Marshay
I'm Goofy for Mickey.
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2007
- Messages
- 13,479
Ok, so this may be off topic but how does auto train work? Do you purchase the bedroom? Is it really better than flying? I'm curious.
You have two options: purchase coach seats or a bedroom and bring your vehicle. Both ways include snacks and meals and movie. Bedrooms allow for more privacy, more of your own space, upgraded meals, free wine, some have private bathroom, all have beds and rooms can sleep anywhere from 2-4 people. You can pack as much as your car or SUV can hold.
We found cost of a bedroom, if purchased at 11 months, to be very similar to flying and renting a larger vehicle or driving and stopping for meals and a decent hotel, plus wear and tear, gas, etc.
You have to be the type of person who enjoys the journey to prefer AT. If you rather just drive straight through to get there as soon as possible, you may not like the train. We were fine with flying until we had our second kid...then the cost for flying and just the amount of stuff we needed to have with two kids or if we traveled in winter months with unpredictable weather from taking swim suits to winter coats, made the AT more desirable.
We started with coach and then quickly realized that a bedroom was much better for us.
Now our vacations are actually extended a day in each direction and those travel days are just fun: sipping wine, having a bathroom close by, walking around, playing games with our kids, watching movies, eating a real meal with silverware and tablecloth, sleeping, arriving well rested, no TSA, etc. instead of being stuck in traffic, with kids fighting or asking if we are there yet or having to stop every hour to use the roadside restrooms...or being cramped on a flight with not enough luggage bc we didn't want to pay the extra fees!
As you can tell, we really love it.
Downside is that it can be expensive if you don't catch a sale or book right at exactly 11 months. Also, AT doesn't work for a quick weekend trip bc you leave around 4pm on day 1 and arrive around 9:30am on day 2.
Hope that helps!