travel by train in the US?
in september before i go back to uni i fancy touring the US by trains.
i have about two – three weeks
has anyone gone around the whole of the US by train and what did they think.
do you recommend that i just do a small amount first or what?
i am going to buy a national pass
my rough route in south of new york – new orleans- california – seattle – chicargo – boston – new york
too much to do?
or do you have any spots i should visit along the way?
all feedback really welcome
i have a book which has lots of details so i know all the routes i think its called ‘ USA by Rail’?
Additional Details
i am thinking of doing this as a holiday
February 23rd, 2009 at 2:30 am
sounds good boston is a cool place
February 25th, 2009 at 3:10 am
Sounds cool. Stay in the East Coast cause I think trains out there work better. I am from Texas and we don’t really have them.
February 26th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
I traveled from Seattle to Indianapolis by train once, wasn’t impressed. Keep in mind that you will be seeing the slums and industrial parts of towns and cities frequently. I went by bus from Indianapolis to Colorado, then back to Seattle and enjoyed the view much more.
February 27th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Sounds great and is something I have considered doing myself.
However if you only have a couple of weeks you may want to consider getting a regional pass instead of a national pass and spending more time in a specific region.
There are several alternatives to choose from – An East pass, a west pass, Northeast pass or possibly a California pass.
If you can stretch your vacation to a month you may want to consider the North American rail pass instead of the National Pass as this will also alow you to travel in Canada.
February 28th, 2009 at 10:32 am
I went from Miami to New York on the greyhound, but to get there first I did trek America, where you go on a mini bus with about 12 other people, stopping along the way to make visits to certain things, here, this is what I did
New York 1 night hotel
drove through New Jersey
Philadelphia, went to see the liberty bell and some important law house, might of been where the constitution was signed?
Washingto D.C, camping in fairfax, went to pentagon, any mueseum you wanted, the holacust museum, there for 2 nights,
Tenesse, camping, more a stop point from driving,
Mississippi, went down the Mississippi in a canoe to see the gators,
New Orleans, down the Mississippi on one of those big old fashioned boats, stayed in a hotel for 2 nights there, it was also Labor Day weekend, kind of like a mini mardi gras, great,
Panama City, camping, lounging around the beaches
Orlando, went to disney world, then the second day we could chose the epcott centre or universal studios, then in the evening dinner at the hard rock cafe,
Miami a hotel for one night and you then get left there, you can chose to fly home from there, or I then got the GH back to new York on me todd, took about 32 hours, but great fun. my whole trek trip lasted 2 weeks, we did other stuff on it too like, walking in the apalichian mountains, took a trip up the washington monument, did lots of other stuff too, only ting is it cost an addtional $45 a week for food, in total, it cost me about 2000grand UKSTIRLING, but I also stayed in Miami for 2 weeks after in a hostel, and a couple extra night in NY first. It was great!
Sorry it’s a bit long, but I hope it helps
February 28th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Wow, that sounds great, have fun! I have thought about doing that myself as well but as the above poster said if you only have a few weeks and want to spend some time visiting places too you might want to pick a region to vacation. I don’t know which area to recommend to you, though, I think about all of them would be great for one reason or another. Have a great trip!