$30 ticket on the Boston-to-Maine railway 🇺🇸🍂
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- čas přidán 3. 02. 2024
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I went as far northeast as the trains will take you in the USA: all the way up to Brunswick, Maine.
Was it worth the visit? And what is the train ride up there like?
I travelled the whole 3.5-hour route between Boston North Station and Brunswick aboard Amtrak's Downeaster to find out. We look at the ticket prices, food menu, and where it stops along the way.
I hope that you're doing well and staying safe.
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Where should my next Amtrak destination be? 🚂🇺🇸
New york to miami and then you can hire a car and drive from Miami to key west.
New York to Toronto!😅
🇨🇦🇨🇦 it’s overdue
Come to the flyover states! They say “keep moving, there’s nothing to see here” yet Native America has its own lovely essence. 🌾🌸🌾 And secrets.
Montréal! 🇨🇦 It's a lovely ride along the Hudson River and then through the Adirondacks. And Montréal is an interesting city
It’s literally so refreshing for someone to travel America using public transport
and of course it takes a European to do it. lmao
Since states fund most shorter distance Amtrak routes in the US, and Maine really likes the Downeaster, it’s well-supported.
There is a movement to make this line move even further northeast to Rockland which is a lovely town in its own right.
Downeaster Expansion Ultras 👏
There's also been pushes in the past to get it up to Bangor, which would put it in usable distance to the University campus in Orono.
My boyfriend’s car broke down a few months ago, and we haven’t had the money to get him a new car. He’s been using the Downeaster to get from his place in Boston to mine in New Hampshire (don’t worry, I drive down more often than he comes up!)
Small world, seeing someone else taking the downeaster
I grew up in Maine and I would often take the bus from Maine to Boston with friends when I was in high school. Love your videos!
Its amazing seeing your admiration for the places I see everyday in the Northeast. I took the Amtrak for the first time last week and it was pretty nice. Glad you enjoy it here!
"Considering how expensive it feels just to be alive in the USA" 😭
I loved taking the Downeaster to my brother's vacation home in Portland when I lived in Boston. I could walk to North Station, ride to Portland, catch the bus to the Casco Bay Lines, and then ferry over to the island (a truly multimodal trip!).
Unlike the other Amtrak routes I've ridden, the Downeaster cafe also stocks local beers, snacks, and iconic red Maine style hot dogs. So, it always felt like Maine was embracing you from the moment you stepped aboard.
A plan has been in the works to extend the train further north to Rockland and a Canadian group is eyeing an overnight train from Montreal to Boston through Maine and these tracks. Hopefully more to come!
as someone who went to college in Maine back in the 90s, this route would have been great for helping have more options to get home!
Always so interesting to me as a NJ to NYC daily commuter that people from other areas of the US aren't accustomed to train travel. Growing up in the NYC area, everyone takes the train into the city! It makes me sad that the public transport in most of the country is so lacking.
unfortunately it is faster to drive the downeaster’s route than it is to take the train
Came from your nightjet video and literally gasped at this- I go to uni in Brunswick!!! Glad you enjoyed 🥹 the Downeaster is a fav of mine❤
The Downeaster goes right thru my hometown Haverhill Ma it nice to see that it goes farther than it was use to when I was in high school. Also find it funny when you talked about crossing the first state border you still showing video of Haverhill great video I love riding the train to Boston growing up
Taking the Acela up to Boston then the Downeaster to Wells is on my bucket list.
I've been watching your videos for a while now, and I've always appreciated your love of life, small moments, and the beauty that makes up the world! But as an american, it has been so wild to see you in my neck of the woods and still appreciating all those little things that aren't as exciting to me as, say mountain ranges in Germany or Switzerland. But! It's been a wonderful reminder that there are so many wonderful, beautiful places for me to explore here in my own country, and now I feel like I'm going to make a concerted effort to plan more trips across the US. I just recently took the amtrak from NYC up to Burlington, VT for a gig, and it was a special little trip (and crossed of Vermont on my own map of states I've visited!). Thanks Tom!
Yes, our public transit sucks here in the states but micro mobility makes it much more palatable. My man needs a folding bike or a scooter.
woah! so cool seeing a tourist from overseas visiting somewhere local to me
you're so lucky that this is your local area! :) I'd love to go back.
Okay, so you need to get to Alaska by taking the Alaska Marine Highway from Bellingham, Washington. 3 days on a boat, no plane necessary!
Please do not think of how many states you can visit before you die. What a thought! Anyhow, you don't really highlight that you were travelling to Maine in the "FALL", when all of New England is an explosion of divine colour. But you do mention the role of citizen activism in restoring or opening passenger rail lines in the US. Long, long after leaving the US in the 1970s, I discovered that my trainless hometown of Austin TX had been reconnected to an Amtrak line. Thanks for another first-class, interesting, witty little video.
Thanks!
48/49 states without flying... definitely looking forward to your Alaska State Ferry video! Also great to see you in my part of the world, New England.
Alaska ferry is one of my bucket list videos 😭
Ah, the Smell of Adventure, there's nothing like it.
I'm an American who has done music tours across the map. But watching you do you're tour has really inspired me to do a passenger train tour. I am in the early stages of planning it but if you'll be here a while and you're ever doing a long trip through the middle of the states. Let me know I would love to join
You’re going to hit 48 states. We believe in you.
Someone give this guy a sponsorship… 🚂
👀
Amtrak needs to do more regional routes like the Downeaster. We have been visiting and vlogging all of the stations in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Delaware with many more to come. Love the train travel! Keep up the awesome content! Come see our train travel sometime too!
The rail line runs past Brunswick to Bath and Rockland, Maine. Currently there is freight service to Rockland, but the amount of traffic past Bath is small.
A very enjoyable and informative video. Love how the colour of your clothes coordinated with the sunset and trees.
The Brunswick Hotel is a two minute walk from the Downeaster Station there. Google maps is your friend.
Seems very similar to the (far more popular) Northeast Corridor trains that go southwest out of Boston. From the seats, to the cars, to the cafe car. It's funny to see things that seem so mundane to me treated as such a novelty.
Not to mention the comedy of the idea that North Station on the T has the 'smell of adventure'! I should take a vacation up to somewhere up the Downeaster sometime!
Fantastic opportunity to revisit my favorites places with a friendly host and great visuals.
Thanks!
Thank you John, I appreciate your support ☺️
Your New England videos have been great
Love the Downeaster
Visiting all 50 states is on my bucket list so maybe I’ll do Maine this way. There’s a luxury bus between NY and Maine, so maybe this is my way back down.
"Third boxcar, midnight train, destination Bangor, Maine."
If the freight trains don't go there any more, presumably they used to. czcams.com/video/4c7D0YsgnrE/video.htmlsi=yH4CA9IqcjSSnazR
Good video Tom!!
Never say never I suppose, but fortunately the Downeaster seems to have enough support and (by US standards) ridership, I don't see it going away... The one * is that if Boston ever builds the rail tunnel connecting North and South station, I could see the Downeaster becoming an extension of the Northeast Regional to NY/DC/etc.
The tracks do indeed extend past Brunswick - for a time there was even a tourist railroad that started in Brunswick after the Downeaster arrived, and continued up to Rockland. There have been talks of extending some Downeaster runs since that railroad ceased operations.
What! You didn't make a pilgrimage to L.L. Bean's HQ in Freeport, Maine?
Amtrak California is a totally different vibe
I'm glad someone agreed, they basically treat you like a naughty kid for no reason. Like ok, chill please
Haha thumbs up for the Laugenstange comment at 3:57! ;)
Nice video once again. You asked about future trips so my vote is either for the Amtrak Empire or Amtrak Maple Leaf to Niagara Falls or the Amtrak Adirondack line to Montreal. Both are long trips like 9 hrs to Niagara Falls and 11 hrs to Montreal from NYC. Maybe you can break up the trip and stop in the middle of NY state which is so much different from NYC. I think you would need separate tickets though like when you stopped in Salt Lake City on the Zephyr. Just a suggestion.
I need to do these!
the adirondack to montreal is closed until september this year, but the sunset is absolutely gorgeous
i always love your smile :)
you really cant beat New England Fall foliage 😉
Also, I'm curious what you thought of Boston's public transit as someone from Europe. We're still quite a ways behind the curve compared to a lot of places around the world, but our regional rail service (The Commuter Rail) is amazing to ride and despite the delays I still love using the T anytime I'm in the city
Another glorious trek… 🚂
Charleston, S.C.
You'll love it
Oh it’s on the list for sure 🏃🏻
@@thornton I'll second Charleston SC
Colorado :)
I thought that this Amtrak route terminated in Portland. When did they extend it?
Please post a link to that 30=hour train across Turkey. I'm interested in that trip.
It somehow makes me giggle to hear you saying "I need to walk soo far to my Overnight Place. This is the US" on the one Hand. And then see all this far Distance Shots that you clearly did by walking 10 or more extra Minutes up and forth to get them xD
During your video, you refer to the Downeaster as the only train in Maine that still exists, which is technically true, but the service was actually started in 2001 after a large effort by the state of Maine to reintroduce passenger rail between Maine and Boston.
Edit: If I had watched the video for literally another 30 seconds you actually address this, lol
following amateur youtubers makes me upset that they probably have a job and therefore I won't be seeing another video in a while
Underutilized beautiful trip. Never been .
Did the cafe car serve homegrown home-based clam chowder soup?
Lookw ik3 fall colors. What month did you travel?
#TeamPepsi FTW
Still happy with the Canon? (Is that the Canon?)
Yep, it’s a workhorse
@@thornton Thanks mate. Great video.
💞 Promo SM
Man from England finds place names in New England unoriginal. I wonder why? Must be a story behind that.