amtrak pt ii

empire builder + my long-distance train tips

(if you only care about train tips you can skip the first section)

i rode the (46-hour) empire builder from portland to chicago! having taken the (52-hour) zephyr from sf to chicago last year i thought i knew what to expect, but this train experience was significantly better for a number of reasons:

• the route is more scenic. montana is probably the most gorgeous american state i’ve seen outside alaska (and i have visited 44 states), especially the parts near glacier national park which are just endless mountains / valleys / streams / forests / fog. the washington portion of the trip is pretty too as you follow the columbia river for a few hours, and same with the minnesota / wisconsin portion which follows the upper mississippi. (the zephyr route has some nice sections too, especially portions of utah and colorado along the colorado river, but large sections of it are quite boring, namely nevada / nebraska / iowa)

• another consequence of the route is that there are less delays. in fact we were so far ahead of schedule that i spent an hour walking around minot, north dakota. i think it’s largely a function of 1) not sharing as many tracks with freight trains (which have priority over amtrak) 2) the route is quite flat. the zephyr route has a lot of elevation gain due to crossing the rockies, which often leads to engine failures, eg. i had an eight-hour delay when taking the zephyr. but also, that delay resulted in them giving me a voucher which made my empire builder ride free, so maybe it’s worth it…

• (small sample size, and it’s possible i just present as more sociable now) the passengers seemed friendlier. i had very pleasant conversations with strangers about life, whereas last year people only talked to me to say 你好. also significantly more young people on the train after passing through university of minnesota

• better prep on my part - i knew there would be no signal and bad food so i downloaded moby dick and brought vitamin water and a lot of harvest pea snaps + vegan protein bars + other snacks (the common theme being high fiber, high protein, no sugar)

why take the train at all? apart from the nice scenery and interesting strangers, i appreciate the occasional act of stripping life down to its bare necessities and being reminded of what that feels like + seeing what emerges, eg. there was one morning where i woke up and noticed my phone was dead, and then i realized there was no point in charging it because there was literally nothing i would do with said phone anyway. it’s like a meditation retreat with sightseeing. and i haven’t experienced anything quite like the pure joy and gratitude that comes from walking around the chicago riverwalk after two days stuck on the train

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here is my somewhat optimized amtrak meta:

• your options are to buy a sleeper car ticket (private room with beds) or a coach ticket (normal seat in an aisle, similar to buses and planes). do not get a room unless you’re old or bringing kids. it’s 3-5x the cost and you should not spend much time in the room anyway. instead you should be spending your time in the observation car (see top left photo), which has tables + very large windows on both sides and is the best place for scenery / work / socializing. literally just wake up early, find a seat in the observation car, and spend all day there

• the coach seats are split into upper vs lower levels. you should get an upper level seat. the lower level seats are less spacious and usually filled with old people who don’t want to walk up and down stairs

• how to sleep without a bed or private room?

  • the coach seats are pretty large, have reclining + footrest features, and few people are insane enough to plan on sleeping in them overnight (on both of my rides they were <20% capacity at night) so you will have a row to yourself, meaning you can lie down on 2 adjacent seats. the air conditioning and engine provide loud sources of white noise so you will not be bothered by sounds from other passengers

  • some people pack lots of pillows, blankets, etc. as someone who likes traveling on a single backpack, i don’t have space for these items. instead i wear warm pants and use a jacket as a blanket (wear it backwards and put your arms in the sleeves). i also prefer to drape a soft black shirt over my head instead of using eye masks, i find it’s more comfortable and versatile

  • you might have some concern about people taking your stuff while you’re asleep? most people seem to leave their bags unprotected and nothing bad happens but i tend to be paranoid about these things. i like to sleep with my backpack straps wrapped around one of my legs and it works quite well without interfering with my sleeping position

• never buy drinks on the train. largely because 1) they’re overpriced and sugary 2) many of them do not come in resealable containers, which i find extremely annoying because it means you have to finish them once you open them. you can buy beverages at vending machines in intermediate train stops. i also like to dehydrate myself so i don’t need to use the bathroom as much but i’m told this is an unpopular opinion

• pack all your stuff and wait downstairs 10 minutes before the last train stop to skip a long line