Being a veteran of many jaunts on Amtrak’s legendary train service, one can vouch for the amazing diverseness in what is known as the ‘American Dream’ or the ‘Great American Outdoors.

Traveling the course of many networks that connect the United Stated by rail tracks as a family year after year, some lines more often than others, certainly has many moments that add to experiences that cannot be experienced anywhere else when going through life. Over 40 years of rail travel has taught this particular family that life is full of changes and moments that are to be cherished, such as the changing face of many places that are regulars stops or even the changing faces that live in them.

How humanity can have a set pattern and a course or just a random excursion to places that they have never been. Of course not everywhere is connected by a wonderful network of railway lines, so the need to check or even travel to a point where you can board an Amtrak service, is sometimes necessary within the family itinerary. This would be good place to say check before you travel!

Destination – Amazing Scenery!

Something’s you simply cannot enjoy when flying from airport to airport in the United States is the amazing sights that are to behold while traveling along the ground. Okay there might be a wonderful view from all the way up at 30,000 feet, but there is no comparison with traveling alongside mountain passes that not very many people see other than actually being on the train. How not every farmer’s field looks the same and how the different states can look like totally different countries – even though you are still traveling through the United States of America.

The many different cities and even cities or land features hidden from view because of a network of tunnels. Magnificent views of rivers as Amtrak kindly divert your attention via a bridge that spans the said waterway. The sea, the gardens, the landscapes, the history is all there for the scrapbook as you travel along in admiration and awe at some of the spectacles our wonderful nation has to offer.

The times when an Amtrak conductor seemingly acts as a tour guide to point at certain land features, offering the kids some morsels of historical fact and maybe a famous person’s residence or a film location.

Destination – The Station and a Choice

The many stations that may be part of your journey in the most are never the same. It is almost like a mini vacation in itself, just to take in the sights and sounds of your many stops on a long haul trip from east to west coast.

Maybe you are about to be guided by having to make a choice of where your next hours will be spent, so to some very valuable advice for families on a long trip… take the sleeper rooms!

Making reservations prior to travel definitely works out better than having to work it all out when you arrive at the station, especially if the line of people is as long as the train itself.

You could say get used to the constant changes of a strangers face in front of you on short distance trips, but long distance it can be quite a different story. Especially if you have the wonderful creature that is the person that has every problem that life can throw at them sat across from you.