Never Rode Amtrak Before, What Do I Do?

We took Amtrak from Ny to Florida. The worse part for me was it was freezing cold the whole time and the food sucked. Pack a cooler with some sandwhiches etc. Bring a few blankets. I wanted my ski jacket it was so cold.

The previous posters gave you excellent advice. Also to know, if you need some place to drop bags off after your hotel check-out time but before you need to travel, many stations do offer this service. Last summer we checked out of our hotel, dropped off the bags at the station for small fee per bag, went to a baseball game and then collected our bags again before we checked them in at boarding time. Worked great.

Some stations have security checks. Sometimes they pull people out randomly to check I.D. Etc. my husband and I travel Amtrak all around the country. We love it. Yes you can carry vodka on with you. If you have a roomette, your meals are included in the price of the ticket. Tickets are checked with photo ID before you get on train. If coach you will be assigned a seat. If a roomette, you were assigned a room at booking. Sit back and relax. I hope you enjoy it. Train travel is not for everyone.

I have ridden Amtrak...we were going overnight so we got a dinette room (I think that is what they are called?) w/beds and a bathroom. We stood in a line and they take your tickets and then lead you out to the train. I packed booze, movies & a portable DVD player and a laptop, snacks and soda and no one searched our bags!

I had a lot of fun, and my husband LOVED it!

Have fun!

My grandmother rides Amtrak everywhere. You can either carry on, or they will check your baggage for free if you don't want to carry it. As far as I have ever seen around here, there's no security to speak of, really. You can put whatever you want in your bags. You just show up at the appointed time, stand on the platform, and when the train pulls up, you get on! They have places to put your bags near the doors (or if they're small you can bring them with you and put them in the overhead racks). The conductor will come by and check your ticket, and they will usually come by just before your stop and let you know to get ready to get off the train. That's about it! It's a pretty easy way to travel.

I haven't been on yet but did a lot of research while planning a trip for someone. One of the main things I ran across was staying hydrated. Take some snacks if you don't plan on eating/paying for the meals on board. One of the things that was recommended was grapes. The juice will help with the fluids and they're not as heavy as bottles of water...lol.

I hope you have a blast!

I've traveled often on Amtrak. Just took a trip to Seattle a couple of weeks ago. There are no security checks. We didn't go thru metal detectors either. I bought my tickets on line. When I arrived at the station I checked in with conductor stationed at a desk near the doors to the train. He took our tickets and assigned us seats, giving us a card to put in a clip above our seats. We carried on our luggage. No one looked at it or asked about it. The large suitcase we stowed in a rack next to the train door. The smaller ones we put in the rack above our seats.

We were given the choice of having a table and when we said yes we were assigned seats that were set up with a permanent table. There were 4 of us and the seats held 4 people. It would depend on how full the train is whether or not 2 people could have those seats. On the way back the 4 seat table across from us had only 1 person.

The regular seats also have pull down tables like those in an airplane.

You can go to the Amtrak web site to see their rules.

No security, no matter what seats. Although I'd advise being discreet about the vodka.

Enjoy!