Ridiculous Attempt at a LD Trip

I live in the Midwest (Chicago, to be specific), and my bride and I have a trip to New Orleans scheduled for next March. We have a bedroom and we're doing the round trip on points.

She has said that she really has no great desire to *go* somewhere, but the ride itself would be fun.

If this goes well, I'm wondering if I can do this trip on points:

1) CZ from Chicago to Los Angeles

2) CS from LA to Seattle (or Portland)

3) EB back home to Chicago.

Would that qualify as a two zone round trip if we don't spend time anywhere, but just "ride the trains"?

The only timing problem I see is the connection at Seattle.

By "two zone round trip", you mean two separate two-zone redemptions? (one outbound and one return?

RyanS said:

By "two zone round trip", you mean two separate two-zone redemptions? (one outbound and one return?

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I suppose... :blush:

All we want to do is take a long trip. As you may recall, I did #27 to PDX. 2 days later, #14 to EMY, and 2 days after that, #6 to CHI.

In this scenario, we would ride, ride, ride....

Isn't there something about returning to your starting point that would prevent this? I'm thing this will cost you more than 2 zones.

Don't know. That's why I'm asking.

However, if things go well in March, we could 2 two-zone trips and actually (gasp!) purchase the trip on the CS.

I'd spend time puting alternate city pairs into amtrak.com and seeing what routings come up. You might be able to book CHI-LAX-SEA on the Southwest Chief and Coast Starlight, and then SEA-CHI, as two separate 2-zone awards. If amtrak.com gives your prefered routing, you should have little trouble booking it. If it doesn't, you will have much greater difficulty.

Thanks for the tips. I really have no preference for CZ vs the SC (but I think the scenery might better on the CZ) westbound.

Why would there be a difference on the Southwest Chief vs the California Zephyr? Either one is a 2 - zone trip.

You could not do the CZ from Chicago to LA and then to Seattle on one award ticket, since you would be "backtracking" between SAC and LA.

Perhaps the SWC to LA, then CS up the coast to Seattle, and then the EB to Chicago could be accomplished somehow on two 2-zone awards, with perhaps EMY as the breakpoint between the two awards. But I've never attempted this myself -- others would know what can legitimately be ticketed on AGR award travel for this routing.

I live in Oregon (my boarding station is CMO), and the SWC/CS or CZ/CS is routinely offered as a routing. Going to CHI, Amtrak Cascades to SEA is offered to me as a connection to the EB (as well as PDX). Try KFS or EUG as breakpoint cities.

oregon pioneer said:

I live in Oregon (my boarding station is CMO), and the SWC/CS or CZ/CS is routinely offered as a routing. Going to CHI, Amtrak Cascades to SEA is offered to me as a connection to the EB (as well as PDX). Try KFS or EUG as breakpoint cities.

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Lemme see if I get your point.

Try to book Chicago to Eugene. Then Eugene back to Chicago?

By the way, it doesn't have to be LAX to SEA. Could be EMY to PDX too. We're going for the ride.

FrensicPic said:

Isn't there something about returning to your starting point that would prevent this? I'm thing this will cost you more than 2 zones.

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From the AGR website ...

• Circle trips are not permitted using a single redemption. A circle trip is a travel itinerary comprised of a series of segments that exit, and later re-enter, the same zone.

George K said:

oregon pioneer said:

I live in Oregon (my boarding station is CMO), and the SWC/CS or CZ/CS is routinely offered as a routing. Going to CHI, Amtrak Cascades to SEA is offered to me as a connection to the EB (as well as PDX). Try KFS or EUG as breakpoint cities.

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Lemme see if I get your point.

Try to book Chicago to Eugene. Then Eugene back to Chicago?

By the way, it doesn't have to be LAX to SEA. Could be EMY to PDX too. We're going for the ride.

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Yup, CHI to EUG and EUG to CHI. Two separate redemptions. Pick your routing.

Of course, if you miss a connection, with two separate redemptions, it's up to you to re-do the reservation for the second redemption, BEFORE your scheduled "boarding" time. And of course, with an AGR award, as long as you do that, bucket is irrelevant. Just be sure to make your trip diring a time when the next day's train is unlikely to be full.

That's why we're talking about 2 different two-zone redemptions. Something like CHI-LAX-SEA is a valid 2 zone, followed up by SEA-CHI on the Builder.

You do have to overnight in SEA if you do this.

RyanS said:

That's why we're talking about 2 different two-zone redemptions. Something like CHI-LAX-SEA is a valid 2 zone, followed up by SEA-CHI on the Builder.

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Really? Even if there's a faster way to get to SEA (on #7)? That's interesting.

George K said:

I live in the Midwest (Chicago, to be specific), and my bride and I have a trip to New Orleans scheduled for next March. We have a bedroom and we're doing the round trip on points.

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It would be the same as your trip scheduled to NOLA and back. One redemption one way, and one the other. To go from CHI-NOLA and back on points AGR points, you spent 25,000 + 25,000 for 50,000 in total right? For your proposed trip, it's the same except it would be 40,000 + 40,000 = 80,000 points because of the two zones. The first trip would be Chicago -> Seattle on the CZ/CS and the second would be the EB from Seattle -> Chicago.

Really? Even if there's a faster way to get to SEA (on #7)? That's interesting.

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Two zone redemption require the same amount of points regardless of how many segments it takes to get to your destination.

RyanS said:

That's why we're talking about 2 different two-zone redemptions. Something like CHI-LAX-SEA is a valid 2 zone, followed up by SEA-CHI on the Builder.

You do have to overnight in SEA if you do this.

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Hmm, yeah -- it woud involve an overnight somewhere between EUG and SEA. Pick your lovely Northwest city! Didn't they even break the PDX connection between the CS and the EB #28? So it means the overnight, whether you connect in PDX or SEA. Both wonderful places to spend a morning before getting on the next train.

And BTW, I would definitely do the trip in a clockwise direction, best daytime scenery all-round. But boy, it's a tough choice whether to connect in PDX (Columbia Gorge) or SEA (Washington Cascades). I'd definitely do the SWC to LAX and get the California coast, and then I'd lean towards the PDX connection for the Gprge (and an evening on the town).

And I believe that any routing shown on Amtrak's system, when you put your origin and destination in, is an acceptable award. Whe you start in CHI, with a destination of SEA, the SWC through LAX is an accepted routing.

Did the Columbia Gorge back in September with D4 (Daughter #4). SWMBO (She who must be obeyed) probably doesn't have a preference, so for my sake, the Washington Cascades will be better.

Again, I'm fantasizing about a trip a year from now, assuming that our trip to NOLA goes well.

Thanks, everyone, for your tips.

One more question: How can I check if it's a "valid" routing? just plug it into Amtrak's page and see what happens?

Yep, it's that easy. CHI-SEA you get 7, 27-516, 5-14 or 3-14.

421-14 is also valid on the days that it runs. 5 train days for a 2-zone redemption!

Wow. That's really impressive. Even if I don't have enough points for the whole trip, purchasing a ticket on #8 for the trip home would still be attractive!

Again, thank you, everyone, for the advice. It's fun to fantasize.

I should add that I'm going part-time in my work next year (about 60-90 days a year) so I'll have lots of time on my hands. Amtrak travel will be high on my list (D4 and I are going to DC next year - already booked).

Sounds like a fun trip. And I always thought i was the only one crazy enough to do stuff like that.

I'm not sure how it's going to get you to New Orleans though.

Nah, New Orleans is a separate trip - this March. It's a test for my bride to see if she likes Amtrak (I think she will). If so, she's totally down with spending 5 days.

There is no connection between the CS and the EB either direction anymore, so as others have said Chi-Sea via Lax is a two zone award andSea-Chi is another two zone award. Several years ago I took a seven day rail trip from Sea-NYP the longest way possible CS to LA, a thruway bus to San Diego and back to kill an overnight, LA to NOL on the Sunset Limited, overnight in New Orleans and up to NY on the Crescent. All roomettes.

I have taken many LD trips over the years just to ride. The train IS the vacation!

You should be able to do an overnight in PDX between the EB and the CS, since that was legal in the past until the EB went to pot. There's a post on FlyerTalk somewhere stating as much.

As such, what you could do is coach CHI - CBS, one two-zone redemption CBS - DEN (overnight at your expense in PDX,) and then either a one-zone redemption or pay cash DEN - CHI. You'd take the EB west and the CZ east, but it would work and save a fair amount of points.