First time for wife on Amtrak

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TheVig

Lead Service Attendant
Joined
Jun 22, 2020
Messages
320
Location
Charlotte NC
My wife has never been on Amtrak. I booked us a day trip in August. CLT-RGH-CLT. This will get her feet wet in regards to train travel. They greater goal is to do a cross country trip via Amtrak in the future. I think she'll get hooked after this test trip. She likes to railfan in general. We are also aviation geeks. I told her the leg room on a train is leaps and bounds better than cattle class on a airplane.
 
Great idea! Are you planning to book a sleeper on one leg of your trip to let her see what that mode of travel is like (unless your cross-country trip will be all in Coach)?
 
Great idea! Are you planning to book a sleeper on one leg of your trip to let her see what that mode of travel is like (unless your cross-country trip will be all in Coach)?

The short trip between Charlotte and Raleigh will be in coach. Cross country will be in sleeper.
 
Now that I look at the routing a bit closer, I guess a sleeper on one of the legs would involve a train change at GRO and other complications taking it out the day trip category.. Only way to avoid that would be to head South out of CLT on the Crescent and return on the Crescent, but that would involve an early morning departure from and arrival at CLT and a really long layover at the turnaround spot.

But the CLT stop has a 25 minute dwell time, so maybe you could finagle a quick look-see inside a sleeper car for the wife. Maybe.
 
But the CLT stop has a 25 minute dwell time, so maybe you could finagle a quick look-see inside a sleeper car for the wife. Maybe.
CLT to RGH is on the no-sleeper Carolinian which goes to NYP or one of the inexpensive short distance Piedmonts which only go between CLT and RGH. The Crescent doesn't go to Raleigh. One possibility might be Charlotte to Atlanta with a night in the big city. Then one can sample a southbound sugar-crazed "breakfast" and a northbound tasteless "dinner" neither with service along with a night in a room.
 
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