New to Amtrak Long Haul

[arubafanatic]

I'm Dezi. My son and I will be taking the Texas Eagle to Chicago for the first time. I'm originally from the east coast and road Amtrak in college, but I live in TX now where people look at you like you are from Mars for wanting to do such a thing. Any workds of advice before our ttrip in June? How is the dinining handled? Can we get snacks easily? I'm a VEGAN, so what are the veggie choices for the meals? Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated.

 

[amtrakwolverine]

for vegans you got 2 choices either a garden burger or vegetarian enchiladas for the dining car. you can get snacks easily from the snack/lounge car if they still have that car.

 

[RRrich]

I'm Dezi. My son and I will be taking the Texas Eagle to Chicago for the first time. I'm originally from the east coast and road Amtrak in college, but I live in TX now where people look at you like you are from Mars for wanting to do such a thing. Any workds of advice before our ttrip in June? How is the dinining handled? Can we get snacks easily? I'm a VEGAN, so what are the veggie choices for the meals? Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated.

Are you in coach or sleeper?

 

[Upstate]

Snacks should not be a problem, but remember that you can bring your own. It will save you some money and you can have the peace of mind of knowing that vegan food will be available.

 

[the_traveler]

It has both a staffed Sightseer and a CCC. I'm on it right now!

 

[AlanB]

How is the dinining handled? Can we get snacks easily? I'm a VEGAN, so what are the veggie choices for the meals? Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated.

A lot of how dining is handled is determined by whether you're riding in coach or a sleeper.

That said however, you can arrange Vegan meals by calling Amtrak. You can learn more about that here.

 

[SuperConductor]

I'm Dezi. My son and I will be taking the Texas Eagle to Chicago for the first time. I'm originally from the east coast and road Amtrak in college, but I live in TX now where people look at you like you are from Mars for wanting to do such a thing. Any workds of advice before our ttrip in June? How is the dinining handled? Can we get snacks easily? I'm a VEGAN, so what are the veggie choices for the meals? Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated.

Hello Dezi, my suggestion to you is to bring your own vegan specialties aboard when you travel. The dining is quite nice on the train, but its pretty expensive. Snacks are the same way. If you have a igloo cooler, pack it nicely with a little ice, a few of your favorite drinks, and you can also pack your vegan foods there to keep cool. If money is not a option, you can pay for the meals and snacks on board, but as much as I love amtrak, I kind of bypass the prices on board. I live in Texas too, and I am from Chicago so I do all my traveling by rail when I go there. Its a beautiful ride, the sightseer car is my favorite --- helps me see the sights along the way. Arkansas, Missouri, and crossing the Mississippi river into Illinois are cool sights. I also love to walk about the train to chat and talk to the crew on board as they will make your trip a pleasant one. I work for the Union Pacific in Houston, and I travel to Longview a lot on freight trains and we pass right by the Amtrak station finishing our trip a couple of miles north of it at our crew change point. So when you travel, if you're going through Longview, when you depart Longview on the way to Chicago, give a big wave at us at the launchpad, (it'll be the big building on the right about a minute after departing Longview), I might be there to wave back!!! Enjoy your trip!!!

 

[Cascadia]

Here's how I packed food for an overnight trip on the train, it was two whole days and one night.

I had a little soft sided cooler, and I made fresh juice in my juicer and froze it in water bottles, carrot/apple, and grapefruit. I think I took three of each.

I put the frozen juice bottles in there and they served the same purpose as an ice pack. I probably had one small ice pack too.

I had some sliced cheese in little bags, and some carrot sticks and an apple. Wish I had brought more apples.

I put the cooler in another tote bag and had some rice crackers, corn chips, and trail mix in there.

I did very well with this. It was enough and the juice stayed frozen and/or cold until the very end.

It was kind of heavy to carry at first though.

My diet is absurd, I am a vegetarian and can't eat any wheat at all and pretty much no other grains either except rice. Restaurant menus don't work very well for me but what can you do. I don't really want to pay for it anyway so that's okay

If I take a sleeper trip dining will be an adventure. All I really want to eat is salad anyway. Maybe that would work out okay. You are brave to be vegan. I lean toward wishing I was on a raw food diet to some extent. I guess people who do that, do travel.

Those little soft sided coolers are handy, and when you are done with them they collapse. Mine was only 8.00 and I have used it for picnics a lot.

 

[Sam31452]

My diet is absurd, I am a vegetarian and can't eat any wheat at all and pretty much no other grains either except rice.

Ouch!

Have you ever tried to ask amtrak for a gluten-free vegetarian combo special diet menu?

As I suppose when you're allergic to grain, i suppose that you will be also allergic to beer (which makes you miss a lot).

Well for me i'm just a vegetarian who hates vegetables (which doesnt' make life very healthy).

 

[Cascadia]

My diet is absurd, I am a vegetarian and can't eat any wheat at all and pretty much no other grains either except rice.

Ouch!

Have you ever tried to ask amtrak for a gluten-free vegetarian combo special diet menu?

As I suppose when you're allergic to grain, i suppose that you will be also allergic to beer (which makes you miss a lot).

Well for me i'm just a vegetarian who hates vegetables (which doesnt' make life very healthy).

Hey Sam, well, you are between a rock and a hard place there, aren't you! LOL

No, I never tried to ask for a special meal - seems hopeless to even bring it up. Luckily my regular Amtrak train ride is only two hours long - I carry a snack in case we get stranded!

I suppose you could say I'm allergic to beer! I quit drinking 15 years ago! But, it wasn't for dietary reasons! I'm sure I am not missing anything LOL!

 

[the_traveler]

who hates vegetables

Me too - and I'm not vegetarian! :lol:

 

[JayPea]

My diet is absurd, I am a vegetarian and can't eat any wheat at all and pretty much no other grains either except rice.

Ouch!

Have you ever tried to ask amtrak for a gluten-free vegetarian combo special diet menu?

As I suppose when you're allergic to grain, i suppose that you will be also allergic to beer (which makes you miss a lot).

Well for me i'm just a vegetarian who hates vegetables (which doesnt' make life very healthy).

Hey Sam, well, you are between a rock and a hard place there, aren't you! LOL

For some reason, now I have that old tune from The Police rattling around my head:

"You consider me the young apprentice

Caught between the scylla and charybidis"

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[arubafanatic]

You guys have been so cool. I have the sleeper car with my son and based on all of the advice, I'll make sure I pack a small cooler for us to have for those I-can't-get-a-decent-vegan meal situations. Looking forward to the trip. What else should I bring regarding general travel. Where are the outlets in the roomette. I plan on using my laptop quite a bit. How's the lighting at night and is their easy access to the bathrooms? How big is the shower area? Any other good pieces of information will be appreciated. I'll be better about checking the posts this time, since the trip is getting closer. :unsure:

 

[gswager]

The outlet are located above your head, toward the windows. It would be wise to bring your surge protector along since it's a little crowd to plug it in. Yes, you can do notebook all day, but I doubt you'll be able to do that for the whole time because the windows (with short "w") is too interesting than Windows.

The lights have two modes- bright and night time (something like blue). Also it has "reader" lights to read your book.

As for the bathrooms, they're easy to access despite it's a little small. It's similiar to the airline lavatory. Be sure to lock your door while being occupied!

The shower is very easy to manage. It has fitting room and a shower. It'll be fun to take shower at high speed! It provides soap and shower towel, but not shampoo/conditioner. Roomette provides sink towels and wash cloths.

 

[the_traveler]

The outlet are located above your head, toward the windows. It would be wise to bring your surge protector along since it's a little crowd to plug it in. Yes, you can do notebook all day, but I doubt you'll be able to do that for the whole time because the windows (with short "w") is too interesting than Windows.

You received the correct info from gswager, as far as the location of the outlet in the roomette! You didn't state if you will be in a roomette or bedroom. In the bedroom, the outlet is near the door - NOT near the window!

I also agree with the idea of a surge protector. Besides the added protection, you'll be glad for the extra outlets. (There is only 1 plug in the room.) And depending on the type of plug, you may want to bring a short (like 1/2") extension adapter. On my last trip, my plug is one of those "flat against the wall" type plugs. With the location of the outlet, it did not always stay attached. So on my stay, I bought an adapter. On the way back, my room had a built in extension, so I did not need it! Better to have it and not need it, than not have it but wish you did!

Also, You may wish to get a surge protector with at least a 4 foot cord (6 feet is better), in case you need the length. You'll be glad when the outlet is not near your laptop!

 

[VentureForth]

In another thread you mentioned you lived "near" Dallas. If that means a little more to the East and South, you may want to consider getting on at Mineola instead. They have very safe, free parking.

 

[arubafanatic]

I'm in the roomette for sure 22 -005. Thanks for the surge protector info, I'll be sure to bring a long one. I live between McKinney and Denton (about 25 miles from downtown). I work in North Dallas and will take the "DART RAIL" to UNION STATION in Dallas, so we wll be totally training it!! My 7 year-old is super excited and this is my first long-haul over-nighter. Hopefully with my sprint card, I'll have fairly continuous internet access.