Answering All Your Amtrak Questions | Tips To Avoid Mistakes on Amtrak

hey guys welcome back to the channel today we are answering your top 50 Amtrak questions [Music] [Music] all right we get so many questions both on YouTube comments and on our website that we thought we'd just answer them all in one quick shot so this is going to be rapid fire we're gonna do this as quickly as possible alternating answers try to give you as much information as possible in the shortest amount of time so here we go let's just get into it all right can you eat meals in your room yes uh Sleeper Car uh passengers your meals are included with your fare and you don't have to eat in the dining room if you don't want to or if you can't if you want to enjoy your meal in your room every time just let your Sleeper Car attendant know and they will take your order at meal times they will bring it to your room and you can enjoy it in your room with no problems all right so next question is there security to go through at the station there is not security to go throughout the station this is not like an airport or something like that where you have to wait in a line basically just show up you get there you you can get right on the train you just show them your ticket you get on the train uh that's not to say that there is not security there there is security there they're watching you but you don't have to go through like a metal detector or scan your bags and wait in all those long lines that you have to go at the airport yes can you pick or change what room you are in okay so um if you are in a Sleeper Car your sleep car passenger you cannot really pick your room when you purchase it you'll get one assigned to you if you're looking at it and you decide oh that's not really the room that I want and you want to change it you can call the 800 number and they can change the room for you if there is a room available in your same seating you know class to switch you to so next question is what hotels should I stay at near the station all right a lot of stations a lot of hotels I'm gonna run them down for you real quick in New York City you want to stay at the Fairfield Inn and Suites it is right next to Marina Hall train station in Seattle you want to stay at the Embassy Suites Pioneer Square in Emeryville which is San Francisco you want to stay at the Hyatt House La there's no good hotel Chicago we stay at the La Quinta or the Hyatt Place and in DC we stay at the Phoenix Park Hotel we have all those listed on the website with links to them so if you want to check them out go ahead and check that out how do I get the best price on a ticket ah yes this is always everyone's question it's so important to get the best deal and in order to do that you have got to book your ticket as early as possible also if you book your ticket not during a heist the high season so not in the summer generally or during Peak you know uh fall season of colors those are the two kind of high season times so as long as you don't purchase it um right before you're leaving and during those times you'll get a really good deal farther out better off price you're going to get good okay uh next question is is coffee or hot water available yes coffee is available on the train I don't ever drink the coffee you do so maybe you should answer this one we'll switch it up you take this one give it a quick answer I'll take the next one okay so yes to both of those there is coffee available um if you are in coach you will need to purchase that and you may or may not be able to get the hot water for free generally yes but not always if you're in coach now if you are in a Sleeper Car you get your coffee he included it's free and you also can get hot water that's included it's free as well good I didn't know any of that I'll ask myself this one which Direct direction should I face on the cross country trains so with co-star light you're going to want to face to the West that'll be the ocean side on the California Zephyr you want to face to the South that is the best views Empire Builder you want to face to the north and the sunset limited I think you want to face to the South you'll see the border and some stuff like that Southwest Chief really doesn't matter it's kind of the same yeah good views off both sides about the same yeah so uh next question is a microwave available for public use okay there is not a microwave available for public use there are a few microwaves on the train uh one is managed by the snack car or Cafe car attendant and one or more than one are in the dining car and they are not available for public use but you may be able to ask very nicely and they may possibly let you use them but that's not guaranteed uh next question can I eat alone in the dining room uh it's possible but not likely so you used to be able to eat alone in fact you had to eat alone but now they are seating people together again so likely you're going to be sat with someone now if you do really want to eat alone in the dining room your best chance is to go really early or really late so if you go like sometimes there's a 5 or 5 30 seating sometimes there's an eight o'clock seating whenever we go to those we generally end up eating alone just because no one else is there there's not enough people there so it's possible but not uh not guaranteed is there checked baggage yes as a matter of fact um with your fare you get two free checked baggage or checked bags for both coach and Sleeper Car but you can carry those on if you want but if you don't want to have to hassle with them and keep track of them you can check them and you won't have to worry about it now there are a few unmanned unstaffed stations where you cannot do that so make sure you pay attention to what type of station you'll be at to know if you can if you'll be able to check your bags ahead of time or not okay uh next one oh can I get ice well in the Supercar rooms you can definitely get ice you just ask your attendant and they will bring you as much ice as you would like they will go to the dining room and get it for you uh if you're in coach it's a little trickier you're really officially can't get ice but you might be able to it's one of those if you're a nice person you might you'll talk them into it so uh if you wanted to do that you might be able to get some down in the cafe um probably not in the dining car though unless you're paying to go in there and and eat which they're going to be doing you might be able to get ice that way next question is can I bring my pet with me aha all right so there is a limit on how many uh can be on each train and how long they can be on the train so and there's also a fee involved with this as well we wrote a whole article about this on our website groundedlifetravel.com and all the details are there but like I said there is a limit so if you're booking early and getting that best fare you're also going to be booking for your pet if you're trying to bring a pet with you and if you're doing an overnight you will not be able to bring your hat with you so make sure you head over to the website read the whole blog it will tell you all the details but the quick answer is yes but there are some caveats to that yes okay uh next question let's see where am I how much should I tip tipping tipping the room attendant uh generally it's done all at once at the end of the trip and that would be five to ten dollars per person per night and the dining car attendant we tip them after each meal just leave the money right on the table like three to five dollars depending on the meal and how many of you will and if there's more people than more obviously but uh just kind of figure out what it would be like at a restaurant and kind of go from there so that's that's kind of how we do it how often can you get off the train okay so um here's the thing is you cannot get off the train every time it stops that would take forever um so many of the stops they're only stopping for people getting on or off and only so certain doors open so not every single door will open in every single car so make sure you're paying attention to when they say you have a fresh air brake and then they'll also let you know how long that fresh air brick is going to be right now uh let's see next question is are my checked bags safe bags are safe uh because they're checked and they're put in a checked baggage car and no one has access to that car except for the staff so if you want to get something out of your bag even you cannot uh the checked bag is different than a bag you would put on a a rack yourself when you get on the super liner car in the sleeper rooms there's a big area to put bags that's not a check bag that's just a bag you put there now that bad I think it's still pretty safe unless someone just walks off with it but that's pretty rare and you do have access to those so check bags are very safe will you have access to the Metropolitan loans okay so there are certain ticket classes that have access to the Metropolitan Lounge Lounge automatically and that is Sleeper Car passengers and first class passengers at some stations so make sure you check and make sure and see if you do have access if you have a first class ticket because you don't always have access with a first class ticket and there are other possibilities to access the Metropolitan Lounge you can purchase a day pass as well as an option at some of them okay next question is can two people sleep on the bottom level of a room okay so they don't want to sleep on the top bunk so how do you yeah nobody sits on the top you can't do that in one room except for the family bedroom you could sleep one adult and one child like that that's the only way you could do it uh so the way people get around that is built by two roomets and put them right across the hall from each other and they can both sleep on the bottom level where I'm at and usually it's about the same price as a bedroom to do that you're going to want to call in to make sure you get rooms right across the hall because the good thing about the roommates if you're doing that is the rooms do line up directly so if you have both doors open you can you're right across the hall so you can basically talk to the person throughout the day and night close it off both sleep on the on the bottom level and you are good to go uh how bad is it to go up the stairs on a super liner if you have some mobility issues well it is it is fairly tough it's fair it's narrow and it is a turning stairway so you go up turn up turn so there's two turns on your way up and they are narrow there is a railing to hang on to um but if you're going up the stairs while the train is moving that's pretty challenging so if you have any mobility issues that's going to be a little bit harder to get up those stairs so make sure you choose your accommodations accordingly uh okay next one is how bad is it to oh no I just answered that one is business class worth the upgrade oh good question yep yeah generally I think business class is not worth the upgrade you the seats can be pretty similar to Coach even worse sometimes um so you do you're basically paying for free drinks uh the exception would be the coast Starlight or I think it probably is worth it sometimes not always they have uh an observation card just for business class on that train and it is generally a better ride so the short answer is unless you're on the co-star light probably not worth it to pay for business class unless you drink a lot of soda what are the best routes okay well are we talking about like our favorite routes you think is what the question is yeah but like what we think the best ones are I think for us the probably the top let's say two routes top one I think hands down California's effer goes from Chicago to Emeryville San Francisco area I mean the scenery there is going to be absolutely stunning especially once you get past Denver headed out west incredible looking at the riding through the gorgeous there and through the tunnel and then the other one that we really like is the coast Starlight riding down the coast if you're riding you can go from either Los Angeles to Seattle or Seattle down to Los Angeles stunning views of the coastline of California I think the a third close one is Empire Builder agreed yep absolutely beautiful views on that one as well yeah okay uh next one is what is the BOGO sale and how do I get it okay so the BOGO is the buy one get one free sale and that happens with roommates usually and you just have to wait until it pops up it'll pop up no one knows when it's gonna happen and it usually runs for about 10 days and it's for booking travel in the future now if it happens to come up when you are planning to buy tickets go ahead and jump on it as soon as possible but we don't generally think it's worth waiting for because as you're waiting the price of the tickets will go up so you're usually better off just going ahead and buying them as quickly as possible once you know your dates don't worry about waiting for the BOGO but if you happen to see the BOGO and you're like oh I want to do that then it may be a good uh maybe a good thing to jump on yeah will they help me get on and off the train if I have trouble ah getting up yes so um at manned stations or staff stations they will have red cap service and they will help you get onto the train and train staff can help you we'll help you get off the train but at unstaffed stations the Amtrak staff the train staff will get off and help you get on and if you're on help you get off so there is that available to you now the next question is can you smoke or vape on the train well you cannot you cannot do either on the train actually or e-cigarettes anything like that you can't do it you can do it at a fresh air break uh uh and there will be one of those generally about every four hours so those last they're supposed to last for about 12 to 15 minutes if the train is late that'll be more like seven to nine minutes so you want to get on and off that train quickly as possible yes if you're trying to get a smoke break in can I bring my own food you can yes you can bring your own food regardless of which C-Class if you're in coach or even um Sleeper Car passengers you can bring your own food onto the train if you have dietary restrictions or preferences or you just want to bring your own food and just have your own stuff absolutely no problem you can bring those on I mean there's no restrictions on that however it is best to you know kind of keep your fellow passengers in mind and don't you know show up with a bunch of onions or something that's super smelly on the train I'm not gonna lie one time I did make that mistake and I got onions on my sub and I realized I had made a grave error so I ran to the observation car with my sub to to eat there and to not stink up the the coach car for the rest of my fellow passengers so keep that in mind but yes so you can bring your own food on the train okay next one is there wi-fi and how good is it there is usually Wi-Fi on the train except for the cross country routes generally you don't have Wi-Fi uh and the Wi-Fi is not real good let's just be honest it's gonna be slower than your cell phone connection almost always so if you're just on a cell phone and you have unlimited data you're just going to want to use that and the Wi-Fi is really for hooking up a tablet or a computer that doesn't have a cell connection that would be your best use for it otherwise just use your cell phone don't worry about the Wi-Fi uh can you book a family bedroom if you only have one or two people that's a good question so family bedroom is General is a four birth so it is made for four people for a family two adults two kids but anyone can book this room it really doesn't matter one person two people anyone can book it if you want it go for it um just uh know that you're just gonna have mostly some place to sit and someplace to lay nothing you know super special about the family bedroom under other than the size but if that's where you want to be then that's great next question is the upper or lower level better on a super liner we prefer the upper level by far because it has a better View it is close to the dining car it's closer to the observation car the downsides are there's less bathrooms there's more bathrooms downstairs and downstairs is where you get off the train but we don't mind the stairs so it really comes down to Mobility if you have mobility issues then the lower level might be better but other than that the upper level is the way to go will my train be on time the answer is likely no no if you're doing especially the cross-country routes out west there's a zero chance that you will be on time we have done those routes multiple times lots of different ones we have never been on time not once now there are a few trains that usually run fairly close to on time and those are up in the Northeast area like your Northeast Regional acella Downeaster those types of trains up in that area are going to be generally closer if not on time almost every time but all of your cross-country routes and up and down the the East Coast they are not going to be on time next question are there car rental companies at the station so every station is different and at the big ones there will be some car rental companies but a lot of the medium-sized the smaller ones like your Atlanta or something like that that's how I say you you think that's a big station it's not it really just depends on which stations are the hubs and that's basically going to be La Chicago New York that's where you're going to find the car rental companies it's not one of those chances are it probably doesn't have a car rental company uh so you're gonna have to take a uber to a car rental or walk we've done that before too but usually we just get an Uber and take that to the car rental place and go from there yeah uh is there is it hot or cold on the train um well generally I guess it depends on your body temperature I always find that it's fairly cool on the trains so I always carry a scarf with me or a cardigan with me something I can you know wrap around me because I generally get cold most of the time in general I don't really remember a lot of people complaining about it being too cold or too hot for the most part it's going to be just right for just about everybody so if you're a person that gets really cold like me make sure you bring a scarf or a card cardigan with you and if you're a person that gets hot you can always get a little portable fan that you can bring with you as well and we do have links to all the items that we carry with us on our website groundedlifetravel.com and you can pick up any of the items that we use including my scarf and cardigan that I bring with me next one is are there accessible bedrooms rooms on the train yes there are there are accessible bedrooms on both the viewliner and the super liner and they are pretty nice there so the viewliner is just one level train so it's obviously on the lower level the aligners do have a little bit more challenging steps to get up though super liners are the easiest train to get on on the accessible bedroom is also going to be on the lower level and it's kind of flat to get onto a super liner but the best of them all is the viewliner 2 accessible bedroom that is the biggest and best bedroom in all of amtraks yes uh can you buy a day pass to the Metropolitan launch all right so as we mentioned earlier some people already have access to the Metropolitan Lounge but if you do not have sleep or car ticket or a first class ticket with access to the Metropolitan Lounge there are quite a few Metropolitan lounges that allow you to buy a one-day pass you just have to go and ask the attendant that's at the Metropolitan to lounge if you can purchase a day pass and they'll let you know if you can or cannot sometimes they only have so many available depending on how busy the lounge is as well so just check with the Metropolitan lounge if you really want to try to have access let them know hey I'd like to buy a day pass and then they'll let you know if you can get in there or not next one is can you use the showers if you are in coach this is a quick one no you cannot they don't let you go down there to use a shower so no access how early do you have to get to the train station as a matter of fact you really only need if you're not checking bags you can get there like 20 to 30 minutes um ahead of time if you're checking bags a little bit earlier than that maybe about 40 minutes before your train leaves to make sure that they have time to get the bag out and loaded with the other bags that they're going to be getting onto the train but if you're bringing your own bags keeping them with you then you don't have to get there anywhere near as early because as we mentioned earlier you don't have to go through security or anything like that so pretty easy cut and dry next can you hop on and off the trains with one ticket no you cannot it's not like a hop-on hop-off bus get on and get off for like a pass where you can do it even with the rail pass you can't do that so every time you get off and then the train leaves and you get on another train you need a new ticket which can get expensive so we generally take it from one Terminus to the other because getting on along the way not the not the cheapest thing to do so here's an interesting one can you order food to the train you know the answer is actually yes risky but yes you can if you have a long fresh air break coming up like let's say you're on the California Zephyr and you know you have a long break at Denver then you have time to call some place and order or another one I've seen it done before is in otama it's a long break there because there's a staff a crew change happening in Ottumwa so I have seen a group of Boy Scouts order pizzas to the train station and bring fresh pizzas on the train and enjoy those on the train so that is possible you do have to kind of time it out really well but um it is it is something that you can do next one is can you go into town at the fresh air breaks or at the stops very rarely so most of the time they'll tell you do not leave the platform but if it is a crew change stop which will happen about once or twice on a long trip where you'll be awake for it then you can go into town and they will tell you you can go into town but they will tell you when you need to be back so Denver like she said is one where you can generally walk into town or walking to the station at least I don't know you're gonna walk into Denver but right walk in the station there's a couple others where you can go into town and get food from a restaurant but if they tell if they don't tell you that you can do it do not do it because they will leave you behind and if they tell you you can do it make sure you're back when they tell you that you need to be there or you will be uh Left Behind again so are the trains family friendly they are actually very family friendly we run into lots of families traveling and the staff is actually super friendly a lot of times they have like paper conductor hats or paper train sets and coloring books and things like that especially for the little ones so um you know don't shy away from that there's also if you're riding on the cross country trains out west the super liners have family bedrooms they're set up for two adults and two children to be able to ride in those so that's great also tells you they're interested in families traveling on Amtrak it's a lot of fun and like I said the staff is super friendly to the children I'm gonna give you the next one too okay all right our trains safe for solo Travelers yes uh so this question I actually get this question a lot from female solar Travelers of all ages and I have to say I have been on the trains by my self multiple times and I've seen lots of ladies traveling of all ages anywhere from you know girls in their 20s traveling and ladies in their 70s traveling absolutely no problem just you know be be aware like you would anywhere else when you're traveling I do it anyways even if we're together we're always paying attention but it's not really an unsafe environment there's always staff Amtrak staff available and around so just have your wits about you like normal but it is very safe for solo Travelers so the next one is for you which is can sleeper passengers get food from the cafe yes they can you can go down there you do have to purchase it but you can get it it's not free but you can get it okay and you buy alcohol on the train you can you you can buy it in the snap in the snack car in the cafe and if you're a Sleeper Car passenger you get one alcoholic beverage per person per ride included in your fare if you want more you can also purchase it when when you're in the dining car just let your attendant know and they'll go ahead and charge you for it right then next one is what is your favorite room type what's our favorite if I could have any room for free it would be a bedroom on a view liner too that is the best yeah uh we generally like the viewlander twos but we almost always travel in a room at yes because it's cheaper how do you avoid motion sickness ah well it's a good thing I ended up with this question because I normally have motion sickness and there's a couple of things that I do that are really important one of them is to sit in the direction of travel that helps a lot with avoiding most ocean sickness and then if I do tend that usually solves it on its own but if I if I get the start to start to feeling a little queasy um I always travel with ginger chews with me again that's on the list of the things that we travel with on our website groundlifetravel.com there's a link there to purchase the ginger chews that I keep with me on the train so that helps me a lot as well so those are the the two things that I do to help me to avoid motion sickness on the train next one is can you walk between cars so can you leave the train car that you're in yeah you can walk around on there you can walk between cars you can go to the observation car the dining car Cafe so definitely get up move around you can go upstairs and go downstairs um you're not going to get a lot of steps doing it but you can walk around between cars are there assigned seats in coach okay if you when you purchase your ticket in coach if you get a seat assigned to you then yes that's your assigned seat if you do not get an assigned seat then that means when you get to the train you will be able to choose a seat from what is available when you get on the train next question are there first aid kits on the train there are definitely first-hand kits uh I know in the supercars there's one in every car I think there's some in coach in every car too uh so we have seen them used before and they're pretty good so uh definitely they're there if you need them hopefully you will not if you have a problem on the train who do you know well just like with everything on the train just tell any staff person and that person will get you to the correct person so you know if you run into the cafe car attendant before anybody else let them know and they'll tell you oh you need to talk to the conductor and the conductor is ultimately the person who's going to take care of the problem so make sure that it gets to that level if it's an emergency definitely get up from your seat and go find somebody as quickly as possible you will run into Amtrak staff very regularly easily on the train it's not going to be hard to find somebody so just you know you may not even have to leave your seat to find somebody you can just make sure you let a staff person know and you know who the staff people are they're always wearing their blue uniforms especially the conductor wearing his or her conductor hats I'll add to that one at night there is always a staff member sitting in the dining car always yes and in the cafe area yes so um let's see so what hours is the Cafe open oh okay so the cafe is open when the attendant is down there during mostly during the daytime generally I think they open around 6 6 30 and they usually close around between 10 maybe 10 30 11 somewhere around there but the attendant will let you know and there are also times when the attendant has to take a breakfast break a lunch break dinner break they will always come on and let you know hey I'm getting ready to go on my dinner break I'm going to close it in 15 minutes that gives you a chance to go over and grab something if you were kind of thinking about getting something you can run down there real quick grab what you want before they go on the break or you can wait until they come back from their break their break is usually about an hour so just keep that in mind when they make that announcement that it'll be at least an hour before you can go back down there again next one is there anything fun to do at fresh air breaks uh sometimes there is so sometimes there's unique things at the station it just depends on the station so you got to get out and look around sometimes there may be like a little train you can get on there may be people selling crafts like in Albuquerque there's usually like a little fair type thing with people selling stuff there may be people selling food in Orlando there's like a hot dog cart all kinds of different things and then at some stations there's just nothing so it just depends on the station get out go look around see what there is you might be surprised last question is will I see you on my train that's funny um possibly it just depends we do ride the trains a lot I think the place where we run into the most people is usually in the metropolitan lounges especially the one in Chicago Chicago um we come in and out of Chicago a lot our kids live in Chicago and in La so we're usually taking a train in or out of Chicago so you will likely run into us in the metropolitan Lounge there unless you are on our train we've actually met so many of you and you guys are super sweet to come and say hello so if you spot us please come and say hi to us um don't be shy and we've actually gotten to share a meal with lots of people lots of subscribers on the train as well so please come say hi to us um we're super nice people right but hopefully we do get to run into as many of you as we can when we're riding the trains so guys thank you so much for watching and for sending in so many great questions um don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already give us a like and if you have more questions leave them down in the comments we'll make another video for you

Channel: Grounded Life Travel

Views: 11,176

Keywords: amtrak, amtrak questions, amtrak tips, amtrak train, amtrak travel tips, amtrak trains, amtrak station, amtrak coast starlight, amtrak sunset limited, california zephyr, amtrak roomette, empire builder, amtrak tips and tricks, amtrak empire builder, amtrak observation car, amtrak review, amtrak trip, amtrak vacation, train travel usa, usa train travel, amtrak faq, amtrak first time, amtrak mistakes, amtrak vacations, amtrak vlog, amtrak coach, amtrak business

Id: AMswm8DzvvI

Length: 34min 54sec (2094 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 28 2022