Have you ever taken a trip on Amtrak?

I took the Amtrak from Denver to Chicago, then onto St. Louis in 1998. Unfortunately, I was sick. But it will be a quick trip from Chicago to St. Louis. You can move around and go up to the top level. Have fun! I'm glad I did a trip on Amtrak.

I’ve taken Amtrak many times and I really like it, for the same reasons you’ve listed. I can read, nap, eat, walk around. It’s so much more enjoyable than driving.
And a plane ride might only be 50 minutes but when you add in arriving early and going through security it’s much longer.

Have fun!

I went on the Eurostar from London to Paris, and then again from London to Scotland. I love the train! It is so relaxing! Have a wonderful time.

Cindy

I've only done a teain once, it was a 17 hour ride by myself with 2 year old twins and a 3 month old. I give it zero stars. Your trip sounds much more fun!

DS and I took an Amtrak from LA to Portland to visit my father who lived in eastern Oregon. It was amazing, but I totally would not have booked the return trip. DS was bored out of his skull and wouldn't be assed for anything else. I'd recommend one way only.

Not Amtrak, but we took a train to Toronto twice- once the year before we got married and once for our honeymoon. We liked it.

I've taking the Amtrak Downeaster from MA to Maine and back (in a day). I don't mind the train, I can read, nap, listen to a podcast. DS loves trains so I never have to worry about him being bored. I'd love to go on a sightseeing train ride some day. I think DS would love it.

I use amtrak between NYC and DC all the time. The wifi can be slow; but otherwise, a comfortable ride.

When our YDS graduated from Navy boot camp in Great Lakes, IL. we took the train from Little Rock to Chicago. We were taking a GF and our family and we didn't really want to drive. That would have been 10 hours. Now, don't get me wrong the train was a longer ride but we were able to enjoy the scenery, get up and move around when we wanted, my DD could go to the bathroom whenever she needed. We did an overnight ride and it was pretty cool to eat on the train at breakfast.

Not gonna lie, we were delayed for some reason during the day. But there was nothing on our travel day that we were having to be there at a particular time. I think we might do something like that again if we were not under time constraints and just wanted to go with the flow.

I traveled to Kansas City from St Louis twice, once while in junior high, and once from Chicago to St. Louis.(actually the Alton station) rather than leaving my car at the downtown STL station. Glad I did that as the day we traveled home there were Ferguson protests shutting down the highways in the area. Had no problems getting home from Alton. It was an enjoyable trip.

I've taken the train from west Michigan to Chicago many times and enjoy it even though I think we only got into Chicago on time maybe once? It wasn't a big deal because we weren't on a time schedule. It's a nice way to relax and read or listen to podcasts or audio books.

Last year we took the train from Chicago to Seattle on Amtrak's Empire Builder and had a bedroom. We found it a very relaxing way to travel for long distance and since we were in a bedroom all of our meals were included in the dining car. We would do it again with no hesitation as long as we had a bedroom. 

I took Amtrak from Florida to Virginia (and back) last fall - I loved it and would do it again in a heartbeat and in fact we're probably sending DD16 by herself this summer (also FL - VA and back).

For us it's an overnight trip - I'm cheap and didn't get a sleeper, just coach, and I didn't sleep (and napped when I arrived at my destination) but it was fine. I read (Kindle) most of the way. There wasn't much scenery until shortly before arrival on the way back because going up our train was delayed and it was already getting dark when we boarded and not yet sunrise at arrival - on the return we boarded late evening (9 something) and arrival was around 8 or in the morning.

No issues with the bathrooms - they were a little less than pristine by the end of the trip but still 100% usable and better than many gas stations/Walmart. Seats were comfortable - so much more space than on airlines. Much more generous luggage allowance - 2 checked, 2 carry-on, and 2 personal...they did refuse one of my checked (a camp cot in drawstring bag) but I was able to carry it on and they overlooked that I then had 5 items (the lady checking me in said about one of them "that's just your lunch right?" and didn't count it.

When we went on a cruise to Alaska, the boat took out of Vancouver, BC. We took Amtrak from a town north of Seattle to Vancouver. From the station we walked to the elevated train, which took us right to the terminal. Did the same thing coming back. It was pretty slick!

I also took the train to the other Vancouver (SW WA) to meet DH for a weekend in Portland after he was at a conference. It was a gorgeous ride, right along Puget Sound.

This is why I'll never take the train. The train between Chicago and Michigan is cursed. Both of my kids had been stranded in Chicago after their flight from there to Michigan were cancelled so both decided to get on the train since there's a stop in my city. A three hour trip took 8 hours for one because of two separate incidents and the other took 5 hours because of a track delay. I could've drove to the airport and back in that time.