Review: Amtrak California Zephyr – Chicago to Emeryville

The trip is long. Almost 52 hours long from start to finish. Those 52 hours included crossing 7 states, going through around 30 tunnels, crossing the Continental Divide via 6.2 mile long tunnel (around 9,270 ft above sea level – high enough to cause altitude sickness), making 33 stops, meeting close to 60 Amish people and therefore learning some German phrases, as well as learning to shower while sitting on the toilet (multitasking – a skill to put on the resume!). A more detailed version of the trip is below…

Sleeper Bedroom

We had booked two Superliner Bedrooms next to one another and they were located on the second level of the car; the stairs to get there are a bit narrow, so hauling your luggage up there might get challenging – pack light or ask your conductor for help. Finding our rooms was easy – they had stickers with our names on the door…..and an older gentleman with his grandson in one of the bedrooms. Excuse me?!! I showed him my ticket, he showed me his – we both were booked in the same room. Good thing we live in the 21st century and there’s no need for a duel anymore (based on his southern accent and cowboy hat, I bet his weapon of choice would’ve been a pistol) – we called the conductor to sort this out in a civilized way. It turns out that grandpa needed to get a new calendar or find another way to keep up with time – they were supposed to be on the train that left a day before….

Once that got sorted out, we were able to settle in and familiarize ourselves with the bedroom. The room is spacious enough to accommodate two people comfortably and I would say it’s fine even for four people if you only want to sit down. Since we booked two bedrooms next to each other, we were able to “combine” them – the rooms are separated by a “door/wall”, which can be unlocked and opened. Although in reality you still have two separate rooms, it feels much bigger once the wall is gone.

When the bedroom is in “night mode” (an attendant asks what time you want it to be prepared for sleeping and what time to make the beds in the morning) – the sofa converts into a bed and the upper berth folds down from above as a second “bed” – it gets a bit tight. So tight that using the sink might be challenging. In terms of sleeping comfort: as the first born I claimed my right to the lower bed and slept perfectly fine. My brother on the other hand, couldn’t say the same – the upper berth is a bit claustrophobic.

I’d say the biggest advantages of the bedroom are privacy, beds and your own sink, bathroom/shower. You also get towels, soap, bedding, your own AC/Heat control. Taking a shower, however, might be a bit challenging – toilet and shower are both in the same tiny “coffin”. Very tiny. There are instructions suggesting that the best way to shower is while sitting down on the toilet.

Dining

For the sleeper car passengers all meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) are included in the ticket price – it doesn’t matter if you pay cash for your ticket or redeem points, as we did. Since there’s limited number of tables in the dining car, breakfast and lunch are on “first come first serve” basis with a waiting list; wait times, especially for breakfast, could be quite long – even over an hour, so it pays off to wake up early. For dinner, however, sleeper car passengers are able to make reservations before it opens up to coach passengers – an attendant comes to your room to ask for your preferred dinner time. Keep in mind that seating at the dining car is four people per table – if you are traveling alone (or basically anything less than a group of four people), you will be seated with some other people. If you don’t like the idea of socializing and prefer your iPhone’s company instead, you can request the food to be packed in a box and take it to go. The food is decent enough – not quite the level of a Michelin star restaurant but perfectly edible; I’d say my favorites from the menu were the signature steak and the dessert. One thing that is not included in your meals is alcohol, which is on the expensive side – a bottle of beer costs $6.50. So, I would suggest bringing your own booze – nobody checks your luggage; we were told on the train by an attendant that there’s an Amtrak policy “no alcoholic drinks in public places unless it was bought on the train” but I doubt they can tell the difference between a bottle of Corona bought on the train and the one from my bag.

People

Amish. Lots of Amish people. Did I mention Amish people? Not sure if that’s the norm on this route or it was just a coincidence but it seemed like half of the passengers on the train were Amish. Most on them were traveling in coach, brought their own food and spent their time in the observation car playing card games. As we later found out, they were going to the hot springs in Colorado for vacation. The rest of the traveling crowd was an interesting mix – quite a few retired people, some foreigners and even families taking the train as part of their “sightseeing” trip across America; also, a number of people (traveling in coach) seemed to be using the rail travel as a form of getting from point A to point B – especially in Colorado and California.

Views

The train leaves Chicago at 2:00 pm and for the first day travels through Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. Corn fields. More corn fields. Even more corn fields. In plain English – there’s not much to see. Scenery changes completely in the morning of the next day once you arrive to Colorado – a-fricken-mazing views for the rest of the trip!! Mountains, rivers, lakes, tunnels, farms…. California Zephyr route is part of the Trails & Rails program where National Park Service volunteer guides get on the train to educate travelers about the history/heritage/etc. of the specific region – guides get on the train in Denver (or at least that’s the impression we got). I’d say it’s pretty interesting to see some sights and hear the story about them at the same time. Towards the evening of the second day the train reaches Utah (amazing sunsets), continues across Nevada during the night, gets to California in the morning of the third day and reaches the final stop around 4 pm. The main scenic sights of the route are outlined online – Rocky Mountains, Moffat Tunnel, Winter Park, Truckee River, etc. One of the “sights” however, isn’t mentioned anywhere – “mooning”. Butts. Naked butts. A lot of them! At least 50 or so. Not sure why but there seems to be a “tradition” to take off your pants and show your naked butt to the passing train. People do that in their backyards, tents, on their cars and even in their rafts! Male, female, old, young…. The volunteer guide even warned all passengers that there will be some nudity and those who might get offended should look the other way.

The best place for spending your day and gazing through the window is the Sightseer lounge (observation car) – it has huge “floor to ceiling” windows, lounge chairs and some tables with enough seating for four people. The lounge is open for all passengers on first come first serve basis – on the first day it was very crowded and a bit challenging to find seats for all of us (4 people), but once the large Amish crowd got off the train in Colorado, there was plenty of room.

Bottom Line

The Zephyr route has 33 stops but most of the stops are very short – conductors would even announce if there’s enough time to get off the train for a smoke; the longest stop was probably around 20 minutes. Spending over 50 hours on the train could get a tiring – the views will start looking the same and you might question yourself if the train is going in circles… A good book, glass of wine and good company will help to appreciate this type of slow travel.

If you are looking for five star luxury – this trip is not for you; but if you want to see America at a slower pace – this is the way to go. If money and time is an issue, I would suggest starting in Denver instead of Chicago if possible –  cheaper price and there’s not much to see during the first day regardless.