ULTIMATE GUIDE to Amtrak's USA Rail Pass

looking to get into train travel but not sure how to do it we're here today to explain everything that you need to know about Amtrak's USA Rail Pass [Music] hi I'm Adam and I'm Phoebe and we're a couple behind in the Great Wide we're here today to talk to you about the Amtrak USA Rail Pass so what exactly is the Amtrak USA Rail Pass so the USA Rail Pass offers you 10 legs or segments or train rides or bus connections uh through Amtrak that all have to be used within 30 days of each other the pass is valid for 120 days after you originally purchase it but all of the travel has to happen within 30 consecutive days essentially you have four months to use the pass once you buy it but all the travel needs to happen within a month yes once you start yeah um and we actually had a problem booking our last leg because we were originally told that um we just had to get on the train by the 120th day uh after we had purchased the pass but then when we went to book it online it wouldn't let us do it because technically I think the rules are that you have to be it has to be completed that Trent your last train leg has to be completed by the 120th day after you originally buy the pass they helped us book it um because I had been given wrong information by an Amtrak employee but just know that that is the regular rules now keep in mind the USA Amtrak USA Rail Pass is not an actual ticket it's just your past to be able to book tickets on Amtrak trains and buses yes so you have to you still have to book the individual legs or segments the individual train rides but you use the USA rail pass to do that so that it you're not paying for each individual ride yes yes it will Encompass all 10 of those legs regardless of the cost that it would normally cost when you book them separately yeah um and we met a bunch of bunch of thought that it was interesting that a lot of people were using the train rides as their vacation itself they weren't right like using it as a mode of transportation to go somewhere like how we were thinking about it right they were using the train as their vacation but we we look at it as a way to to get around the country um a lot of the people that we met were essentially taking the train from like San Francisco all the way to Chicago or Beyond and then actually flying back like they weren't going to take the train back it was just a way to see the country going across and then they were going to fly back yeah I think a lot of people were surprised when they heard that we were like no we're using all 10 legs of our passes and we're going across the country and back again um because a lot of people it seems like a lot of people don't use all of the legs of their USA Rail Pass which it could still be a good deal depending on how you're using it but it's an awesome deal if you are actually using it the way that it's meant to be yeah if you plan out like we did it did it actually was a really effective efficient way of seeing the majority of the country yes uh now granted there are a lot of restrictions when it comes to the Amtrak USA Rail Pass like it is only coach you cannot pay to upgrade to a sleeper car or a business class order business class or yeah it is strictly coach yeah I think that um I we were we've heard from other people that it used to be an option that you could pay to upgrade to a sleeper car um so maybe Amtrak will offer that again someday but um who knows you know when we used it it we weren't allowed to do that because I did specifically ask them they said no um and I know that this is like the biggest deal breaker for most people yeah the USA rail passes most people are very surprised when they hear that we did the entire thing coach uh and now granted the coach seats are much more comfortable than like Airline seats I mean most people haven't taken Amtrak they haven't traveled across the country via train so they they think of it as being more like air travel and it's not uh it is much bigger seats they're wider they recline back further they're much more comfortable yeah the specific specifics of coach on Amtrak trains vary by route but we address that in each of our reviews about the specific routes so you can check out our other videos or or blog articles to see that for each specific one that we've been on so far now there are lines you can't use the USA Rail Pass is not available on the asila the Auto Train any Canadian stations on the maple leaf route and a few specific Thruway buses for whatever reason uh the Canada thing makes sense because it's the USA rail pass but uh the Auto Train also makes sense because you you put your car on it and then take it down you know to Florida so that makes sense um and the acila I think happens to be just probably their most profitable line I I think it gets used a lot I think it's faster travel it is yes I think it's true too yeah yeah um and you also cannot travel back and forth between the same two places more than twice with this pass so you can't just go from like New York to DC to New York to DC you can't use it as like a commuter Style past like that because they have other multi-ride passes available for those kinds of trips so this one the USA Rail Pass you can't do that you have to be going to different places it definitely affected how we planned our month-long trip to use all 10 legs but that to me honestly that was kind of part of the fun of it was trying to figure out the puzzle of how are we going to get all these legs done in 30 days yes and it did work out I did it did we used all 10 legs so what exactly is a leg according to Amtrak um so it is any time that you get on a train or bus and then get off again that counts as one leg yes so like on for example when we were traveling on the coast Starlight from Los Angeles to Emeryville which is just outside of San Francisco they offer a bus connection from Emeryville to San Francisco it's only like a 30 minute ride or something because it just takes you across the bay essentially but it would have counted as one leg so we instead opted to not take that bus connection and just take the train to Emeryville and since we had another train the next day we just stayed in that area and then got on the train again the next morning yeah it was we had a short layover an overnight layover that we essentially just stayed in Emeryville for the night and then took the California Zephyr the next day yeah to go to Denver but if we were planning on staying in San Francisco we would have just used public transit um there or gotten an Uber or something like that from the Emeryville station to go the rest away into San Francisco instead of wasting a whole leg of our Amtrak USA rail pass on that tiny little bus ride the 30-minute bus ride yeah when we've used it for 46 hour train rides yeah like the Empire Builder yeah it just seemed a little silly too but it's it's their policy and it's how they work it um and it is part of the way that some people use the USA Rail Pass is you know they they want to get to see a certain person so they're like well I'm not gonna you know travel as far so I can use it for that it's not a big deal yeah just keep that in mind as you are planning out your legs but there are also no blackout dates yeah which is a plus yeah so that's really great and there is a really generous luggage policy on Amtrak each person each traveler gets to bring two personal and two carry-on items onto the train for free plus you get two checked bags for free yeah essentially six items you can bring for free yeah uh per person per person you can actually check up to two more bags but it'll cost you twenty dollars per bag so you can actually have four checked bags in case you're moving your whole house or something I'm not sure how you would need to have eight pieces but you never know I mean there were people that had stuff they were bringing in they checked or a carry-on that they used that it was obviously like oh yeah that's full of stuff yeah um of things you wouldn't just be like I'm traveling you know they're going from A to B yeah I wouldn't want to have that much stuff with us on the train um absolutely not but you know if you have certain things that you need to bring with you medical equipment or whatever the Amtrak luggage policy is very generous um for those for people who need to have a lot of stuff with them yeah we we had one we used one checked bag between the two of us yeah uh it's because it was just easier when you were gonna be traveling so much but we also had like our uh a personal bag that we brought with us with like change clothes and things for the overnight uh and and toiletries and things so we could freshen up and uh we also had like our backpacks with our computers and and video equipment and stuff like that and then we had a food bag and a food bag yeah so it it worked out I mean we ended up using majority of the the carry-on personal item shop bag stuff allowance but uh but yeah it was it but it worked out and we never had to worry about it nobody ever was like oh my God that's too many things or whatever yeah it was never a problem it was never an issue um there are size and weight limitations to the bags that you can bring on um but they are not nearly as strict about um that stuff for carry-ons as airlines are they do weigh your bags for check bags though so make sure that you're within the limitations there uh not all stations and routes offer checked luggage so make sure you look uh we had a couple routes where we had to take our very large checked bag on with us uh luckily we we were able to find some seats where there was space behind us and and keep it close but some of those routes have um you can put your your non-checked bag or a checked bag size like down below yeah California Zephyr or the coast Starlight uh they have a because it's a double decker they have an area where you can put but you know if I'm not checking it I'd rather be closer to me just in case yeah just just um but tell comments if you want if your route and station offers checked luggage because not everyone does yeah food and drinks are not included with the USA rail passes because you are in coach class yeah so there is a cafe on board but you can also bring your own food or non-alcoholic drinks um and we have another video coming later this week all about food and drink on Amtrak trains uh so make sure that you hit the Subscribe button so that you don't miss that uh now surprisingly you can bring a pet on the train uh they do have a pet policy small dogs and cats are welcome on welcome on trips up to seven hours on most routes there are extra fees of course and there's only a Max of five pets per train so make sure if you're gonna bring your dog or cat that you reserve as far in advance as possible yeah yeah but none of those restrictions apply to service animal but they do apply to emotional support animals so keep that in mind you can cancel the whole USA rail pass for a full refund at any time during the 120 day window if you've already booked a leg you can cancel up to 48 hours in advance before you uh before you get on the train for a full refund yeah if it's within the 40 -year of your past then there is a 25 cancellation fee and once you start traveling the past is non-refundable yeah you use the first leg that's they're USA Rail Pass is 500 per person which I feel like can sound like a lot for some people but again it depends on how you use it because we traveled across the country and back by train exclusively for a month for this price really yeah um and sometimes they do deals uh Amtrak will offer deals to get 100 off so it's only 400 we actually got ours for 300 a person which was amazing um but I think that was a deal that they were running like once in a lifetime kind of thing um because they were trying to encourage people to start traveling again after the pandemic but even at the regular 500 price point it is a great deal if you are using the past the way that I think it's really meant to be used yeah and it does seem like they do the hundred dollars off at least once a year maybe twice a year so if you sign up for their email of you'll get an email saying and then you have 120 days so it's a good thing to keep track of if you're more flexible with your schedule and being able to travel but uh yeah it's even at 500 it's still a really good deal yeah because if we had done this same trip without the USA real pass it would have cost us just under a thousand dollars each yeah yeah it saved us a ton of ton of money ton of money um so make sure to if you want to use the USA Rail Pass book the pass in advance wait for those sales and if you want to but even at the 500 price point it's a good deal and then map out your whole route we recommend booking all of your legs before you go just to be safe because there are some sections of some routes that sell out regularly such as the California Zephyr yeah which was our favorite my favorite at least yeah um on during the whole trip so make sure that you book that as far in advance as possible just because it can and often does sell out it most likely will there's a section and and look at our California Zephyr review uh there's a section in Colorado that is packed it is packed every day every time they use it because it is beautiful and there's only certain places you can see via the train so it's packed every time and if you hadn't booked it beforehand even coming from San Francisco or Emeryville you wouldn't be able to book it at all because it it would be full during just that tiny leg but yeah Trains full sorry yeah so make sure you book as far in advance as possible but then while you are on your trip use the Amtrak app yes for sure because it's so much easier it has your tickets for each leg um that you can see and and get checked in and everything while you are traveling it makes it so much easier than having to keep track of printouts or some something like that and you can make changes at the last minute if you need to yeah it shows the schedule of your current trip so you can see where you're at if you're running late because the conductors do not communicate that info very well um you could ask but they generally don't they just they won't make announcements saying relate the one time they actually told us was when we were passing through Philadelphia and a bridge was on fire and yeah and it cost us five hours so I mean they had to say something but for the most part if they're a couple hours late it's train travel they're just like whatever you know it's the way it works but if you're planning stuff out like we did you really need to know whether or not you're going to arrive somewhere four or five hours late uh so the app is great for that yeah and that's another thing to keep in mind as you are planning your route you know don't plan a layover like a short layover because the trains if they're late you know you could miss it and then the next train may not go until the next day or a couple of days later so you could be stuck somewhere for a while uh also the app when you have the schedule it helps you to know when the fresh air bricks are gonna happen uh they happen every so often so it's good to be able to schedule around that uh now keep in mind if you do miss your train like for example you have a short layover and the train goes and they'll translate your mistrain will count as a leg uh unless it's their fault yeah so if you are just like la de Dom for the train and you miss it then it will count as one leg off of your USA rail pass but if you miss it because you're you're getting off another train that was late then you can call customer service and they can help you rebook it um so that you don't lose a leg off of your USA Rail Pass so if it's your fault it'll cost you if it's their fault it won't honestly so where you can go with the USA Rail Pass is practically anywhere in the country in most major cities have Amtrak stops yeah there's lots of stops in between these major cities and towns of all sizes and pretty much every state uh the only states that doesn't have train stations in are South Dakota Wyoming Alaska and obviously Hawaii because trains don't do well in the water yeah um but our experience on the on the trains we had a whole route like we said planned out over a month long trip so we started in Los Angeles and we took the co-star light up to San Francisco Emeryville area um and we had an overnight over there where and then the next morning we got on the California Zephyr uh to go from Emeryville over to Denver where we stayed for a few days so that was like two um and then leg three for us was on the California Zephyr again doing the rest of the route from Denver to Chicago um and that that counted as a second league because we had gotten off in Denver and spent a few days and then got back on to go the rest of the way over Chicago and that was the only one where we had like a short-ish layover it was a couple of hours yeah Chicago layover was pretty short and it was it could be a little worrisome at times because the trains do end up being late but it worked out fine for us yes yeah so leg four was from Chicago to Pittsburgh it was just an overnight um train on the Capitol Limited uh some of those names get confusing sometimes but it was the capital limited um so we and then we spent a few days in Pittsburgh with some friends uh and then leg five was the Pennsylvanian from Pittsburgh to New York City we had such a great time in New York City it's fantastic it's my first time there it was great and it was great you know um we had a really good time uh after that we did the northeast regional a short train ride it was only four hours from New York City down to Washington DC Adam's first time first DC DC is amazing absolutely amazing can't wait to go back such a great place to visit if you're traveling on a budget because there's so much free stuff to do in DC uh then the leg we did after that I've lost count but we went up to boss Austin on the northeast regional I believe that was like seven and so we spent uh two nights in Boston and spent really our only full day there in Salem Massachusetts that was the leg where we were passing through Philadelphia and there was a major delay it was the only major delay we had during the entire month um there was a couple times where we were an hour maybe two hours late but it didn't affect us like it did Going Up To Boston yeah we essentially lost all of our time hanging out in Boston because the train was late which was a bummer but we will go back to Boston we'll go back in Boston yeah sure and then we took the Lakeshore limited from Boston back over Chicago we started heading back West and that was like eight yes uh and we spent some time with some family uh outside of Chicago and then we took the Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle was the longest leg that we did leg nine through some really fantastically boring scenery uh it's 46 hours is a long time uh but once we got into the Pacific Northwest it was all worth it because the Pacific Northwest is beautiful yes after two nights on the train two consecutive nights on the train it which was a little brutal um it was a lot brutal not gonna lie but we woke up the second time on the train uh in the Pacific Northwest and it was gorgeous Seattle so beautiful was amazing Seattle was fantastic uh we really enjoyed Seattle we'd be planning on going back there at some point uh and then we took our last leg to go back to LA took the coast Starlight again heading the entire Seattle to LA the entire route which took it wasn't another overnight days on each side but I think it was like 36 hours or something like that it was but it was great because you follow the the coast for so long like it's just really gorgeous that one was very Scenic yes yeah especially the end coming in the end it was it was really great yeah so we used it to visit a lot of cities that we had never been to before which was awesome we used it to visit uh several friends that we hadn't seen in a very long time which was awesome but if we were to use the USA rail passes again we would probably try to visit some smaller towns I think yeah like places that would be harder to fly into yeah yeah I mean but if you really want to see the country this is the way to do it yeah we we visit both coasts uh we saw both both oceans we saw everywhere in between um but train travel definitely it's not for everyone um because it's slow paced and it can be really boring at times so you have to be able to will bring stuff to entertain yourself that doesn't require Wi-Fi and cell signal and everything because not all the trains have that you actually have to talk to people it's crazy but again that varies by Route which we talk about in each of our reviews yeah make sure you reach out check out our our videos that we did and our articles uh reviewing each of the the train routes we did yeah um and traveling through the countryside though in autumn was really breathtaking at times yeah we we planned the trip out I think at a really great time we got to see the golden Aspens in Colorado we got to see some gorgeous autumn colors on the Pennsylvanian as well as the Lakeshore limited um Massachusetts the countryside Massachusetts is gorgeous it was so gorgeous to be there in full Autumn bloom in October it was great um but tell us in the comments where you would take the train to using the USA Rail Pass yeah make sure you subscribe so you don't miss our upcoming video about food and drinks on Amtrak trains and if you want to get into the nitty-gritty details uh so you can plan your own trip head to our website where we spell out all of the fine print in an easy to read format thanks for watching and we'll see you in the Great Wide somewhere foreign [Music]

Channel: In The Great Wide

Views: 17,278

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Id: Ge6y5kvAfbw

Length: 24min 44sec (1484 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 20 2022