Amtrak EMPIRE BUILDER Sleeper Train (Seattle to Chicago)

welcome on board Amtrak's Empire Builder over the next 48 hours we'll cross the country from Seattle to Chicago experiencing all Amtrak has to offer on this overnight sleeper train including the most breathtaking views along the way hello jet Setters welcome aboard one of Amtrak's most iconic routes this is the Empire Builder I'm Jeb Brooks from greenergass.com Let's Get on Board and check it out we begin our journey in Seattle as just south of us in Portland another train departs we'll meet in the middle of the night in Spokane where these two trains become one this journey across some of the most beautiful landscapes in the Western United States is only the first leg of our journey across the continent on Amtrak but things didn't start off as we'd hoped we're so excited about this journey across the country on Amtrak unfortunately it's not getting off to the smoothest start just got an email indicating about a 90 minute delay but what are you gonna do it's part of the adventure so we used our extra time for some shopping exploring and of course some meatballs followed by the freshest salads we could find in Seattle but then we made our way to the station where we got some more unfortunate news arrived King Street Station it's about five o'clock our train should have been leaving about now but unfortunately uh we've got another delay we're not getting out of here till eight o'clock I guess it's the nature of Amtrak travel these days when we arrive we ask an Amtrak employee the reason for the delay he said it was in the yard being worked on and we might even depart earlier than eight o'clock you can't deny the beauty of Seattle's King Street Station even if it's lacking in amenities there's nothing to buy whether you know we want a bite to eat or read a newspaper a magazine or something like that there's literally nothing here kind of strange for the station here in Seattle eventually we discovered a restaurant across the street and ordered something to tide us over [Music] fortunately we had a view of the platform and noticed our train boarding just as we finished the nachos [Music] I stored my bag downstairs and we headed upstairs to our room bedroom d and here it is home for at least the next 46 hours but at this point it's looking like it's going to be a lot longer than we planned full room tour we're on our way to Chicago 7 41 2 hours and 46 minutes late this is the first time I've traveled with Amtrak from the west coast to the east coast you see this is the first of three trains we'll take to get home to Greensboro North Carolina for now though we made our way to the dining car to share something for dinner meals are complimentary for Sleeper Car passengers the coach passengers can eat in the dining car on a space available basis for a fee we started with a Mexican souffle which had a bit of heat to it but not too much from there we shared the pan roasted chicken breast which was tasty but a little dry [Music] back in the room we discovered a quirk of our sink it laughs Amtrak sure has its charms as Suzanne said we'll explore this room and its beds tomorrow for now we're beat good night we slept for about nine hours and woke up in the second state of this trip good morning from Sandpoint Idaho it's about seven o'clock in the morning I woke up to an alert on my phone from Amtrak for about four and a half hours late which is unfortunate but the dining car is just opened I think I'm gonna grab some breakfast I think Suzanne is probably still asleep up there and um get this day started I woke up and to be honest I didn't sleep the best I never sleep that great on Amtrak when I was thinking to myself why am I doing this but then I looked out the window to this winter wonderland and it made that all those feelings go away it's incredible this is why you arrive Amtrak [Music] for breakfast Suzanne had the scrambled eggs and I went for the breakfast quesadilla both were good but nothing compared to this scenery [Music] we lingered over our coffee as the sun rose [Music] we're back in the room and just enjoying these absolutely mesmerizing magnificent and incredible views this is truly one of the most beautiful parts of the country One Thing Worth saying is thank goodness for the delay because of that we're seeing this now instead of sleeping through it while we were at breakfast we learned some unfortunate news there's no observation car on this train unfortunately um some kind of mechanical problem so they've added an additional dining cart we'll spend most of our time in this room but it's not like that's a bad thing because it is stunning out there [Music] good this is part of the route that's usually in darkness either direction you travel so what a treat to get to see it today [Music] [Music] [Music] I just can't believe this is real we're so fortunate with the snow setting off and you know Suzanne mentioned how lucky for them for the delay to get these views we would have slept through otherwise I think Idaho may be maybe one of my new favorite States [Music] I have so many Unforgettable Amtrak memories things like passing through Granby Canyon on the Zephyr traveling along the Pacific Ocean on the coast starlighter passing by East Coast cities but now this experience tops them all and again if we hadn't had this delay we would have missed all of this there's probably some kind of life lesson in there somewhere welcome to Libby Montana now the schedule put us here about five in the morning but it's now almost 10 o'clock so uh you know a little delay for sure but great to see it all lit up like this welcome to get ready with me Amtrak Edition for the for them you may not know what get ready with me is it's uh where a YouTuber shows you how they get ready for the day instead of washing my face I'm going to use a face wipe that smells nice too you've got to have your SPF even on Amtrak Amtrak does provide your towels if you're staying in a bedroom or room bed I'm not going to take the time to wash my hair this morning these views are too incredible to miss so I'm gonna do a little combo of uh water and dry shampoo you want a little dry shampoo I'm Gonna Keep the makeup pretty light today maybe just some concealer these uh eye bags are real oh so beautiful good and there you go here's the final look ready for a day on Amtrak and here I am this is my final look for a day on Amtrak did you at least brush your teeth yes okay you ready and ready for the day we watched the world go by [Music] so we're almost to Whitefish Montana which is going to be a fresh air break so looking forward to get out and getting out there and stretching our legs we'll have about 10 minutes out there so uh let's take advantage of it foreign first fresh air break here in Whitefish it is about 29 degrees outside we're running about four and a half hours late so far but it's been such a beautiful morning I'm not minding at all this was our first chance to check out the new Siemens locomotives Amtrak has recently started adding to their Fleet unfortunately they've been a little challenging to run which is one of the reasons for some of the delays like the one we're experiencing today that was all aboard All Aboard let's go we're back in our room just in time to say goodbye to Whitefish Montana the Empire Builder traces its Heritage back to 1929 when it was the flagship route of the vaunted Great Northern Railway in the early part of the 20th century railroad companies were the airlines of their time and perhaps none were as revered as the Great Northern Railway which operated between Saint Paul Minnesota and Seattle Washington they operated the northernmost transcontinental Railway in the country and were the only privately funded Transcontinental Railroad in the nation's history today Amtrak is the only passenger operator on the route we're pulling into West Glacier which was the Terminus of our first trip with Amtrak on the Empire Builder we came from Chicago out here for a little vacation in Glacier National Park it was amazing and highly recommend that but it really was also the beginning of my love affair if I can be so bold with Amtrak this has just been a really wonderful part of my life having discovered this and I'm so grateful to Suzanne for introducing me to to the joys of Amtrak Adventures we hope you'll consider taking your own Amtrak trip it's a truly special way to experience the United States but this was just the beginning of this adventure [Music] and Glacier National Park means it's time for lunch it's a cheeseburger for Suzanne and the Monte Cristo sandwich for me not sure I'll order this again but that burger looks extremely appealing [Music] we arrived in Essex Montana after lunch and were able to make a dinner reservation in a test of our relationship Suzanne let me pick the time did I get it right what do you think I picked I'm glad you've accepted [Music] it was close had our eastbound train been on time this is where we would have had breakfast instead we eased our way through Glacier National Park where Suzanne enjoyed some scenery well I took a nap and then I enjoyed some scenery while she took a nap I'm not sure a more relaxing mode of transportation exists particularly given how lucky we are to experience this journey from the comfort of this bedroom so what do you say we take a look around it this along with this converted to beds at night there's a closet right here plenty of room for coats that kind of thing here you've got the sink mirror and come on in let me show you my favorite part I love this chair us get the best views on the train your storage for one bag up here that's of course Suzanne's bag mine's downstairs there's plenty of room there as well for bags and a table here to do some work or leave your things we've got our backpacks here so we can get our stuff if we need it and then in here shower and a toilet he's in here but really nice to have your own facilities right here is a mirror and our adjoining room now keep your voice down because uh got to get creative on how you deaden noise rattles in a in an Amtrak bedroom in addition to bedrooms like ours you can book an even bigger family bedroom with space for two adults and two kids they're accessible bedrooms like this one [Music] or even roommates like this anytime you're able to travel in one of these spaces with beds you're living right [Music] what is duffel board exactly duffel board is the greatest sport of all time and you have to go to Seattle to learn about it but let me tell you it's epic time for another stretch stop this is uh Shelby Montana let's head out check it out here in Shelby we walk the entire length of the train now the back of the train had the sleeper two coaches a dining car from Portland again that dining car would normally be a sightseer Lounge but not on this trip unfortunately the front of the train from Seattle where we were had a coach the dining car two sleepers a baggage car and of course two engines we'll walk through the inside of the train we get to St Paul but for now it's time for the all aboard [Music] and having your own room on Amtrak is you're able to bring your own drinks you have to consume them in your room but kind of nice to have a glass of wine in the afternoon why not why not uh we picked up this great bottle of um Rhone blend in a Seattle Urban Winery we are 19 hours into this about 46 hour Journey [Music] before long we were pulling into Haver Montana it's a little uh it's a little chilly here in Havre Montana I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be staying outside while the train was being serviced we headed inside the station [Music] in front there's a statue to the founder of the Great Northern Railroad James Hill and back on the train the dining car had been set up for dinner but it was only 5 30 so we still had some time before our 7 15 reservation okay so this is a super rare occurrence because of under Builder the West the West Power Builder right here outside havera they were having a way to get in the station until we pulled out so we should be able to see them right up here [Music] and that was our very first Amtrak uh train the westbound Empire Builder how cool to see it right here in Haver um gosh love Amtrak we watched the sunset and time passed dinner was approaching fast so one of the reasons I decided to come on this trip with Jeb is that I'm gonna order the steak don't worry full report coming [Music] The train pulled into Malta Montana just as we took our seats in the dining car we'd eaten with other passengers at each meal until this one but tonight we had a table to ourselves Suzanne started with a coconut crusted shrimp and I went for that Mexican souffle again both of us chose the Amtrak stake and neither of us were disappointed [Music] we shared a piece of cheesecake before heading back to our room [Music] we are back from dinner and I have to report back on that steak it was delicious it's very tender very moist two thumbs up well it's nearly time for bed here uh we'll get the room turned over in just a second but we are approaching 24 hours on this train uh but it really doesn't feel like the scenery today made time fly by it was really beautiful and here's hoping for a good night's sleep tonight with a quick tap the call button our car attendant came to the room and opened up our beds questions about what these beds are like and there's no better way to get precise than with a tape measure so let's get down to the numbers the bottom Buck is 37.5 inches wide it's 72 inches long and you'll get 31 inches of Headroom up top you'll get 27.5 inches of width it's also 72 inches long there's 22 inches of Headroom up here so the viewer who asked if they can fit at six six the answer is um well sir you're going to be sleeping diagonally so it's not super wide but wide enough and you know not enough space to fully sit up here take some gymnastics to get up here this bed is really comfortable for me I think if you're taller than six feet it's going to be a bit of a challenge this is definitely a place to get some good sleep on Amtrak no doubt about it and that's that uh next time I see you should be in North Dakota good night good morning it's uh nearly seven o'clock we're almost to Fargo North Dakota it was a reasonable night of sleep uh I remember these tracks from the first time we took the Empire Builder they're um a little a little rougher than perhaps what we had last night but I still feel pretty well rested the sun's coming up beautiful day in North Dakota and if everything goes according to plan we'll be in Chicago this evening coffee is available in sleeper cars from 6 until 11 each morning so I took full advantage while I watched North Dakota Roll by we headed up for breakfast Suzanne had the scrambled eggs again I had the omelette thank you [Music] now am I right to say this right here this is a vibe [Music] we asked our subscribers whether they had questions about Amtrak and so we're going to try to answer them throughout this journey and by the way if you haven't already subscribed I hope you will uh because we love to get input from people who are subscribed about how to make our videos better what advice do we have for first time Amtrak Travelers and I think my biggest piece of advice really is to set your expectations it's a comfortable experience it's not luxurious it's not the most modern up-to-date equipment it's not the fastest it's not the most efficient it's not the cheapest even so you really have to set those expectations of like I'm here for the experience I'm here for the journey and kind of sit back and take it in a little over 36 hours into our journey and we've just arrived in Staples Minnesota at that 36 hour mark seems like the right time to answer a question that many of you ask which is some version of why is Amtrak always so late it's a complex system not to mention weather on top of that freight trains that delay arrivals and these are these machines are incredibly complex too so there are a lot of reasons that the delays occur it's not ideal of course but I think if you're traveling by train just something you gotta accept at least here in the United States no matter what you're experiencing on the train on time delayed otherwise you're going to see some incredible sights and it's worth saying again thank goodness for the delay that we had because what that allowed for us is to see that beautiful part of northern Idaho when you otherwise would have slept through very exciting very momentous news I think the mighty Mississippi river is about to appear right out our window it's a very exciting moment in any journey journey across the country and um let's savor it there's been a lot of questions about traveling in coach and we have not done that but there are a number of great channels that feature on YouTube that have I definitely recommend miles in transit who is one of the funniest trip reporters out there by a long shot and simply Railway both of those channels have a lot of really interesting uh Transportation Transit training related videos specifically in coach so highly recommend checking out those channels I'll link to the description below how safe is it to leave your luggage in your room when you go to the restaurant or maybe downstairs to the bathroom and I mean the answer is I don't know we've done it before and haven't lost anything yet you know touch wood I guess it's always at your own risk we do recommend closing the door can't lock it from the outside but when you go just close your door and really more than anything just don't bring anything too valuable This Bear That Suzanne has on her on her bag here this is probably the most valuable thing we've got I got it for in Lincoln Nebraska on our crj200 tour couple of questions about roommates one are they worth it well that really depends on you and what's important to you I think they're definitely a step up above coach no doubt about that to have your own private space but whether it's worth it well it depends on you also related when's the best time to take a shower if you're in a room that and the answer to that is just keep an eye on how busy it is they're pretty clean and I haven't seen them used too much so it's pretty easy to find a spot if you if you keep your eye out a question we get a lot is how does the room at bedroom Affair work like do you pay for the room or do you pay per person and the answer to that is you pay kind of per person so for example a roommate on this route from Seattle to Chicago for one person costs in the neighborhood of 500 if you want to add another person it goes up to something in the 700-ish dollar range to cover the the meals basically we got a number of questions about accessibility and uh experiencing Amtrak from a wheelchair unfortunately I'm not really qualified to talk about that I did get to check out the accessible bedroom before it was occupied on this this trip so I'll share that footage with you if you have more questions about this I think Amtrak may be your best resource get their customer service call I wish I could provide more but I just I'm not qualified for that sorry foreign we soon found ourselves in the suburbs of Minneapolis-St Paul I'm going to keep it real with you the last day of at Long Haul Amtrak trip is always kind of a smog like I'm going on two nights of not so good top bunk sleep it just kind of feels like this day into Chicago is gonna take forever but Gotta Stay entertained gotta have some caffeine maybe just grab a nap if you can that'd be my advice [Music] as we slowly made our way into the Saint Paul station we decided to grab lunch Suzanne had the baked potato with chili and I had the cheeseburger she'd enjoyed yesterday we shared a piece of lemon cake and oh by the way don't forget to tip your dining car attendance so that was our last meal of the trip steak has to be the steak that is uh you know it's not the Cod of the Zephyr but the steak is really good I think what's yours I agree the steak was is uh the best meal we ate on this train but you really like the baked potato you had for lunch you said that was one of your favorites as lunches go I really enjoy that my burger was delicious the food's been very good [Music] and it's time for our stretch break temperature check what is the temperature 39 degrees here in Saint Paul today it feels like 32 in the wind chill a little bit better than Montana but still kind of chilly yeah they're ready for any service animals that might appear at this station I was really hoping to check out the station here but uh we don't have much time I think we were trying to make up some of the delay so we can't get in there but next time we're in Minneapolis St Paul I guarantee we're gonna check out the station we decided to head back onto the train in the very last car again it's made up of a total of three sleepers three coaches two dining cars one of which really should have been a sightseer Lounge a baggage car and two engines and we're bidding a fond farewell to Saint Paul and Minneapolis but this is the last stretch break of the trip the next time we get off this train well that's going to be in Chicago this final stretch from Minneapolis to Chicago took around eight hours but the time flew by [Music] it is amazing to see the Mississippi River completely frozen over like this there's just a dusting of snow which gives this kind of rippled effect and we've seen several bald eagles right through here which is really exciting I'm not sure there's anything much more patriotic than sitting on an Amtrak train watching a bald eagle fly over the Mississippi River am I right [Music] we made our way to the cafe where we bought a couple of beers and snacks Winona is a fresh air stretch break but we're going to stay inside and I left my coat in the room and we don't feel like going back there I am going to give Winona my Award for best small station of the trip I really like the way this one looks as we made the turn East toward Lacrosse Wisconsin our next stop and across the Mississippi once more we decided to head back to our room Welcome to our sixth State this is our next to last one this is Wisconsin next up Illinois and our final stop Chicago it is currently uh quarter to five four forty five that was our arrival time into Chicago we are still on our way we just passed out of La Crosse Wisconsin about 43 hours into the journey this is my first time playing Uno so I think I'm about to win but let me know the real rules reverse play so it's my turn again and there we go hot on the heels of her Victory we were called to the dining car for an unexpected bonus meal on account of the delay now this was probably the worst thing we ate the whole trip but we were still grateful for it since we weren't going to get into Chicago until after 9 30. our room attendant just brought by these snack packs which was also super nice it's good to have some sustenance during this delay I guess this is uh Wisconsin Dells this is where I had the most famous meatballs in the history of Amtrak uh right here this is where my Fork broke we played some more Uno passed through Milwaukee Came Upon the Chicago skyline and our journey had ended 47 hours 52 minutes I think we can all agree that was 48 Hours on the train but we're not done yet nope that a couple days we'll be back here to get on a train to Washington DC between now and the next time see you on the rails foreign thoughts back on board this is such an exciting journey and I'll tell you why first of all let's consist consist consist um jab question for you why do you seem to wear t-shirts on the train people want to know where's the Jeb shirt uh yeah on a trainer or a t-shirt which is weird because in no other aspect of my life except going to the gym do I wear a t-shirt the quirks of being me sets Glorious Day aboard and more Amtrak stake is that a good impression of me uh let me know in the comments I feel like pull down here not gonna lie uh the bottom bunk gives you plenty of space sorry Suzanne I love you would you want to share with me though yes foreign keep it real here oh I'm supposed to do that foreign

Channel: Jeb Brooks

Views: 314,918

Keywords: empire builder, amtrak, amtrak sleeper car tour, amtrak bedroom suite, amtrak empire builder, superliner bedroom, amtrak superliner bedroom, amtrak superliner bedroom tour, amtrak superliner coach, amtrak superliner train, amtrak empire builder documentary, amtrak empire builder glacier national park, glacier national park by train, glacier national park train, amtrak north dakota, amtrak wisconsin, amtrak montana, amtrak train, train travel, Amtrak Across America

Id: teN-Y1wAu78

Length: 30min 12sec (1812 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 11 2023