Amtrak Primer - Newsletter Demo

I made a mock-up of my first Newsletter I would release to any subscribers I have.  It's a short "primer" and guide to Amtrak train travel.  I've posted it below in it's image form, so I hope you all enjoy it!

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Short Amtrak Travel Journal

Here are some very brief notes I wrote about my travel experience while actually on the train from California to Florida.  Hopefully the benefit someone!

Day 1/2 – On the Train to ChicagoInteresting experiences so far!  I have to say, train travel is probably not for everyone.  I am quite enjoying my experiences so far, but I will go into more details on this later.  I am surprised how many people are also heading to Chicago from California or even from stops not that much further down the line.
 Question: One thing I always wondered: do conductors really yell “All Aboard” or is that something they only do in movies?
Answer: They do in fact yell “All aboard!” so that those on a stretch-your-legs break know to come back on the train or get left behind.  And they will leave you if you aren't quick!
 The California Zephyr is a fairly long train.  I haven’t exactly counted each car, but I think there are the 2 engine cars, 1-2 what looks like baggage cars, 3 sleeper cars, 1 sightseeing/lounge car, and 3 coach cars.  The seats are very roomy!  I was lucky to not have a seat mate on this first leg of the trip from CA to Chicago, so I could really stretch out.  There are foot rests on the seat in front of you, as well as leg rests under your own seat so you can prop your legs up if you want to.  The seats recline much farther than an airplane seat does…not sure what the exact number in inches is, but it’s nice.  I've tried to take some pictures of my seating arrangements as well as some shots of other interesting parts of the train [which you can see in an earlier post here].
 Traveling on a train is similar to traveling in a car.  You get that bouncy, wheels-on-the-rough-pavement kind of feel.  The main difference is the swaying motion that sometimes accompanies train travel.  It’s not always obvious, but occasionally the train does sway enough where you do notice it.  Those prone to motion sickness (or even car sickness) should bring something to help them like Dramamine.  I personally found the motion to be relaxing, and I think it made me sleepier.
 Trains are also not as loud as cars.  Or in particular, I should say this train is not as loud as a car.  I've heard other passengers mention how this particular train is much roomier and quieter than many of the short-distance trains they have traveled on.  You could hold a very hushed conversation several rows behind me and I would be able to make out some of your words, to give you an idea.
 Above your seat, after the conductor scans your ticket, they place a skinny piece of paper that the conductor marks with your end destination 3 letter code.  For me on this train, it’s CHI for Chicago.  As I mentioned earlier, there are a good amount of people traveling to Chicago, many of them alone.  So I don’t feel so weird ;) This piece of paper also marks your spot for you, so if you left your seat, other passengers would know someone was sitting there.
 The bathrooms are so-so.  They are rather small, but again, bigger than airplane bathrooms.  The nice thing is the lounge bathroom which is 2 sinks and a big mirror with 2 stools in front of it.  You can brush your teeth there, wash your face, even change if you wanted.  I would still change in the privacy of the bathroom.  The handicap stall is very large and much more roomy than the regular bathrooms.  One thing I really don’t like is how the water spurts out with way too much force.  If you aren't careful you might end up taking a bath instead of washing your hands.
 On day one we traveled from SF, California through Davis, Sacramento, Roseville, Truckee, Colfax (I might be forgetting a couple stops, Winnemucca, NV and ended in  Elko, NV just before midnight.  Around 3:15 AM we arrived in Salt Lake City, but I slept through that.  I also slept through the Provo stop.  I woke up in time to see Green River, Utah around 6:30 am.  It was very pretty.  In the distance you can see some interesting land formation which (from past visits to this region) I am almost certain are Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park.
 I saw a fair amount of wildlife so far on my travels.  Plenty of jackrabbit and ground squirrel sightings, but also hawks, a bald eagle that lives at Donner Lake, lots of wild horses in Nevada, and pronghorn antelope in Utah.  The countryside is also incredibly beautiful.  I brought loads of movies to watch and books to read, but I find myself too busy staring out the window in case I miss anything spectacular.
 Coincidentally, the pictures I am including on [other] posts were either taken on my cell phone or my Canon underwater camera (I think it’s called the D100, it’s the first in the line of underwater cameras for Canon).  The picture quality varies depending on the position of the sun.  Sometimes it glared off my window making it difficult to get a clear shot.  There were also lots of water spots on the window which you will probably notice more in some pictures than others.   The sky was not always a dark, hazy color.  That’s just how the pictures turned out due to the things I mentioned above.
 To back track a bit, one cool thing is that from Sacramento to Reno the train had on board 2 docents to tell the history of the route we were taking.  They announced a few interesting tidbits, like when we passed Donner Lake what the basics were to the people in the Donner party, but other than that you had to be in the lounge car in order to hear what they had to say.

For anyone looking to try training out for the first time, I’d recommend the California Zephyr route from wherever you live to Reno.  It’s a very, very pretty train ride and ends in a location with lots of hotel and dinner options, so you can spend the night and train back home the next day.
 Today we will be traveling through the Rockies, which I am excited to see for the first time.  Not sure how far we will make it today.  We left Grand Junction about an hour or so ago (it’s just after noon for me right now).
  Day 3/4After having finished the entire train ride, much of this will be kind of a “looking back” perspective.
For example, the best part of this route was the California Zephyr.  Easily the prettiest  part of the trip.  That being said, I didn't have window seats on either of the other two trains I took, and sometimes seat mates closed the drapes so I couldn't see out.  That, and parts of the country that might have been pretty we trained through at night.  Also, the east coast has a TON of trees, so sometimes it's hard to see out the windows.  Lol.  They obscure everything!

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Photo Review: Amtrak Travel Experiences

As many of you might recall, I traveled across country by train last September by myself.  It was a very interesting experience to say the least!  I am not the most outgoing person in the world, and I was nervous about interacting with complete strangers over the 4 days I was on the train, each way, all alone.  I managed, though :)

Let's just say, my parents (in particular my mother) was very nervous about me doing this by myself.  I had constant texting contact, however, and checked in multiple times a day, sometimes even at 4am because I couldn't sleep.  There she is below, waving goodbye to me; prior to me boarding, she even offered to pay for my flight if I would just fly to Florida with the rest of them...she is so nice :)  But I really wanted to experience the train!

Your sleeping schedule starts to change around the 2nd/3rd day on the train, or at least it did for me.  You should note before reading further that I did not pay for a sleeper car, but for a regular seat.  I noticed that I had a very hard time sleeping at night (around 3am-7am) and so I would usually be awake at this time reading a book.  I read a lot of books...hehe.  When I finally felt exhausted I would sleep.  Then during the afternoon I would nap several times.  Doing this actually helped me feel like I was getting enough sleep each day.  Another nice thing about being up at 4am, unable to sleep, means that there is generally no one trying to use the restrooms or the larger changing room/rest room.  Below you can see some pictures of the slightly larger changing bathroom.  Some of them had stools you could sit on in front of the mirror, some did not.

I will say this, try and look for the handicap restroom and use that on your car.  The regular bathrooms are TINY.  I found them very uncomfortable, but the handicap ones were larger and more comfortable to use.  I'll just come out and say it: the toilet seats are too small, or at least that is my opinion.  I didn't think to take a picture of the toilet...lol.

The seat itself was very nice...unless you sat too long.  I felt like there was something really hard right in the center; this is probably where the foam on the seats wears down fastest, and you can feel the seats hard framing underneath.  Other than that, I have no complaints about the seats.  There was plenty of leg room and the seats were very wide feeling.  They also reclined substantially more than airline seats, or even most car seats in my opinion.

I didn't get a whole lot of pictures of the other parts of the car.  I am a quiet person who kind of minds their own business, so I didn't move around a whole lot.  And I never once bought any train food like I originally had planned.  I had more than enough snack food with me, and when I switched trains in the big cities, I bought food at the stations (which were giant malls, really).  So I had Jamba Juice and McDonalds in Chicago, Taco Bell and Einstein Bagels in DC, and at a slightly longer layover in Denver I went to another bagel shop and a SmashBurger.

The two pictures above are like places you can eat your food after you buy it; they are not the dining car, but I think rather the sightseeing or lounge car.

Below is the sightseeing car on the California Zephyr.  I apologize for picture quality!

Below is where you could buy food that wasn't in the dining car...he wasn't open when I went here.  They also have several stations on the train car where you can get water, as you can see below.

Lastly, above your seat they put a little slip of paper that marks where you are going.  I noticed that they tended to group people going the same places in the same area of the car.  So I had many people traveling to Chicago near me, and people who were traveling less distance on the line were typically in another car sitting with those people.  I was lucky to have my own 2 seats to myself all the way to Chicago!  After that, I always had a seat mate for the journey East.  You are allowed to try and request a certain seat, but if it's full then there is not much they can do.

I hope this short review helps others out there, and if you have any specific questions or comments about this, please ask me!

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Finding Nemo - The Musical - Disney's Animal Kingdom

Here are a few brief clips from this amazingly well done musical version of the hit movie "Finding Nemo" as seen at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The guy who played Marlin sounded incredibly like the actor from the real movie!

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