Amtrak NYC to Monteal

[pubic_assistance]

Agreed.

 

Amtrak is a DUMP.

 

I LOVE trains....and I HATE Amtrak.

 

I use it occasionally in the northeast corridor.

Unfortunate it's the easiest way to go to BOS-DC-PHL from NYC.

Even more so since 9-11. God how that one day fucked up travel!

 

I refuse to ride it anywhere else though...it's dirty and gross.

I find it just INSULTING and deeply OFFENSIVE that they can't even manage to run a decent snack bar when you're trapped on the train for a dozen hours. How complicated is it to make a decent cup of coffee....hire someone to serve it who isn't three brain cells short of a chimpanzee and serve me a pastry that wasn't made a WEEK ago and wrapped in cellophane ? ( not to mention practically inedible.)

[escortrod]

I find it just INSULTING and deeply OFFENSIVE that they can't even manage to run a decent snack bar when you're trapped on the train for a dozen hours. How complicated is it to make a decent cup of coffee....hire someone to serve it who isn't three brain cells short of a chimpanzee and serve me a pastry that wasn't made a WEEK ago and wrapped in cellophane ? ( not to mention practically inedible.)

Food and beverages on trains in Italy are also terrible. Worse than that on American trains in my experience. That surprised me. Still, at least they are faster.

[+ azdr0710]

Wow, tough crowd.

[Zman]

I think you'd find the journey very long, NYC - Montreal. If you want to take a train journey through the Hudson Valley though (worth doing), consider a day trip on Amtrak or Metro North, the commuter train. You could go to Westchester, Beacon, or even Poughkeepsie for the day.

[gallahadesquire]

FWIW:

 

I took a road trip BOS-ALB-Montreal-BOS this last summer.Overnights in Albany; Burlington, Vermont; two nights in Montreal; and Montreal to Boston, nonstop.

 

It was great fun, albeit long. The border crossings in Vermont were five minutes each (WAY off the beaten path). We had taken the Interstate from Albany to Lake Champlain for the ferry crossing, and then state roads in Vermont to Canadia then Montreal.

 

We did do the last bit almost non-stop. Left Montreal at about 11 am, and stopped for dinner outside of Boston at a nice Irish pub-like place. I drove into Boston, as my tripmate is not a native New Englander, and when a rotary with seven streets showed up on the GPS, he said "I've never seen anything like that before!" We got to the Hotel about ten.

 

It's a long schlep, but the Adirondacks on the way up, and the Green Mountains on the way down, were fabulous.

[Zman]

I spent a nice day at Lake George recently. Spectacular color with the changing of the leaves. Upstate New York is worth going out of your way for.

[Jbdesc]

I spent a nice day at Lake George recently. Spectacular color with the changing of the leaves. Upstate New York is worth going out of your way for.

Million Dollar Beach @ Lake George can be nice. It's a very touristy area but the views are phenomenal - I loved jet skiing on Lake George too.

[+ Charlie]

Everyone needs to remember that rail travel in the United States is NOTHING like rail travel in Europe. You spend much of the time looking at graffiti, the back ends of warehouses and rubbish. The trains are uncomfortable and abysmal in terms of service. You can't even get a decent cup of coffee or a pastry to pass the time. The "snack bar" is probably a step below going to 7 eleven .

You have obviously never taken the Coast Starlight Amtrak train from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

[Zman]

The train trip a little further south from LA to San Diego is also quite scenic. You do see a lot of the industrial hinterlands of LA and the tract housing of Orange County. But there are many beautiful coastal views.

[OneFinger]

The train trip a little further south from LA to San Diego is also quite scenic. You do see a lot of the industrial hinterlands of LA and the tract housing of Orange County. But there are many beautiful coastal views.

I did Amtrak from San Diego to LA a couple months ago. Best way to travel to LA. And, yes the coastal view are beautiful. But, Orange County is a yawner.

[Zman]

I did Amtrak from San Diego to LA a couple months ago. Best way to travel to LA. And, yes the coastal view are beautiful. But, Orange County is a yawner.

 

Yes, the OC reminds me of the Weeds theme song, Little Boxes.

[body2body]

You have obviously never taken the Coast Starlight Amtrak train from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

The Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle is a beautiful trip. Especially the going through Glacier National Park, and over the Cascades. Get a Deluxe Bedroom, and you will be very comfortable.

[Hornplatz]

Took it once and while the scenery was breathtaking (I went in the fall, just as the leaves were beginning to change) it was also very long. The estimated travel time was 8 hours, but it ended up being an 11-hour trip because of border check.

 

Nowadays, I would rather fly if tickets are inexpensive. Another option are the overnight buses that leave the Port Authority at 11PM and arrives at Montreal around 7AM. It's cheap and you don't lose a day on the road. You do stop 2-3 times though (once to refuel, another to pick up passengers somewhere north of New York, and finally, at border control).

I took the overnight bus on two trips to/from Montreal from NYC and like it very much. I arrived around 6 a.m. and had some sleep on the bus.

It was a quiet ride the entire way. Retrieving luggage to take into customs was a little bit of a pain but one just gets over it.

[samandtham]

I took the overnight bus on two trips to/from Montreal from NYC and like it very much. I arrived around 6 a.m. and had some sleep on the bus.

It was a quiet ride the entire way. Retrieving luggage to take into customs was a little bit of a pain but one just gets over it.

 

It's not a bad option really. The downside is that you don't get to sleep the entire ride, plus as you mentioned, making your sleep-deprived self go through customs at border check.

[Hornplatz]

It's not a bad option really. The downside is that you don't get to sleep the entire ride, plus as you mentioned, making your sleep-deprived self go through customs at border check.

 

Not being able to sleep the entire ride is not a problem with me as I am a very poor sleeper. It's not unusual for me to get up in the morning after

accumulating as little as 3 hrs sleep over a 7 or 8 hour period and I don't feel tired. I was wired up ready for the day and occasionally a fellow worker

would get irritated because I was in "high gear" at the start of the day. I don't get groggy and fall into sleep, it happens instantly. The same for getting

awake - it's instantaneous.