First Amtrak Trip--Suggestions?

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AmtrakNewbie

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I am going to take my first trip on Amtrak. I'll be going from Orlando to Los Angeles in a "Roomette" Any suggestions, hints, pointers, etc?????

Thanks!
 
Take a DVD player and movies

Take hand sanitizer and use it constantly!!

Get fresh pillow cases each day and replace old ones

Take a lot to read!

Don't forget to tip in dining room and your roomette steward.

Have fun! I board the Southwest Chief this Thursday to California (from Kansas City). This will be my 5th time taking this trip.
 
Newbie,

I'd start with On Track On Line's Hints and Tips located here. Then come on back if you still have any questions and we'll do our best to answer them.
 
Beware that the Orlando to Los Angeles Sunset Limited suffers from frequent delays due to freight congestion, primarily on tracks owned by Union Pacific Railroad (between Louisiana and Los Angeles). These delays can accumulate over the course of a trip, and can total several hours.

It's not bad if you're prepared for it, and don't schedule anything for immediately after arrival in LA.
 
rmadisonwi said:
Beware that the Orlando to Los Angeles Sunset Limited suffers from frequent delays due to freight congestion, primarily on tracks owned by Union Pacific Railroad (between Louisiana and Los Angeles). These delays can accumulate over the course of a trip, and can total several hours.
It's not bad if you're prepared for it, and don't schedule anything for immediately after arrival in LA.
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I second this. Try to leave the day you are scheduled to arrive free of plans so that you can accommodate the possibility of a heavy delay.
 
If you can get your hands on one, take a scanner along with you and program it with the Amtrak frequencies available on the Internet for your particular trip.
 
Christi said:
Have fun!  I board the Southwest Chief this Thursday to California (from Kansas City).  This will be my 5th time taking this trip.
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Aloha

Enjoy the SW Chief I returned from Chicago in Setember. If you see Joan

give her my Aloha
9877258-S.jpg
 
Thanks to all for your comments and for the link to the web site. It has provided lots of info!

One quick question: I will be travelling with my laptop and other valuables. Will I be able to lock the "roomette"? If not, is it safe to leave valuables in the "roomette"?

Thanks!
 
I have traveled in a standard bedroom/roomette on Amtrak several times with my laptop and digital camera and have never had second thoughts about leaving them unattended int he roomette. You can't lock it when you leave, but your stuff should be safe if you have it out of sight from people who might walk by in the hallway. When I leave my laptop, I usually put it in its case and slide it into the in room closet. It's a small laptop and it is a perfect fit. If yours is too big you can always just throw the pillow(s) or something over it so it is out of sight when you leave. It would probably be fine either way, but it never hurts to exercise a little common sense and just keep stuff out of sight so as not to tempt someone.
 
It is good to take books and things along to entertain yourself. But also give the train and the scenery and the ambiance a chance to entertain you.

Part of the beauty of a long distance train trip is that, for some people at least, they can relax and leave such distractions behind.

Admittedly, though, yours will be a very long trip.

Being realistic, that approach is not valid for everybody, so, sure, come prepared.

But give the train a chance to let you sit there and enjoy the present moment, esp. during the daylight hours.

And keep in mind that in the dining car especially (as you are normally seated with strangers) , and to some extent in the lounge car you might make new friends.
 
As for security, close the curtains when you leave, so no one can see in. That way they think you are there, so why would anyone bother to open the door.

Enjoy the trip. If you have low expectations, you'll usually find you'll be very pleased with service. Its not the Ritz but its not a cheap truck stop motel either.
 
AmtrakNewbie said:
One quick question: I will be travelling with my laptop and other valuables. Will I be able to lock the "roomette"? If not, is it safe to leave valuables in the "roomette"?
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As mentioned, put anything valuable out of site, and always bring wallets and/or purses with you, since you can only lock the roomette when you are inside the room.
 
Some laptops have an attachment point for a locking device so you can lock it up like a bike. If you are concerned, you may want to look into this. I had my laptop on our last trip which included the Sunset Limited and had no problems. If you are playing games or something like that with it, you probably should bring some headphones to go with. Just remember to be patient and enjoy the ride. Forget about the worries of the world and relax.
 
Aloha

Without the Laptop what would you do with the 500 or so digital pictures.

The car attendents on every train I have been on wrer very vigilent and helpfull, Kept track of who belonged where.
 
Unless you have other things you need to use the laptop for, if the main idea is to use it to store the accumulating digital pictures, just buy a couple more of whatever the camera uses for storage. They are tiny in size, they weigh less than an ounce each, and are pretty cheap now and that makes a lot more sense than lugging around (and possibly dropping and breaking) the laptop. I have a 512 MB and a 256 MB SD card for my 3.2 MP camera and that gives me around 500 pix right there at full definition on the camera. Before the next trip abroad I will probably purchase several more of the 512's. And after a day of pix, I review the pix I took (on the camera's LCD screen)and delete the ones that I know I am not going to want to keep. That frees up the memory space on the card that those pix took up. I take along a small Palm PDA that has things like contact numbers, itinerary and calendar, and so forth (and a solitaire game if I get really desperate) and it's a LOT easier to deal with in cramped quarters than a laptop. And it fits in my pocket so it's a lot more secure than a laptop, too. I second the suggestion re a scanner. I have a ham radio handheld (my wife and I are both ham operators) that is also a vhf-uhf scanner, so I can listen to the crews and the conversations with dispatch and other trains, and I find it very interesting. When there is a delay or a mechanical problem, it's nice to be silently "in the loop" as to what is happening.
 
When we took the EB for three days last fall I had my laptop with me. I kept it in the case and no one bothered it. People were up and down the hall all the time. I felt very secure. When we left for a meal we shut our door and curtains.

On the memory issue, I just bought a 1 gig at Walmart for $79.00. Prices have indeed come down.
 
As a computer consultant, my laptop is like my American Express card, I don't leave home without it. :lol:

In six years with over 50,000 miles riding Amtrak, I've never had a problem with my laptop. As has already been mentioned, just don't leave it out in plain site if you're not in the room and you'll be fine.
 
AmtrakWPK said:
And after a day of pix, I review the pix I took (on the camera's LCD screen)and delete the ones that I know I am not going to want to keep.
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Aloha

I liked AlanB Americian Express about the Laptop plus with picturs I prefer the larger screen to view and/or edit the pictures. If the movie bad or whatever I can edit stup at night, six hours sleep on the train is a luxury.
 
Thanks one and all for the wealth of information on Amtrak. You all are a great group of people. I'm looking forward to this trip...its something I've wanted to do for years! I'm not expecting the Ritz but I do expect to relax, enjoy and meet people!

One reply mentioned that there is an in room closet in the roomette? If there is one is it large enought to hold a tote with a laptop? Also, is it feasible for me to bring like a smalled wheeled luggage bag with enough stuff a couple of nights?

Thanks again!!!!!!!!!!
 
The closet is barely big enough for a hanging garment bag. So if your laptop case is slim, then yes you may be able to fit it into the closet. If it's a wide case, with papers, power cords and other stuff, then you'll probably have a problem.

As for a small suitcase in the room, the rolling suitcase that I normally travel with is 14 inches wide, stands 23 inches tall, and is 7 inches thick. This will just fit underneath one of the seats, or I can stand it in the one corner opposite the closet next to the other seat.

Anything larger than my suitcase and you will have to constantly move it around to do anything and would be better off leaving it downstairs in the big luggage rack.
 
AmtrakNewbie said:
One reply mentioned that there is an in room closet in the roomette? If there is one is it large enought to hold a tote with a laptop? Also, is it feasible for me to bring like a smalled wheeled luggage bag with enough stuff a couple of nights?
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Small wheeled luggage bag should be fine. You could store it downstairs, or even in your room if you don't mind being slightly cramped (or, just stick it on the upper bunk if you don't mind reduced headroom).

As for in-room closets, only the older Superliner sleepers have that. The newer ones have a recessed panel to hang your coat or stow a small bag.

There's no way to tell which type of car you'll get (older or newer) until the train shows up. Either way, storing your computer shouldn't be that big of a problem. Just keep the curtain closed when you're out of your room, and you should be fine.
 

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