We hope to ride the California Zephyr again early next year but still working on our plans. The initial idea was to ride it end to end as we did before so westbound CHI to SFC. But looking for travel cost savings came across a big saving by flying direct non-stop to Denver in place of Chicago, that's from London.
We ride Amtrak trains just to be on them and missing the first 19 hours of the journey is making us hesitate. On the other hand the atmosphere on the Zephyr appeared to ratchet up a notch as soon as we left Denver due to the amazing rail journey over two world class mountain ranges.
Here's the questions -
Is the Zephyr into Denver from Chicago usually on time-ish?
There's a web based tracking system for most Amtrak LD trains, is it accurate enough for me to say take a look at 5:30am and if the Zephyr is running 6 hours late be relaxed enough to go back to bed for 4 hours?
Departure from Denver is slated as 8:05am, would we be entitled (we'd book a roomette) to breakfast on leaving Denver? This question is due to the fact that we may have to leave our overnight hotel earlier than breakfast is served.
Most important question. If we join the Zephyr in Denver, does it feel like the same journey as riding it end to end or do you feel something is missing?
Any recommendations on budget hotels in or close to the station? Denver looks more expensive in early March than Chicago! and by a fair amount too.
BTW. It was good to see the Denver International Airport has a direct train link from the airport station to Denver Amtrak, great connected up transport system.
Thank you
We ride Amtrak trains just to be on them and missing the first 19 hours of the journey is making us hesitate. On the other hand the atmosphere on the Zephyr appeared to ratchet up a notch as soon as we left Denver due to the amazing rail journey over two world class mountain ranges.
Here's the questions -
Is the Zephyr into Denver from Chicago usually on time-ish?
There's a web based tracking system for most Amtrak LD trains, is it accurate enough for me to say take a look at 5:30am and if the Zephyr is running 6 hours late be relaxed enough to go back to bed for 4 hours?
Departure from Denver is slated as 8:05am, would we be entitled (we'd book a roomette) to breakfast on leaving Denver? This question is due to the fact that we may have to leave our overnight hotel earlier than breakfast is served.
Most important question. If we join the Zephyr in Denver, does it feel like the same journey as riding it end to end or do you feel something is missing?
Any recommendations on budget hotels in or close to the station? Denver looks more expensive in early March than Chicago! and by a fair amount too.
BTW. It was good to see the Denver International Airport has a direct train link from the airport station to Denver Amtrak, great connected up transport system.
Thank you
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