking the trip (I'd reported on) this March from Alton, IL to Tucson for my wife and her sister and then changing it from one roomette to two, and then changing it again when my sister-in-law got a pinched nerve so I went instead (2 roomettes each way).

This.

I once had a non refundable ticket and had to change my plans. I knew I had no right to demand they change the booking but I explained the situation and offered my profuse apologies and the lady on the line said she would talk to her supervisor and they did change the booking at only a small extra cost to me.

Really great service.