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Retirement does have its advantages! After +30 years working within the United Nations, flying more than 200 days per year, my interests have shifted fora from FlyerTalk to Amtrak Unlimited. I'm now riding my bicycle and using multi-modal sustainable transport (trains, ferries, funiculars, kayaks...) to get from place to place. (My wife and I sold our cars when we moved to NYC almost 30 years ago.)
As a Life Member of Adventure Cycling, I've been involved in their advocacy campaign with Amtrak to provide more easy access for passengers traveling with bicycles and have crisscrossed the US many times with my touring bicycle, taking advantage of advances in trackside baggage car loading and more bicycle racks inside railcars.
I'll be taking trains and cycling from home in NYC across the country, through California, Oregon, and Washington to pick up the AMHS ferry to Alaska to lead bicycle tours into the Yukon, British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories this summer. I write about my adventures by bicycle at The Rise Up Ride and on my Instagram feed at Login • Instagram
As a Life Member of Adventure Cycling, I've been involved in their advocacy campaign with Amtrak to provide more easy access for passengers traveling with bicycles and have crisscrossed the US many times with my touring bicycle, taking advantage of advances in trackside baggage car loading and more bicycle racks inside railcars.
I'll be taking trains and cycling from home in NYC across the country, through California, Oregon, and Washington to pick up the AMHS ferry to Alaska to lead bicycle tours into the Yukon, British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories this summer. I write about my adventures by bicycle at The Rise Up Ride and on my Instagram feed at Login • Instagram
Welcome to Amtrak Unlimited
Welcome indeed, and if your route through Oregon takes you on US26 through John Day, please send me a message about the dates! I live in the nearby mountains.
Thanks! I've always wanted to cycle the John Day Highway and visit the Kam Wah Chung Museum. However, on this trip, I'll be cycling closer to the coast and up the Willamette Valley.
Hi all, I'm Alex, from London, England, (the actual England!) and I love everything with trains, and in the last few years have spent way too much of my time watching Amtrak trip review, I even have planned out trips to the US, just to take the Amtrak trains! I'm here for all the stories you have from your time on board, and any and all trips are appreciated.
Forgive me in advance for the spellign
Alex
Forgive me in advance for the spellign
Alex
Welcome to Amtrak Unlimited, Alex.Hi all, I'm Alex, from London, England, (the actual England!) and I love everything with trains, and in the last few years have spent way too much of my time watching Amtrak trip review, I even have planned out trips to the US, just to take the Amtrak trains! I'm here for all the stories you have from your time on board, and any and all trips are appreciated.
Forgive me in advance for the spellign
Alex
Hi all, I'm Alex, from London, England, (the actual England!) and I love everything with trains, and in the last few years have spent way too much of my time watching Amtrak trip review, I even have planned out trips to the US, just to take the Amtrak trains! I'm here for all the stories you have from your time on board, and any and all trips are appreciated.
Forgive me in advance for the spellign
Alex
Welcome, Alex!
If you share the trains and destinations you would like to take (as a separate thread), you will find plenty of people in this forum who have recent experiences and can help you plan the details. I've found that no matter what questions, I have, someone here has a useful answer. This forum has definitely improved the quality of my Amtrak experience.
Devil's Advocate
⠀⠀⠀
Take a jumbo, across the water, come and see America.
(can't say I've seen any kippers for breakfast tho)
Alex I'm sort of the opposite, born in England but living in North America since I was 7. I like to watch videos of some of the cooler trains in the UK like the Caledonian Sleeper and the Eurostar. Would like to get over there to ride some of these sometime.Hi all, I'm Alex, from London, England, (the actual England!) and I love everything with trains, and in the last few years have spent way too much of my time watching Amtrak trip review, I even have planned out trips to the US, just to take the Amtrak trains! I'm here for all the stories you have from your time on board, and any and all trips are appreciated.
Forgive me in advance for the spellign
Alex
Hi all, I'm Alex, from London, England, (the actual England!) and I love everything with trains, and in the last few years have spent way too much of my time watching Amtrak trip review, I even have planned out trips to the US, just to take the Amtrak trains! I'm here for all the stories you have from your time on board, and any and all trips are appreciated.
Forgive me in advance for the spellign
Alex
Welcome. We are taking the Queen Mary 2 to England in August. Looking forward to seeing the train museum in York.
Welcome to Amtrak Unlimited.
dadonatrain
Service Attendant
Welcome to Amtrak, Alex! I’m like you, in reverse. I’d travel to Europe just to take European trains. In fact, I have done! I hope you have a wonderful visit to America whenever you come, and I hope all your trains are on time! Good luck with that!Hi all, I'm Alex, from London, England, (the actual England!) and I love everything with trains, and in the last few years have spent way too much of my time watching Amtrak trip review, I even have planned out trips to the US, just to take the Amtrak trains! I'm here for all the stories you have from your time on board, and any and all trips are appreciated.
Forgive me in advance for the spellign
Alex
20th Century Rider
Engineer
Hi Alex! Welcome to the AU community! Like many others who live in the USA, I yearn for the trains of England and Europe. When I was younger... oooh let's say by a half a century, I ventured out after High School in the late 60's for the rail paradise of Great Britain and BritishRail. I had the pass and went everywhere... from the Isle of Wight to Thurso and Wick in the north of Scotland... so captivated by the Moores ... followed by a personally epic sojourn to another idyllic destination Kyle of Lochalsh ... captivated by the quaint hotels... and after doing everything else I tripped down to Cornwall for a true pastie.Hi all, I'm Alex, from London, England, (the actual England!) and I love everything with trains, and in the last few years have spent way too much of my time watching Amtrak trip review, I even have planned out trips to the US, just to take the Amtrak trains! I'm here for all the stories you have from your time on board, and any and all trips are appreciated.
Forgive me in advance for the spellign
Alex
Being young, agile, skinny, and fancy free... those are among my fondest memories.
'Long live BritishRail!'
Hi Scott here. Until 2018 or so, I never knew Amtrak existed, until we took The Coast Starlight from our house in Monterey to Solvang, Ca. Because we wanted a change from driving. Of course, you can’t actually GET to Solvang on a train and renting a car at night in Santa Barbara was a Taxi ride from the train station to the airport, but we got it done….and loved the trip. I’ve done all the major routes now except the Crescent….and the Coast Starlight and California Zephyr many a time. I even have a Vermonter on the schedule this year. Looking forward to New Haven and Burlington!
Or take the QE2! An inside room might be reasonable.
Thank you very much, I'm sure that you remember it much more fondly than most of us Brits!
Hello All!
This is my first time here at Amtrak Unlimited. I am a 36-year-old male in Madison, WI. Wherever in the world I travel, I hope there is a train for me to ride. I ride the rails as much as I can both for travel and just for the fun of it. I am a huge commercial aviation nerd, but I've had a certain love for the train ever since I was about 13 and first learned that the train didn't just go from Columbus to Chicago and back.
I've been privileged to ride the rails in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., the E.U., Serbia, Russia, Korea, China, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.
Professionally, I am an IT project manager, and I hold bachelor's degrees in Music and International Relations, as well as a master's in Education. When time permits, I like to get away on one of my quick turnaround trips:
CHI-DLK-CHI
CHI-LSV-CHI
WDL-SPL-WDL
CHI-HAZ-CHI
CHI-TOP-CHI
CHI-LNK-CHI
CHI-CRV-CHI
My favorite parts of the various routes:
- Waiting for the Van Galder bus down to CHI from SMD (Madison)
- Having a cigar and cognac in the little park across the river from Chicago's Union Station
- EB: Along the Mississippi River
- EB: The bridge at WDL
- EB: The bridge at CUT
- EB: Climbing into East Glacier
- EB: Running along the sound north of SEA
- SWC: Gliding over the bare Illinois fields in early spring and late fall
- SWC: KCY
- SWC: Night time through Kansas
- SWC: The crew change stop at LAJ
- SWC: Big sky country after the Raton Pass
Looking forward to meeting more Amtrak fans and Amtrak employees here. If you go through Chicago and you see a weird looking guy in the park directly across the river from Union Station (between the white building and the silver building, right in line with Sea,...Willis Tower) smoking a cigar with a snifter of cognac, that's probably me
.
This is my first time here at Amtrak Unlimited. I am a 36-year-old male in Madison, WI. Wherever in the world I travel, I hope there is a train for me to ride. I ride the rails as much as I can both for travel and just for the fun of it. I am a huge commercial aviation nerd, but I've had a certain love for the train ever since I was about 13 and first learned that the train didn't just go from Columbus to Chicago and back.
I've been privileged to ride the rails in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., the E.U., Serbia, Russia, Korea, China, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.
Professionally, I am an IT project manager, and I hold bachelor's degrees in Music and International Relations, as well as a master's in Education. When time permits, I like to get away on one of my quick turnaround trips:
CHI-DLK-CHI
CHI-LSV-CHI
WDL-SPL-WDL
CHI-HAZ-CHI
CHI-TOP-CHI
CHI-LNK-CHI
CHI-CRV-CHI
My favorite parts of the various routes:
- Waiting for the Van Galder bus down to CHI from SMD (Madison)
- Having a cigar and cognac in the little park across the river from Chicago's Union Station
- EB: Along the Mississippi River
- EB: The bridge at WDL
- EB: The bridge at CUT
- EB: Climbing into East Glacier
- EB: Running along the sound north of SEA
- SWC: Gliding over the bare Illinois fields in early spring and late fall
- SWC: KCY
- SWC: Night time through Kansas
- SWC: The crew change stop at LAJ
- SWC: Big sky country after the Raton Pass
Looking forward to meeting more Amtrak fans and Amtrak employees here. If you go through Chicago and you see a weird looking guy in the park directly across the river from Union Station (between the white building and the silver building, right in line with Sea,...Willis Tower) smoking a cigar with a snifter of cognac, that's probably me
.Attachments
Hi @Sammo @Alex_m30x @ScottR
Grew up in the 60's taking the LIRR to NYC "and all points west" on the Port Jefferson line -- started taking the train up to Boston from NY when relatives moved there. It's amazing that a trip that used to take 6 or 8 hours now takes 3.
I lived in Europe for a year after grad school, and took the train across Ukraine to Moscow and back from the south of France through Czechoslovakia. That was after the Berlin Wall fell, but before the Soviet Union collapsed, so it was pretty interesting. You sure see a lot more taking the train than flying.
I live in Albany NY, so I'm here to monitor the situation with the train to Montreal. Was pretty disappointed that I couldn't attend a conference there this spring getting there by train, so am attending remotely. High speed train lines would really help the smaller cities and surrounding rural counties. With the price of gas going through the roof, being able to commute by train is becoming more important.
I have to say that when I do need to go to NYC, it's a particular pleasure to get a seat on the east side of the train to look at the Hudson in all her seasons. Wish more people in NYC would come up to the Catskills and Adirondacks by train to go hiking and bicycling here.
And, though I've been to Montreal twice by car -- once for Expo 67, once for a conference in the early 90's -- now that I have occasion to take the train there, would really like to be able to.
Grew up in the 60's taking the LIRR to NYC "and all points west" on the Port Jefferson line -- started taking the train up to Boston from NY when relatives moved there. It's amazing that a trip that used to take 6 or 8 hours now takes 3.
I lived in Europe for a year after grad school, and took the train across Ukraine to Moscow and back from the south of France through Czechoslovakia. That was after the Berlin Wall fell, but before the Soviet Union collapsed, so it was pretty interesting. You sure see a lot more taking the train than flying.
I live in Albany NY, so I'm here to monitor the situation with the train to Montreal. Was pretty disappointed that I couldn't attend a conference there this spring getting there by train, so am attending remotely. High speed train lines would really help the smaller cities and surrounding rural counties. With the price of gas going through the roof, being able to commute by train is becoming more important.
I have to say that when I do need to go to NYC, it's a particular pleasure to get a seat on the east side of the train to look at the Hudson in all her seasons. Wish more people in NYC would come up to the Catskills and Adirondacks by train to go hiking and bicycling here.
And, though I've been to Montreal twice by car -- once for Expo 67, once for a conference in the early 90's -- now that I have occasion to take the train there, would really like to be able to.
I live in the Dallas area and found these forums while looking up information on taking train trips. At 45 years old I have only ever taken maybe five REAL vacations that weren't just around town. I plan to do one next year and my head absolutely cannot handle the pressure differences being on an airplane so I figured I would look into trains.
Am considering taking two weeks and going to DC by train. It won't be real cheap considering I want at least a roomette but I figure once or twice a year is something I can absorb on a retail paycheck.
Am considering taking two weeks and going to DC by train. It won't be real cheap considering I want at least a roomette but I figure once or twice a year is something I can absorb on a retail paycheck.
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