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

Just a short update July 5, 2012

Haven't posted anything for awhile so thought I would drop by and post a few words.

As I am approaching the 6 months to sail away date there are some matters that need attending to.

1. Passport renewal - mine expires within the six month time frame so yesterday I headed to the passport office in downtown Vancouver to renew it - I had filled it out on-line, printed and brought it with me - they did ask why I was renewing so early but when I told them that I needed to apply for a Visa that was good enough for them. It will be sent by registered mail to me in about two weeks  - the cost was $87.00 which includes the consular fees.

2. Brazilian Visa - just as soon as I get the new passport I will take care of this - there is an consular office about 7 blocks from my place which is where I will go once I have completed the on-line part of the application.

3. Yellow fever shots - this has been the subject of much debate among us on the cruise critic web site as to whether we need to have it or not - Princess says it is a must but in checking both the CDC and Brazilian site etc it is not so clear - there is also much discussion about whether anyone over the age of 60 should get that shot and I fit that age bracket - many of those cruising who are over 60 have had the shot and not have any ill effects - as a reasonably healthy person I will check with my doctor and also consult the nurse at the travel clinic and see what they say.

4. Amtrak and travel insurance - just as soon as I have the Visa and now that I have the finances for the trip arranged I will book the train and buy the insurance.

5. Packing - with such a long trip I will need to be frugal in what I take - there are laundromats on the ship which I intend to use to cut down on the clothes that I need - because of the variety of weather we will encounter that also means a greater array of clothes. We also have 8 formal nights - I will bring dress slacks and shirts and a tie but no sports jackets - just too bulky - if they won't let me in the dining room on those nights I will just use the buffet.

6. Excursions - while you see in a previous post I have booked some private excursions I am waiting for the ships to be posted. Rio is the one port that I don't know what to expect - while I have a pretty good idea of what I want to see because of the huge and unpredictable crowds I don't know how well the tours will be able to get around and I am hesitant to set out on my own.

Cheers - still plan the story of my love affair with Amtrak.

D

Excursions to date June 5, 2012

This post will be a short one and is more for the digital memory bank than anything else.

It will hopefully serve as a back up in case my physical memory fails me - part of the aging process so just want to ensure that I don't book two excursions in the same city for the same time.

So here to date are the port stops that I have private tours committed to so far.

1. Fortaleza, Brazil
2. Ushuaia, Argentina
3. Valpo/Santiago, Chile
4. Manta, Ecuador
5. Lima - two tours - Tour of Lima on Day 1 and Pachacamac ruins on Day 2

For many of the other ports of call I will likely wait for the ship's excursions to be posted in the coming months - this is particularly the case with Rio and Buenes Aires - two cities that I will feel more secure in on a ship tours than a private one.

Still to come - My love affair with Amtrak.

Cheers

Paying for this cruise

Well it is a wet day here in Vancouver so perhaps now would be a good time to post about how I might pay for this once in a lifetime cruise.

I retired at the end of 2006 - well it was a severance as the building was closing for a re-build but with 35 pensionable years and approaching my 60th birthday and a fairly healthy pension entitlement I was set.

Well no need to dwell to much on what has happened to my pension - it has been hurt by the market turmoil and while the income from it and my Canada Pension Plan - similar to Social Security in the US provides enough for the daily pleasures of life - it also has forced me to draw down my reserve funds to pay for my travels the last five years and those have now been depleted.

I still do have funds available in my RRSP - Canadian equivalent to IRA`s but that income is taxable starting at 10% off the top.

I do have a financial planner and will be consulting with him next week as I try to draw up a 3 -5 year plan to include trips, condo assessments for improvement to the building and updating my own condo which has seen nothing since I moved in 6 years ago.

Like Americans we have reverse mortgages and equity line of credits and this is likely where my future finances will come from.

I am fortunate that I am mortgage free and own a small studio apartment in downtown Vancouver - while there has been some softening in the market prices here - it is less than 5% and because of tighter ownership rules and banking regulation we have not been faced with the ugliness of the American housing markets.

Vancouver is also a desired place to live and values are likely to continue to increase into the foreseeable future.

So my apartment is the source of future lending possibilities - being single and no heirs it is easier for me to draw on the value of that asset and it is tax free as well.

The real choice is between taking a reverse mortgage and a higher interest rate and make no payments until the property is sold or a bank home equity line of credit which is currently offered at Prime - 3% in Canada + 0.50% and you make interest payments each month but can also repay the principle if you wish.

This is likely the route I will go - I am only charged interest on the amount actually used not the amount authorized.

Depending on how much I want to use this will allow me to cruise a couple of times a year and will also allow me to start thinking about that next big one EUROPE in 2015.

Next up - how my fear of flying led to a love affair with Amtrak

Cheers

D

A map of our trip

One of the persons on the trip has designed a map of our journey showing our various port stops and has also set up some merchandise options using the services of Cafepress. Closer to sail date I might buy one perhaps as a Christmas present to myself.

Just a short note today as I have  been meaning to post this for all to see.

Cheers!

Fort Lauderdale for the first time planning

Since eight months from today I will be getting off an Amtrak train at Fort Lauderdale I thought it would be a good opportunity to review my plans to visit this embarkation city.

While I have set foot in Fort Lauderdale on train stops to and from Miami I have never stayed there so I needed to do some planning and this is where both the internet and Cruise critic members helped immensely to decide where to stay.

First I had to decide how many days and nights I could afford to spend pre-cruise and given the costs of the cruise that would be an issue. Travelling in the middle of winter across the north tier states from Seattle to Chicago and onto to Washington DC before turning south for warmer weather also had to be factored in. In the end I choose to come in two days early which really gives me and evening, one full day and embarkation morning to see some of the sites.

I know the Amtrak station isn't located near many of the better hotels and attractions and I don't want to be hauling around three pieces of heavy luggage all over the place.

So after checking Hotwire - Hotels.com etc. and advice from Cruise Critics members on the Florida board I opted to take the Marriott Renaissance Cruise Port hotel - it gets good reviews - is next door to the port entrance and depending on which terminal we sail out of perhaps walkable from the hotel.





I have an on-line cruising buddy who is from the Vancouver area who has stayed there and recommends it and he has fairly high expectations when it comes to accomodations.

The only problem was that I was outside of the Hotwire booking period and for budget reasons wanted to get that expense out of the way but I happened to hear that there was an online special being offered both by Marriott and the usual travel discounters - the problem with the Marriott was that the special price - about $100.00 cheaper per night was only good the first night as the second night was part of the weekends which are there busier days.

So I started checking on-line sources - most were showing the discounted price for both nights so I opted to got that route but in my price comparsion I noticed for instance that Expedia had a higher service fee than Hotels. com - I ended up taking it through Hotels.com - while higher than I like to pay - having work for the YMCa for over 40 years - staying in there lower price accomodations was never an issue - at about $135.00 a night it is a considerable saving and if I can walk to the port I will save some money there as well.

After  I booked this hotel I posted to our roll call and it appears a number of others are staying there as well - so many in fact there has been a suggestion that perhaps we have a land based meet and greet the night before with one person even offering to contact the hotel and see if a room could be reserved for such a gathering - will keep you updated on that.

Well with the hotel taken care off I realized that I knew little about the city so I search and found there tourist info site. www.sunny.org which I bookmarked - but being a little of the old school also sent away for a hard copy - also visited my local Auto Association office and picked up more info there.

Haven't given a lot of thought of how to spent my time in Fort Lauderdale because after  four + days on the train I don't know how tired I might be.

I like to walk and take in the sights that way - am a photography junkie or addict - generally like to do a HOHO type of touring especially the first time in the city so will likely utilize the Sun Coast Trolley - get a day pass and go from there - as mentioned I am not a big beach fan so will likely just walk over and talk a look but the Intercoastal Waterway has always intrigued me.

Hope you enjoy - feel free to comment.

Next up - Amtraking it across America.

The information highway

After I booked the cruise and before I went much further along the planning path and being a somewhat stickler for details I decided to start a cruise binder - while much of the info could be kept digitally I am enough of the old guard that I like to have a paper trail.

So I found an old large 4" binder and started to put it together - I basically put a divider in for each day of the cruise - yes all 49 days - then put in an info sheet with the day, date, port or sea day and if it is a tender port, time in port etc. I even colored coded them - green for port days and pink for sea days so if I am doing a quick search I know whether it is a sea or port day. I also an writing info I get from other sources and if I booked a private tour that info as well - once I get closer to actual date I will update those sheets and print them out.

I even got more inventive when it came to excursions - printing them out on yellow sheets and putting general info articles on your standard white. It seems to be working so now when I open a particular port it is easy for me to find what I am looking for.

Just a short entry for now.

Next up - finding out about my embarkation port of Fort Lauderdale and booking of the hotel and train.

Future articles - paying for the trip and one on sourcing of info and excursions.

Cheers