Hey there! Welcome to AU.
Finally getting around to taking my first long distance train trip since 2007. I've decided on the Coast Starlight. I have used the search function and read some previous trip reports. Seems like a popular route. Here's my plans:
Check mine out--it's linked in my signature below.
I'm planning to get a Roomette from EUG (Eugene, OR) to VNC (Van Nuys, CA). I will be arriving to Eugene by rental car and will return it to the nearby airport. I am hoping that getting from the airport to the station will be minimally difficult. I plan to print my tickets from the Quik-Trak machine when I arrive just before I board. (I will be traveling for several days prior and don't want to lose them!) I assume this will not be an issue.
Shouldn't. Eugene is both staffed and has Quik-Trak machines. Waiting as long as possible before printing has two benefits: it reduces the chance you'll lose the tickets and it also allows for maximum flexibility for changes and cancellations. (Note that sleeping accommodation charges are only fully refundable 7 or more days prior to departure, though you can change them and use the value towards another ticket with no problem up until departure.)
Unfortunately, I don't know anything about transiting around the town of Eugene. Someone else here may have words of wisdom on that for you.
Since I will board at 5:10PM (scheduled), I plan to eat dinner onboard. I am very anxious to experience the Parlour Car.
You're boarding early in the run, so it's not likely the train will be significantly delayed. I'm not sure what time they stop serving dinner, but if the train is much delayed, be prepared to miss out on dinner that evening and have a backup plan. Also, I'm not sure if they'll do it, but you can ask the station manager if he or she can call the train and secure you a dinner reservation. I believe I've heard of that happening a time or two here before. Alternatively, you can pray you get a proactive sleeper attendant who will already have taken care of that issue for you (another thing I've heard happen here!).
I have read many discussions about the views one can experience on this route. I am hopeful that I am not missing all of the good sights between Seattle and Eugene and that there will still be something nice for me to see on the way to Los Angeles. Having not booked, I don't know which roomette I will get. Once I do, I assume someone here can tell me if I'm getting the "good side" of the train and will face the "right direction." If not, I can always venture down to the Parlour or Sightseeer, I guess.
I'll be able to expand on this a bit more after next week, when I'll be traveling the SEA-PDX route, but aside from nice foliage and perhaps a mountain vista or two between SEA and PDX, the most scenic part of the northern end of the journey is the running along side Puget Sound just south of Tacoma along Point Defiance (it's actually just
north of the station, because the train sort of heads northwest before turning back to the south when heading south of Tacoma). Otherwise, I get the impression the scenery is mostly flat and only mildly interesting all the way through the southern end of the Willamette Valley (or at least to Eugene), at which point you turn east and start heading through the Cascades. You then wind through gorgeous mountains and along placid lakes until you reach the northern edge of California's Sacramento Valley. The scenery is mostly then flat and uninteresting until well south of the Bay Area, when you start to get into the wine country of Paso Robles (my old home!) and then climb Cuesta Grade (be watching for the scenic horseshoe curve!). Not far south from San Luis Obispo, you come to the coastline and then parallel the ocean for a good several hours before turning inland and arriving shortly thereafter at Van Nuys. It's this southern part along the water that gives the train its name, and it's definitely a highlight of the trip. Heading south, there's a chance you'll miss some of the scenery if the train is delayed (or you're traveling in the winter), as the sun can set before you pass this majestic part of the trip. If not, though, have your camera ready for the quintissential California vista!
The best side of the train to be on will depend on what part of the line you're on. The coast will be on the right side of the train, but north of that, scenery can be on either side. Unfortunately, you can never predict what side your roomette will be on (because the car can be oriented in either direction--there is no standard), but you're right--you'll definitely be able to partake of the views from the Parlour Car or the Sightseer Lounge.
When I arrive in Van Nuys, I'll need to figure out the easiest and best way to get to the Burbank Airport.
The late arrival of the Coast Starlight in Van Nuys (8:05pm) presents some challenges to getting to BUR. Normally, you'd just wait until the next passing Metrolink and ride it one stop, but Metrolink doesn't run its Ventura County trains southbound that late.
Fortunately, Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner does run 7 days a week and has a 9:04pm departure, which will whisk you to the airport in 8 minutes. Your Coast Starlight can even be delayed by almost a full hour, and all it will do is reduce your waiting time at VNC.
(If you do want to pursue this option, you can pre-book the Pacific Surfliner's ticket in advance and mark it for pick-up at the VNC station using a Metrolink ticketing machine, thus allowing you to cancel and refund it if you miss your connection.)
If your train is later than the Surfliner's departure, there are other options (some which take you on bus routes WAY out of the way)--see
Google Transit for more details (you can play with the "Depart At" time to see your options if your train is late).
So, are there any things I should be aware of for this trip as "do not miss" items?
Eat in the Pacific Parlour Car! It's a treat reserved only for sleeper passengers, and it's very different from the normal dining car menu (especially noteworthy if you plan on traveling other trains in the near future!).
Also, have your camera out for the sections from Eugene south (east) through the Cascade Range and then from Paso Robles south to Ventura.
I did notice that for some reason the price went up by about $40 in the last few days. Is that normal?
There's a link in my signature to an explanation of how Amtrak fare buckets work. But yes, it is "normal" in that fares can rise any time.
If you're familiar with airline pricing at all, you'll find Amtrak's fare structure remarkably simple. Unlike airlines, there are a set number of fare buckets (four in coach and five in sleeper, IIRC), and each fare bucket always has the same fare associated with it. Amtrak doesn't place artificial restrictions on fare buckets such as minimum advance purchase, round trip requirements, Saturday night stay restrictions, or the like, and they don't play games like introducing new, lower fare buckets to try to stimulate demand. The way it works is this: If there are 12 (arbitrary number) roomettes available in the lowest fare bucket and 10 of them are booked, and three days before departure you snag the 11th room in that lowest bucket, you'll still pay the lowest bucket. But if (as was probably your case) there were 12 (again, arbitrary number) roomettes in whatever fare bucket you were first looking at and 11 were booked, all it took is someone booking that 12th roomette and then the bucket is "kicked" over to the next more expensive one ($40 more, in your case). So with Amtrak, it always pays to book early, as you never know how many rooms are left in whatever fare bucket you see (and it's
very rare to see a price go down--some mass cancellations would have to happen). With Amtrak, too, there's almost no reason
not to book as soon as you have even a rough idea of your plans, since [almost--but don't worry about this!] tickets are fully refundable as long as you have not yet picked up your physical tickets (which is why we always suggest waiting until the last minute to print them out!).
Safe travels, and do keep us posted as to your progress--and treat us to a nice trip report after you're done!
