What to eat on long trips (specifically a train)

One of the most challenging things of going on a long car ride (or train trip) is finding the right kind of snacks or food to bring with you.  In my particular case, I needed to find things to bring that did not require refrigeration or microwaving, as I won't have access to a refrigerator or microwave on the train.

The train does sell hot meals in their dining car, but I would rather save myself $10+ per meal and eat my own food as much as I can.  I do plan on buying one hot meal per day, however, so I will update folks later on just how good or bad train food is.  All my culinary 'Chopped' and Food Network experience is going to come into play for that post (and future ones about the cuisine aboard the Disney Fantasy and at Walt Disney World ;-) ).

The next trick: coming up with foods that taste good and travel well.

One of the best travel foods to take along on the road are PB&J sandwiches.  Also known as peanut butter and jelly, to those of you who have forgotten what it is to be in kindergarten.  Or even college; PB&J is the staple of most college kid pantries.  For my upcoming train travels, I bought individual peanut butter packages, and the smallest jelly I could find that squeezes out.  Two great items that don't have to be refrigerated.  For the bread, I bought some sandwich thins.  I think they will hold up to travel better than wheat bread, which is prone to squishing.

If you are not into PB&J, you could try tuna or chicken sandwiches.  They have packets in the condiments isle of StarKist tuna which you only need to add mayo to in order to enjoy.  Buy (or hit up your local Panera Bread) some individual sized mayo packets for a very easy and portable tuna sandwich.  There are also many brands of pre-cooked soup that, if you don't mind eating it at room temperature, could also be consumed on the train.  If you are friends with anyone in the military, you could always beg a few MRE's off of them!

Most veggies and fruits will hold up fairly well without refrigeration as well.  I am a big fan of carrots and ranch, and finding small, travel-size ranches is easier than you think.  Just head to your favorite fast food and order something to eat; ask for a couple of sides of ranch, and you're good to go!  You might want to order more than just one thing off the dollar menu, though, if you ask for more than 2 or 3 ranch sides.  Whole apples and bananas also travel well to a certain extent; just pack them as best you can so they don't bruise.  There is no weight limitation to what you carry on the train with you, so you can bring some of those little fruit cups or even an entire can of crushed pineapple if that's your thing.  Just don't forget a spoon!  I am bringing some fruit leather, as it tastes just as good as real fruit, but is easier to transport.

I've read mixed reviews about the taste of water on the Amtrak trains, so to combat this issue, I bought a water bottle that filters water.  I liked the size of this water bottle compared to some of the others; it holds 600 mL of water.  It's big, but not huge, and it was cheaper than many other filters (at Target it cost $19.99).  It also comes in several colors like teal, pink and black; I bought the blue color.  According to the packaging, it helps with the chlorinated taste that many public water sources have due to cities treating water mainly with chlorine.  The filter lasts for about 300 refills, or 3 months, if you refill the bottle 3-4 times per day.  The bottle is BPA free, and dishwasher safe.  It can contain liquids ranging in temperatures from 34°F to 100°F.  It is important to note this bottle is only intended for use with potable water.  Don't stick it in the nearest river and think you'll be fine!

Lastly, don't forget to stock up on things like granola bars, protein bars, something salty like pretzels and chips, and a good supple of healthy snacks like fruit leather.  Chocolate is always good to bring along for a quick pick me up, as well.  The very first picture in this post is a sample of some of the stuff I bought.  I didn't take a picture of the fruits, protein bars, and veggies that are also packed in my bag for this extensive trip.

I hope this posting helps people come up with some good ideas for travel food :)  Let me know what your favorite travel foods are in the comments!

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What to do for 88 hours

88 hours is how long it takes to get from San Fransisco, CA to Orlando, FL by train.  To give a better understanding of how long 88 hours is, it's just over 3.5 days in length.  One way!  And that's assuming there are no train delays, which I hear Amtrak is notorious for.

So that brings up many important questions:

• What to do?
• Where to sleep?
• What to eat?
• Where to get water?
• Is there WiFi?
• What kind of train is it, anyway, and what is there at a reserved coach class seat?
• Can I take a shower?

What to Do
This was probably the easiest question to answer, as anyone who has ever been on a long car ride has faced a similar condition: boredom.  For some, sitting around reading all day sounds extremely boring.  Not so to me.  I quite enjoy reading, and I have loaded up my phone with several book series I have yet to read, and quite a few old ones I have read, just in case the new stuff is bad.

But I don't want to read all day for 4 days.  So I downloaded movies from my Vudu account (www.vudu.com) to watch on my laptop.  The best thing is that once they are downloaded on to your laptop, you don't need an internet connection to watch them*.

*For those unfamiliar with Vudu, it's a video streaming service that, after creating a free account, allows you to upload those digital copies that come with most DVD/BluRay discs.  You can then access them from anywhere with an internet connection via your online Vudu account.

Which brings me to another point I was not terribly sure about:

Is There WiFi?
Sadly, no.  Some trains do have WiFi, but the particular trains I am going to be on do not.

So, what can I do about that?  Lucky for me (and most people with a smart phone these days), I have a tethering app on my phone that allows me to create a mobile hotspot, thus providing me with internet access of sorts.  I probably won't have great service in some of the flyover states, but in major cities and suburbs I should be well covered.  Make sure you have an unlimited data plan, or know about how much data you plan to use if you go this route!

Where to Sleep
As I have mentioned in an earlier post, I could not afford a sleeper car.  So for those who go on long, over night trips, you sleep in your seat, which does recline.  How much it reclines, I am not entirely sure.

Amtrak has this interesting chart picture posted on their website, depicting reserved coach seats:

Are There Bathrooms on the Train/Showers
Yes, there are!  And from past experience of close friends/family, I hear there is a changing room of sorts in addition to the restrooms located on the car.  Also from the same sources, the restrooms are single person rooms, so not like a traditional womens/mens room with multiple stalls.

Yes, there are showers! However, to the best of my knowledge, you must pay for a sleeping accommodation (like a car, roomette, etc) in order to use the shower.  Luckily I don't plan on breaking a sweat or working out too much and I don't smell after only a day (at least, no one has complained!) so I should be ok.  To combat odors and dirty hair/face, I'm going to take dry shampoo and facial cleanser towelettes.  A bottle of spray isopropyl alcohol will also kill the bacteria that cause the bad smelling odor (spray this on any clothing, etc to help combat stinky smells!).


Where to Eat/Drink
On the long distance trains, they do have a dining car.  According to the Amtrak website:

On long-distance trips, passengers are asked to make reservations for lunch and dinner. Reservations are taken in 15-minute increments for a more pleasant dining experience, assuring passengers of receiving quality service from Amtrak staff and preventing the Dining Cars from becoming overcrowded during peak meal times.
After boarding, a dining car staff member will go through the train asking passengers to select a preferred time for dining. Reservations are taken during each meal's service hours, except for breakfast. Passengers will be seated as they present themselves at the dining car. If the dining car is full, names will be taken, and passengers will be called in order from the lounge.

So I will have to let people know how this goes!  I have found a menu online, so I know what to expect for food/prices.

Here are some good links if you are curious about what kind of food the different trains offer and their prices:
Amtrak (quick menu glance)
Amtrak (menu and prices in PDF format)

Other good news: you are allowed to bring your own food onboard!  So I know I will be bringing plenty of snacks, as I am a fairly picky eater.  I will post more about what snacks I plan to bring in a later post.

Lastly, after doing an extensive search on the internet, I found that most people agreed there is a water fountain on board you can fill up water bottles at.  Some people said the water tasted bad, others didn't mind it at all.  So a note to those picky water drinkers:  consider bringing a water bottle that filters water.

What Kind of Train
Here is a fairly decent chart that depicts some of the differences in a reserved seat on the different types of train:

I will be on either a viewliner train or a superliner train the entire time.  The differences between the two are not that big.  Another excerpt from Amtrak:

Short / medium-distance trains and single-level / Viewliner trains offer reserved coach seating featuring wide comfortable seats with fold down trays and many other amenities.
Famous for the bi-level sleeping cars, the Superliner trains also offer coach seats on both levels. While most passengers ride in the upper level for a panoramic view of the passing scenery, the lower level coach seats provide convenience:

• well-appointed restrooms within the car and

• accessible seating for passengers with mobility impairments.

I think I covered all my topics mentioned at the beginning of this post.  Stay tuned for more information on my upcoming trip!

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First Cross Country Train Ride

This September I will be making my first cross country train ride, and I am super excited.

As I have mentioned before, I strongly dislike flying.  I planned a pretty neat trip to Walt Disney World and a Caribbean Disney cruise that my mom, dad, and sister will be going on with me.  The only problem:  I did not want to be stuck on a flying tube thousands of feet above the air for 7 hours, give or take an hour.  And before some kind soul tells me: I know that airplanes are safer than cars and trains and bikes and walking...basically I have been told it's one of the safest things you can do.  It's probably safer than sleeping at night, who knows!  That still doesn't mean I can't have a very strong aversion to flying.

So I thought this trip would be the perfect way to test out Amtrak cross country, from San Fransisco, CA to Orlando, FL.

This is a LENGTHY train ride, let me tell you.  And I was too cheap to splurge for a sleeper car, so you'll all be getting my first hand experiences sitting in a chair that reclines.  It should be very interesting!

I was a little shocked to realize how many states and cities I'll be traveling through.  Sure, logically I realized I'd be training across the country and so I must be cutting through a good deal of states.  But seeing it on a map and then listed out makes it much more real.

On my east bound portion of the trip I am taking two different trains than on the west bound.

East Bound	West Bound
California Zephyr	Silver Meteor
Capitol Limited	Cardinal
Silver Star	California Zephyr

I did this because each train takes a different route, and I wanted to see as much as I could see from a train.  For those trying to shorten their travel time, the north/south-bound Eastern trains tend to be very similar in length of time traveled.  Pay close attention when booking on amtrak.com and you will notice this.

What better way to illustrate this, though, than with some maps?  So below are the routes I will be taking for my east bound portion and the west bound portion of the trip.

East Bound

West Bound

Look closely and you'll notice that between Chicago and Washington D.C. one train takes a more northern route and the other slightly more south.  For the train between DC and Orlando, one heads in towards the west for a short distance while the other remains a bit closer to the east coast.

Each of the cities highlighted is either the start (San Fransisco, CA), a train change (Chicago, IL and Washington D.C.) or the train end (Orlando, FL).

But wait!  There's more!

Because I am a very curious person, and with the help of Amtrak's route atlas, I zoomed in as close as possible to see exactly where I am going.  I then compiled a list of the states and cities with Amtrak stops I could be visiting.  I don't think Amtrak stops at every location they have a train station unless they are picking up/dropping off passengers.  But I could be wrong, and if so, I will post it here after my trip!  

So below is a list (very long) of the states and what cities I will for sure be passing through.

East Bound

West Bound

California                 Emeryville                 Martinez                 Suisun                 Davis                 Sacramento                 Roseville                 Rocklin                 Auburn                 Colfax                 Truckee Nevada                 Reno                 Sparks                 Winnemucca                 Elko Utah                 Salt Lake City                 Provo                 Helper                 Green River Colorado                 Grand Junction                 Glenwood Springs                 Granby                 Fraser                 Denver                 Fort Morgan Nebraska                 McCook                 Holdrege                 Hastings                 Lincoln                 Omaha Kansas (Just barely edge into, no stops) Iowa                 Creston                 Osceola                 Ottumwa                 Mount Pleasant                 Burlington Illinois                 Galesburg                 Kewanee                 Princeton                 Mendota                 Plano                 Naperville                 La Grange                 Chicago (Union Station) Indiana                 Hammond                 Michigan City                 South Bend                 Elkhart                 Waterloo Ohio                 Bryan                 Toledo                 Sandusky                 Elyria                 Cleveland                 Alliance Pennsylvania                 Pittsburgh                 Connellsville Maryland                 Cumberland West Virginia                 Martinsburg                 Harpers Ferry Maryland                 Rockville Washington, DC – Union Station Virginia                 Alexandria                 Springfield                 Lorton                 Woodbridge                 Quantico                 Fredericksburg                 Ashland                 Richmond                 Petersburg North Carolina                 Rocky Mount                 Wilson                 Selma                 Raleigh                 Southern Pines                 Hamlet South Carolina                 Camden                 Columbia                 Denmark Georgia                 Savannah                 Jesup Florida                 Jacksonville                 Palatka                 Deland                 Sanford                 Winter Park                 Orlando

Florida                 Orlando                 Winter Park                 Sanford                 Deland                 Palatka                 Jacksonville Georgia                 Jesup                 Savannah South Carolina                 Yemassee                 North Charleston                 Kingstree                 Florence                 Dillon North Carolina                 Fayetteville                 Selma                 Wilson                 Rocky Mount Virginia                 Petersburg                 Richmond                 Ashland                 Fredericksburg                 Quantico                 Woodbridge                 Lorton                 Springfield                 Alexandria Washington D.C. (Union Station) Virginia                 Burke                 Manassas                 Culpeper                 Charlottesville                 Staunton                 Clifton Forge West Virginia                 White Sulfur                 Alderson                 Hinton                 Prince                 Thurmond                 Montgomery                 Charleston                 Huntington Kentucky                 Ashland                 South Shore                 Maysville                 Maysville Ohio                 Cincinnati Indiana                 Connersville                 Indianapolis                 Crawfordsville                 Lafayette                 Rensselaer                 Dyer Illinois                 Chicago (Union Station)                 La Grange                 Naperville                 Plano                 Mendota                 Princeton                 Kewanee                 Galesburg Iowa                 Burlington                 Mount Pleasant                 Ottumwa                 Osceola                 Creston Nebraska                 Omaha                 Lincoln                 Hastings                 Holdrege                 McCook Colorado                 Fort Morgan                 Denver                 Fraser                 Granby                 Glenwood Springs                 Grand Junction Utah                 Green River                 Helper                 Provo                 Salt Lake City Nevada                 Elko                 Winnemucca                 Sparks                 Reno California                 Truckee                 Colfax                 Auburn                 Rocklin                 Roseville                 Sacramento                 Davis                 Suisun                 Martinez                 Emeryville

For those not keeping track (or too overwhelmed to) that's 20 different states traveled through on this trip.

This was a pretty long (and hopefully informative post), so I'll end it for now.  Thanks for reading, and be sure to check back as I post more information about my upcoming cross country train travel vacation!
Feel free to ask questions in the comment section :)

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