My son recently completed a cross country journey from Emeryville, California to Lansing, Michigan by way of Amtrak. My son is a true train lover and has wanted to do this journey for years! I recommend a roomette for anything over a day, especially if you are traveling with children. Since we got the roomette, this included 3 meals a day which is the highlight of a cross country journey! The people you meet are so interesting and we loved it! The most difficult part was stopping each time a freight train went by which caused us to be delayed into Chicago by several hours. Most people we had been traveling with missed their connection and most people were referred by guest services, who told us to wait by a water fountain. They made us wait with no information, everyone waiting over an hour with no food or drink other than what we had with us. One woman had her purse stolen, a few people were arrested, a mom crying holding her young baby and a preschooler and traveling with her senior mom. Amtrak travel in the year 2014 is not for the faint of heart! I recommend that if you take the train into Chicago that you already have a hotel arranged in Chicago and then start again the next day! If your train is late going into Chicago, Amtrak will not offer hotel recommendations, but will instead make you wait for other late trains coming in, then bus everyone as far as Flint, possibly not arriving to a train station in a city at 2:30AM in the morning, which could be dangerous!
Would I take the train again? Yes! Yet, I have some suggestions I will write about later today to make the most of your Amtrak train experience!
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