AMTRAK EXPERIENCE

This journey was back of purvesh mind for many years almost 3-4 but we were  always debating and I think it was really a very good idea on his part to plan the whole trip.The best part about it was from the time we left home till we reached say 5 days none of us were behind the wheels which is very rare in this country.

So we took the train from Fremont and the main train was from Oakland . So when we were at the station we checked in our luggage same as we all do in flight and had a carry on with us just like the flight.The train has various options in bedroom like shared, we were in a sleeper bedroom where by everything is included food, the restrooms, closet , towels , blankets etc.I was shocked to see the amenities they had thought of every detail . Even though it was 7*7 approx the room size but was good enough for 3 of us.Jenica enjoyed the ride since no car seat and different experience for her she could roam about and at the same time enjoy the views too. We boarded at around 9.30 or so and we reached seattle next day at 9 in the evening some what 24 hrs ride but believe me time flies.

The food was good with few vegetarian options but was good enough and we hardly ate from what i carried along with me. It was a proper sit down restaurant type with china, cutlery plates napkins etc. The breakfast was continental, Lunch burger , Dinner lasagna.The kids menu had pizza , pasta etc usual stuff.
They will not warm up our food since it  is against there regulation and they said the only thing they can give us is the warm water and probably we can make cup noodles .So carry readymade food or whatever you can make with hot water.

There were two movies shows to keep entertained and also lots of newspaper, some board games were also there .The whole journey is very relaxing since once you hop on you can relax, eat , sleep and play for most of us we have the train experience back in India but nothing here.
The only difference was here even though train stops at station unlike india there are no food vendors etc and the speed is also slow its like you are crusing along .

The Views are fantastic and breath taking . we would highly recommend doing it.So once you get down the luggage comes just like the flight and the whole process is the same. we were for 2 days in seattle and then we again boarded a pacific star light cost train from seattle to Vancouver for 4 hrs . So you don’t have to wait in traffic at the border which usually is the case and when you get down at Vancouver we had immigration just as the plane.

In Vancouver we did a city tour stanley park has todenpoles and nice view, then the next day we went to gross mountain  in a trolley a new experience for jenica there was a lumber show, and bear. we went on the capilano bridge very nice view and a good walk on the bouncing bridge.

While coming back we flew down it is 2 hrs flight time from there to here. The cost was approx $1200-1400 for all 3 of us for all the way to vancouver and since we went in a long weekend and did the last minute booking but if we plan ahead i am sure one can save $ 200-300 and get good deals.

So one thing we noticed was the train is good for all ages, with kids, without kids , honeymoon, olderage group.The next one on our list is the Zypher which goes till chicago. It is  on the expensive side but worth the dollar spent for relaxation as well as the views which we all miss even if we drive down since it goes through the mountains , rivers etc we saw snow and they say it is worth the beauty in winter months .They have a nice viewing gallery for first class with nice chairs so you can sit down with a cup of tea . Purvesh will upload the pics soon and for any more information feel free to call us.