My Amtrak love affair

It has been a little over 35 years since I last boarded a plane and flew anywhere - let`s just say that after that last flight and the circumstances surrounding it - the death of a parent in a far away land and a less than smooth flight home with my mother and an already well founded fear of flying I opted to give up flying and use other modes of transportation.

For the most part this meant driving to vacation spots - until around 2000 when a friend who has never flown convinced me to take an Alaskan cruise but is was round trip out of Vancouver.

Fast forward to 2004 and a planned Panama Canal cruise leaving from Miami with the same friends - they booked Amtrak and I joined them and another couple and we had a great trip down.

That cruise got me hooked on both train and ships as methods of transportation.

After retirement at the end of 2006 I started booking more and more cruises knowing that Amtrak could get me to most of the ports that I would be embarking or disembarking from.

That is why when I saw this cruise starting and finishing in North American cities I was more than happy to try and book it.

Similarly in a couple of years I have on my bucket list to visit Europe - want to visit the paternal homeland of Slovakia to visit the small town near the Polish border that my grandparents came from.
It would entail a train ride to the east coast, a TA crossing and then train or cruise travel in Europe and then a repeat TA crossing and train ride home.

I got to visit albeit under unhappy circumstances mentioned above my maternal homeland of Ireland so while it would be nice to return whether that will fit in on that trip remains to be seen.

I have used Amtrak to get to or from, Boston, Miami, New York City, New Orleans and Los Angeles.

I generally take a bus to and from Vancouver to Seattle to make connections there for the longer train rides.

My favorite route is the Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago, followed by the Coast Starlighter to Los Angeles.

For this trip it will be Vancouver to Seattle to Chicago to Washington DC and onto Fort Lauderdale. I always take a sleeper as it includes your meals etc.

For the trip home - it will be the Coast Starlighter from San Francisco to Seattle and then either the Cascades train or bus to Vancouver.

Will book the train as soon as I know that my Visa has been approved.

Next up - my thoughts on some of the ports that I will be visiting.

Cheers!

D