We are considering doing an overnight Amtrak from NM to CA this summer. We don't want to fly and have never been on Amtrak before. DH and I both think it would be fun for kids and the price is almost the same as flying. We'd have to do the "family bedroom" since it would be the two of us, plus our 4 and 3 year old. I'll be about 30ish weeks pregnant at time of travel.
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I did many times growing up. We always took the train to visit my grandma, going from D.C. to Alabama. I loved it! We were in a sleeping car, so during the day it's like a couch to sit on, then when we went to the dining car for dinner the porter converted it into bunk beds. There was a (tiny) bathroom in our room. In the morning we'd have breakfast in the dining car and they'd convert back to seating. I haven't done it in years, but I imagine it's still similar. Much more roomy than flying
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I've never been either but this just opened up a whole new way for us to travel with more room.
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I did quite frequently when visiting DH while we were still dating long distance in college. I traveled from NY to Chicago overnight. I couldn't afford the rooms, so I sat up all night. I wouldn't recommend that with a family, but I'm sure it would be much better in a sleeper car. I will say, at least back then, we almost always were delayed - if not at the boarding, then by the time we made it to our destination.
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Only once, just before I was pregnant, and I adored it. I will totally do it again with DH and DD when she is older. On the other hand, long distance train is the preferred way to travel for DH and I, so our bias is clear...
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If the price is the same as flying, I would definitely prefer to fly. My 4 year old would think the train was fun.... for a while. But she thinks planes are super fun too, and it's waaaaaaay faster. Extending the amount of time spent traveling with small children is not something I would willingly sign up for.
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I haven't done Amtrak overnight but I have done a overnight train in Europe and I wouldn't want to do it 30 weeks pregnant! Especially with 2 kids as well! I'd much rather fly but I think I'd rather be at my destination sooner. Will you have to rent a car either way?
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@matador84: how long is the trip vs the sleep time? I just had a student in my class take the Amtrak "auto train" to Florida from outside DC. I'd never heard of it before, so I pumped him for details and then googled later. Apparently, it loads around 4:30 pm and arrives at 9:30 am. And there's dinner on the train in the dining car.
So with kids, that seems super doable to me because you get from say, 4:30-5:30 to explore the train, then dinner from 5:30-6:30, then explore train more or hang out in your room, then bed time for them. Then wake up and have breakfast in the dining car and pack your stuff and you are done.
eta: I guess that's a 17 hours train trip. Sounds awful if you just say 17 hour trip, but could be cool in real life if the kids are sleeping 10-12 hours of that.
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@matador84: I've done long Amtrak trips a few times and, while I love the idea and enjoyed the adventures as a single traveler, I would hesitate ... er, rather skip it, with little kids and while quite pregnant. I've done the entire west coast and the long Northwest and Northeast routes. I almost did the very route you describe but rented a car instead because the station times are weird and mostly it's nighttime for one of the directions, thus not much to see. The best tracks are in the Northeast and they are pretty so-so in the rest of the country, including the southwest. That makes for a very long bumpy ride and poor sleep. It's truly worth the adventure at some point, but even with a sleeping car, I think it's something for when the littles are older than, say, 8 y.o. minimum and can deal with some serious cooped-up downtime.
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@Anagram: this is exactly how the train we took to Alabama worked. We'd board just before dinner and arrive a little after breakfast. It never felt all that long to me, and there's a lot to see out the windows
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http://www.stylehiclub.com/americas/canada/traveling-by-train-with-an-infant/
check-out this blog post!
The blogger has an infant, so it won't be exactly the same, but it may have some helpful information. -
I haven't done an overnight trip but I did do an 8 hour day trip with my husband a few years ago. I would absolutely fly over taking a train., especially from NM to CA when the flight time would be so short.
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Check the on time stats for your train. I used to take the train in CA in college and it had an abysmal on time rate. The train was often hours late and sat on the tracks for hour long chunks while freight trains passed (Amtrak doesn't own the rails). My parents hated picking me up from the train so much, because it took the whole day, they helped me buy a car. I hope you route is better.
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I haven't done Amtrak, but did do a European night train at 27 weeks pregnant. It was do-able, but neither DH nor I slept much due to the train rocking/stopping a lot. It was fine at the time because it was my first pregnancy and we could nap when we got to our hotel, but I don't think I'd try it now that I'm pregnant with a toddler, because I'd be too exhausted to happily parent the next day. Maybe Amtrak is more comfortable, though.
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13 comments