B
bryher
Guest
Hi all, I took my two boys (ages 5 and 10) on the AutoTrain last March. It was a first for all of us - overnight, sleeping and eating on a train. My and my oldest instantly fell in love with it (the youngest too early to tell). I just spent a nice chunk of $$$ purchasing an Amtrak Superliner / AutoTrain train set for under the tree this year to relive our trip. B/c these trips are not cheap I decided to sign up for the Amtrak Mastercard - they were running a promotion for 30k bonus miles. So for the last few months I've been putting everything on the card and now have over 53,000 points. Just in time for my 10 year old's birthday coming up. I got my wife (who wants nothing to do with riding on trains especially overnight) to agree to let me take him on a trip. Quite honestly he doesn't care about the destination and just wants to take another ride, anywhere, on the Amtrak overnight (me too!). I found this cool site (http://biketrain.x10.mx/amsnag2.0/amSnag.php) that allows me to scan for low prices/buckets. Am thinking right now of taking him on the Capitol Ltd in April. Literally take it #29 up from WAS to CHI, walk around the city for a few hours, and hop on #30 back the same day Our criteria:
1) we're definitely booking a full bedroom (not a roomette). My son loves the idea of the in room combo shower toilet. Showing on board a speeding train is a thrill for him . Superliner is his favorite b/c of the levels.
2) Dining: this is an important part of the experience. I just learned they've downgraded the dining on the Cap to meals served in boxes. Ideally we prefer full meals served by servers on plates in a dedicated dining car. Like on the AutoTrain.
Any suggestions, pointers, etc? Bryan
1) we're definitely booking a full bedroom (not a roomette). My son loves the idea of the in room combo shower toilet. Showing on board a speeding train is a thrill for him . Superliner is his favorite b/c of the levels.
2) Dining: this is an important part of the experience. I just learned they've downgraded the dining on the Cap to meals served in boxes. Ideally we prefer full meals served by servers on plates in a dedicated dining car. Like on the AutoTrain.
Any suggestions, pointers, etc? Bryan