New York to San Francisco by Amtrak Train!

foreign guide 2 Series where we'll show you how to undertake long distance train Journeys it's been a while since I've done one of these but hopefully today I'll be putting that right as we'll be traveling Coast to Coast with Amtrak today Across America traveling from here in New York all the way through to San Francisco over in California for this trip I bought my ticket directly with Amtrak with both trains we'll be taking to reach San Francisco being on the same ticket I'll go into just how much I paid for this trip in a bit anyway we start our Mammoth Journey here at New York Pennsylvania station and the stunning new Moynihan train hall now this opens back in January 2021 and is now the home of Amtrak here in New York well it's a bit of an improvement I'm going to say that sleeping car passengers we gain access to Amtrak's Metropolitan Lounge now to say that this is the best Railway Lounge that I've ever had the pleasure of visiting would certainly be an understatement it was Simply Sublime with hot and cold food options as well as soft drinks offered a paid bar is also available person Ally oh yeah yeah anyway it's soon time to leave the Tranquility of the lounge behind and head down to platform level to board our train and head to California the first train we'll be catching today is train number 49 the Lakeshore limited which will take us through to Chicago the Lakeshore limited departs New York for the Midwest daily at 3 40 pm these sleeping cars on this train consist of Amtrak's single Decker viewliner coaches knocked out and been allocated a roommate in one of the newer viewliner 2 coaches however these are used interchangeably with the older viewliner one cars so just bear this in mind and here it is our home for the first of three nights of traveling as always with these a guide to videos I'll be keeping things short and sweet in terms of showing you around the train however if you do want a more in-depth look at this particular train then be sure to check out the video in the top right corner of the screen now with these viewliner 2 coaches you'll find communal toilets at the end of the coach unlike on the viewliner one coaches where the toilet is actually in the roomette on both types of coaches you'll also find showering facilities at the carriage end anyway let's take a look at where the first leg of the trip we'll see is heading oh foreign 959 miles first seeing us heading through Upstate New York to Albany where we'll be joined by some coaches from Boston with the rest of the journey seeing us traveling through Pennsylvania Ohio and Indiana before finally arriving into Chicago Illinois schedule travel time for this leg is 19 hours and 32 minutes and we set off at 3 40 on the dot for our 3397 mile journey to California if you're wondering the trip is scheduled to take 75 hours and 30 minutes in total including the layover in Chicago tomorrow foreign the first portion of the trip sees us following the course of the Hudson as we initially head north foreign enough the first of eight meal times rolls around now unfortunately only flexible dining is offered on the Lakeshore limited this consists of steamed meals and to be fair it was much better than it looked but still paled in comparison to the traditional dining meals we'll be experiencing on our next train now your meals are included in the price of your sleeping card ticket and dinner is accompanied by one alcoholic drink of your choosing as well as as many soft drinks as you like you can find an up-to-date menu for all meals on both legs of the trip in the description below after dinner Dave very quickly turns to night and before we know it we're pulling into Albany as well as joining up with the Boston portion of the train this is also the first of many smoke or fresh air stops that we'll have between here and San Francisco I always think it's a good idea to make use of as many of these as possible as it's the only real respite you'll get from the train if you smoke firstly it's probably a good idea to stop but failing that you can smoke on these longer stops too four three two one after opening it's time to turn in a head of a pretty busy day tomorrow foreign Toledo Ohio and shortly after this the sun begins to rise as we continue West towards Indiana and Illinois breakfast soon rolls around warranting another trip to the beautiful darling car after this it's just a leisurely counter into Chicago we eventually pull into Chicago's Union Station around half an hour late at 20 past 10. although trust me this is practically early by Amtrak standards anyway this delay is no problem for us as our train to California isn't scheduled to depart until two o'clock this afternoon now before we head to the lounge let's just take a quick look at the spectacular Great Hall here at Union Station the station originally opened in 1925 and is easily one of my favorites when it comes to America's Grand Railway Termini anyway as in New York we'll have lounge access here in Chicago however this one is nowhere near as good with only very basic drinks and snacks being offered wow anyway around 25 minutes prior to departure we're called forward for boarding once more the service we'll be taking is train number five the California's effort through to Emeryville in the San Francisco Bay Area this service again runs daily in both directions now this train is made up of Amtrak's iconic double decker super liner coaches and once again we'll be traveling in a roomette on this leg okay at first yeah [Music] the rooms in the superliner coaches are broadly similar to those found on the viewliners on the lower level you'll once again find communal toilets and showering facilities there's also one toilet on the upper level of each sleeping car too right before we continue on let's just take a look and see where this leg will be taking us will initially head away from Chicago and across Illinois Iowa Nebraska and Colorado will have quite a lengthy stop in Denver just after breakfast tomorrow before continuing via Utah Nevada and finally into California and Emeryville schedule travel time for this leg is 52 hours and 10 minutes and we'll see us covering a distance of 2 438 miles and we departure cargo on time at 2PM foreign as for the rest of the train there's a dining car one of Amtrak's famous sightseeer Lounge cars and a couple of Coach cars too if you want to see what the Amtrak long distance coach experience is like then be sure to check out the video in the top right corner of the screen now after our first fresh air stop in Galesburg we crossed the Mississippi River which also marks the point where we cross from Illinois and into Iowa it's around this time that we're summoned to the dining car for dinner now as I mentioned earlier the California Zephyr features Amtrak's renowned traditional dining service with a free course restaurant standard meal being served here for traditional dining one of the dining car attendants will come around a few hours prior to dinner to allow you to make a reservation for a specific time this however is not the case for breakfast and lunch which operates on a first come first served basis it's also worth noting that due to pandemic restrictions at the time of filming the usual tradition of sharing your table with your fellow passengers wasn't allowed when we traveled however these restrictions have since been lifted so perhaps someone could let me know in the comments if communal dining is once again allowed anyway after dinner the day quickly turns to the night once more as we continue across Iowa this is the second call second call for bed service second call for bad service the following morning we awake to find that we're already fast approaching Denver the a quick visit to the dining car for breakfast we pull into Denver's Union Station where we'll be stopped for around an hour giving us plenty of time to take in the spectacular station building that they have here as well as heading to a nearby shop to stock up on supplies come 8 15 we're back on our way and heading towards the Rockies day three is by far and away The Best Day scenery wise some of the views as we make our way across the Rockies are nothing short of spectacular making it easy to see why this is often considered to be Amtrak's most scenic route thank you eventually we find ourselves nearing The Moffat tunnel this is the longest tunnel on our route at 6.2 miles long long enough in fact that it's prohibited to move between cars while in the tunnel to prevent toxic diesel fumes from entering the carriages the tunnel will take us across the Continental Divide and this is also the highest point on our entire route at an elevation of 9239 feet [Music] that's where Amtrak's Winter Park Express train stops and our original weekends during ski season for Colorado Park Frazier now's a good number to turn back to your senior right check around your seats for him first lines happy birthday a short time After exiting the tunnel we arrive at the rava scenic Fraser Winter Park thank you we soon find ourselves following the banks of the mighty Colorado River while only a narrow River here it is actually responsible for carving out the Grand Canyon in Arizona lunch soon rolls around and this is a bit like a watered-down more simple version of dinner however like the rest of the traditional dining meals this was still very good expensive women in the country though yes [Music] important at Grand Junction there's a little shot for you to stock up on supplies during the trains roughly 20 minutes stop should you find that you need anything you're welcome [Music] shortly after Grand Junction we cross from Colorado and into Utah Sunset soon rolls around once more and after another gorgeous meal in the dining car it's time to turn in for One Last Time ahead of the final day tomorrow however not before we encounter a bit of a delay unfortunately one of our fellow passengers took ill on the train and for quite the assistance of the emergency services at helper which delayed us for about an hour now obviously this is just one of them things and I hope the person in question was able to make a speedy recovery foreign to find ourselves in a surprisingly snow-covered Nevada and after one last breakfast we arrive at our first fresh air stop of the day in the form of Reno [Music] shortly after leaving Reno we cross our final State Line leaving Nevada for California foreign probably the highlight of the final day is taking the Donna pass with the Donna Lake visible below us we then pass a snow-covered Sugar Bowl Ski Resort and it's hard to believe that in just a matter of hours we'll be bathing in the warmth of the San Francisco Sun after one last trip to the dining car for lunch we arrived at our final fresh air stop of Sacramento the California state capital from Sacramento it's just a Brisk two-hour Trot to the Train's final destination of Emeryville personally if time isn't really much of an objective to you I think that this is a great way of seeing the USA it allows you to get up close and personal with scenery and Views that you just wouldn't get from 35 000 feet this has truly been an experience that I'll remember for the rest of my life as for my ticket well that costs 1219 from New York to Emeryville and that price is for two people now I certainly appreciate that that's a bit on the pricey side but don't forget that that includes three nights accommodation plus meals too however if you are on a bit of a tight budget coach tickets start from around 200 and while the accommodation on offer may be nowhere near as comfortable the views are just as spectacular all the same anyway those are just my thoughts and opinions on this wonderful trip so do be sure to share some of your thoughts and perhaps even some of your own experiences on this trip in the comments below attention ladies and gentlemen about 20 minutes Chicago closed with the duration of the trip so we'll be there a picture clean of an anticipation of our arrival foreign you'll see it [Applause] thank you very much we finally pull into Emeryville 3397 miles later around an hour and a half late at about 20 to 6. from Emeryville you can either take an Amtrak Thruway bus which you can include in your ticket when booking to reach downtown San Francisco or do as we did and summon an Uber it was about thirty dollars for us to reach downtown by Uber anyway I do hope you enjoyed this video and perhaps that I was even able to inspire you to do this trip in the future if you did enjoy it be sure to give it a like as it really does help us out if you're new to the channel then why not subscribe and enable notifications as I publish new trip reports fairly regularly thanks a lot for watching and I'll see you in the next one

Channel: Dylan's Travel Reports

Views: 1,148,454

Keywords: amtrak, new york to san francisco, new york to san francisco amtrak, amtrak roomette, amtrak sleeper, new york to san francisco train, amtrak coast to coast, amtrak train tour, amtrak trains, trains, washington dc to los angeles, texas eagle, texas eagle train, capitol limited, capitol limited train, washington to california, amtrak washington to los angeles, amtrak california to east coast, washington to los angeles train, amtrak roomette review, amtrak long distance train

Id: kX2mOApIZf4

Length: 26min 52sec (1612 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 11 2022