How I Crossed America With Amtrak's USA Rail Pass
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- čas přidán 28. 12. 2021
- This summer, I purchased Amtrak's USA Rail Pass while it was on sale, and had the American adventure of a lifetime!
By the time it was over, I had:
- Ridden 14 Amtrak trains and 13 transit systems
- Visited 20 cities
- Passed through 31 states
- Filmed enough material for four months' worth of videos, which you can watch here: • Boston's Most Bizarre ...
Learn more about Amtrak's USA Rail Pass here: www.amtrak.com/deals-discount...
Classy Whale - at-least-weekly adventures, featuring trains and more! - Komedie
Really brings home how HUGE our country is
This reminds me of my bicentennial trip I took to see the country. Like you I mostly rode by train but did fly one segment between Chicago and Orlando. The rail pass then was a little less restrictive on what you could ride and did allow upgrades on long distance trains to sleeper cars but that was on a space available basis. I rode mostly in coach and was surprised how comfortable and smooth the ride was on the Southwest Chief. On my way back to the east I did ride in a sleeper car Seattle to Chicago and my final stretch Orlando to Philadelphia. Like you I got to realize how big our country is and saw a lot of different scenery compared to our east coast routes. I also agree that the LA to San Diego is a definite must ride since you hug the coast and see so much of the ocean and beaches along the way. Thanks for posting your trip.
I'm a train buff, who also lives in Lancaster, PA. Your adventure is a good template for me.
that, for 8 mins, was a grand adventure. thanks..
Great video. Thank you for the information. Priceless!
I’m doing it this summer :)
Any video with a Tycho soundtrack and trains is a winner.
Best comment
Great suggestion on saving the pass for the really long segments and paying for short segments separately!
Very cool your trip. Thanks for sharing. I'm doing something alike this year again, saving with $300 rail pass offer, but just the West coast with the exception of the Empire from West Coast to Chicago.
i just got a USA Rail pass (2022) but didn't realize there are a certain amount of seats on each train for rail passes and restrictions on quite a few segments
Question: did you book every train on your trip before you left, or did you book each one a few days in advance as you went?
That's awesome
no i love this so much
I was SHOOK when you not only mentioned Lancaster right at the start, but also pronounced it the right way. Love to randomly bump into 717s on the internet
I know, I get so picky when people mispronounce it!
One of the questions that annoyed me the most when I took my railpass trip (in 2014, when it was 12 segments) was "Why didn't you go to X and Y tourist locations". And it is true that it doesn't make a lot of sense, on the outside, to spend 3 days in Denton, Texas, and not visit the Grand Canyon. So I realized I was being that annoying guy in my head while watching this, because some of the places you went to or missed, and the ways you got there, seemed kind of random! But I am sure they all made sense with the budget and time and experiences you had at the time!
This is very cool. My wife & I have discussed doing various segments, and with the Rail Pass, I'm starting to formulate a plan. Maybe in 2025. We'll see.
Wait--at the wedding they had to put up a sign saying "charcuterie board"? That's hilarious.
If you riding coach brings snacks and bring Ramon noodles
I am sure I missed it in your video, but exactly how many days total were you traveling? This would be a great trip to do! Thank you for sharing your adventure.
You can travel for 30 days.
6:14 Was the pizza near the station? I'll be stopping in Chicago for lunch on my way to Denver in a couple of months and that looked like a personal deep dish option. Where did you get that? Looked really good.
I couldn't ride coach too long & i don't like strangers sleeping next to me!
Any tips on how to make the most of spending so long in coach class? The most I’ve done is 25 hours in coach on the cardinal, which I personally was fine with, but I’m curious what you have to say
Bring a full size pillow and blanket, and download a bunch of Netflix
whoa! this looks fun. where did you sleep?
In the coach seats
Haha I'm from York. I was thinking about this rail pass. Does it give you time to enjoy the places you go? Or does everything seem rushed? I'll check out the other vids too
It's really up to you! I kinda rushed it because the wedding ate up a week, but you have a whole month normally
@@ClassyWhale cool beans. Appreciate the response. I'm think I'm gonna do some research and say F it and just do it before I talk myself out of it lol
Hi! Thanks for the video. I have just bought Rail Passes for my family and myself, and I have reserved all the rides we are planning to take...but what about seat assigments? Do we just show up at the station before the train leaves and its "first come first serve"? We take the empty seats? Thanks for your help, Máté
There are no assigned seats. Just take whatever is empty :)
@@ClassyWhale Thanks for the response Classy Whale!
Thanks
Seat assignments are given when the train is or will be full on a route. That is so no one
Continued. No one gets left behind inThe middle of the night and there are seats for people traveling together to sit together. I used the rail pass September and October 2022.
So, you still need to reserve your seats on each segment. How far in advance did you do this? Did you have any trains that you had to reschedule due to seat availability?
I am thinking about doing a similar trip in spring 2024 and want to know if I should book everything in advance or if playing it by ear and stating in a city until i am ready to leave then trying to reserve a seat on the next train would be practical...
I booked most stuff when I bought the pass, but I got away with a couple same day bookings. You're always chancing it though!
@@ClassyWhale Thanks. Any good sources to find out when the pass sales are. I have heard they are occasionally on sale, but the sales don't last long and the pass is only good for 120 days from date of purchase
@@JustABill02 I'd just watch Amtrak's socials like a hawk!
Can the US rail pass work in the Northeast to visit Boston, DC, and Philly?
He used it on the Northeast Corridor. But I think there's a limit of segments on the same line to discourage people to use the pass to just commute
Hi，confuse with segments，if from nyc to Chicago，then take california zephyr route to emeryille，ca，from there to la，how many segments of the journey，two or three，thanks
two!
@@ClassyWhale California zephyr is one，the rest，even inprutted in chicago，is one？
wait so can you hop on and off
I called today to ask this, but you can get off on short breaks at their stops but if there is a 2 or more hour stop you can maybe explore the town a little.
Hi, I’m an ordinary Japanese college student! I’m considering to travel the United States with the USA rail pass in summer, 2022.
Thank you for sharing your trip and it made it so easy for me to understand how the PASS works.
Though I don’t have any friend around the states like you, I’m willing to visit some cities since I can use 10 segments for 30days.
Do you have any recommendations?
Likewise, I have so many questions I want to ask, is there any possibilities of me contacting you directly? like Instagram?
The channel email is in my channel description, feel free to send me a message that way!
When does Amtrak have $299 sale
subscribe to their mailing list and you'll find out! Most recently they had a $450 sale but that's over for the moment