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Amtrak offers rail passes that are good for 15 days, 30 days and 45 days. The 15 day ticket allows you 8 segments. You have to understand all the rules covering what constitutes a segment to take full advantage of these tickets. There are surcharges for cabins and they vary according to the trip. Once in a while, Amtrak offer these rail passes at a discount and its worth visiting their website for some outrageous bargains. All passes and reservations can be made online and if you're going to use a pass be sure to book all your segments ahead of time. When you consider what you will save in hotels and dining out on a regular vacation, it can really make for a very affordable family trip. The best part is that you don't have to spend a small fortune taking the kids to recreational events or theme parks.
If you do choose to book a cabin - they're not a bad value when you consider that all meals are included. Amtrak even provides you with fresh towels and linens, bottled water and the morning paper. If you want to go first cabin, the bedrooms feature private, self-enclosed restrooms with toilet, sink and shower. When you subtract what the meals would cost you for a party of four - two adults and two children - Cabins can be a sweet deal. It runs about $400 for the Chicago or New York to West Coast cities. Amtrak charges by the cabin not the number of people who use the cabin.
When picking a destination - try to choose stops in cities where it doesn't require a car to get around. On the east coast, the train drops you downtown in Washington DC, New York, Philadelphia and a number of other cities where you have absolutely no need for a car. Book a hotel walking distance or a small cab ride from the station. On the West Coast, the train stations are also located downtown in Seattle, Portland and Vancouver, British Colombia. Even if you had a car, it would be completely unnecessary. A lot of hotels charge an arm and a leg for parking in major cities. Last year, I had to fork over $50 to park my car overnight in a San Francisco hotel which was only slightly less than what I paid for the room! If you really feel the need for a car because you want to get out and see the countryside, just make sure you get a ridiculous car rental deal using the tips we told you about in How to Cut Your Car Rental Bill.
Amtrak also offers some great vacation packages to some unique destinations like Monterey with hotels and free tickets to special attractions.
Or how about a trip to Maine with a friend on the Downeaster for the price of a single ticket? That's one of the specials they had this week. And even on these specials, the kids still get to go for half price. And speaking of kids, how much easier is it to take kids on a train than to lug them through an airport, security and stuff them into a plane for a few hours. Don't even get me started on babies. Trains make travel for babies much easier and they won't be screaming because of the pressure in their ears.
One last thing about train travel - you might get to see a few things you'll never see from the highway - because there's simply no road that goes where the tracks go. Take the train from Seattle to Vancouver and you get to hug the coast and take in the Puget Sound all the way up. You'll never see that slice of America from your car window. But the most important thing about trains is that you don't just get on a nameless plane or bus, you take the Coast Starlight, you board the Down Easter, you settle in for three days and watch America roll by from the Empire Builder or the SouthWest Chief. There must be a good reason that trains have names. Now tell me the name of the last plane you got on.
The Frugal Nomad has travelled to over 40 countries and lived, studied and worked for extended periods of time in London, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, Wellington, New Zealand and Alexandria, Egypt. He calls Seattle home - for now.
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