PTR: Amtrak on the cheap in June-NYC/DC/Virginia/AL/FL Upated 3/20/14 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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PTR: Amtrak on the cheap in June-NYC/DC/Virginia/AL/FL Upated 3/20/14
I work 24 hrs a week as an RN, brought home 26k last year. DH does not work at all. We have an old junker of a car (but good gas milage), a cheap apartment, and we do our best to keep costs down because more than anything, we love to travel. OK, and have as much free time as possible. I'm interested in financial loopholes that allow poor lazy bums like us to live the good life!!!
We're (Me, DH, DS5) will be traveling coach class on a 30 day trip with stops in NYC (DSILs Wedding, I'm the unofficial officiant!), DC, Virginia for some camping, AL/FL to visit DFriend, and back home to Oregon. Will look something like this:
Train OR-NYC 4 days
NYC 7 days
Travel 1 day
DC 5 days
Travel 1 day
Virginia 4 days
Travel 1 day
ALA/FL 6 days
Travel home 4 days.
This is 33 days, and we have to get back in 30, so going to have to shorten some stuff or figure out a way to make this a bit longer...
Radically cheap tips:
DS and I have 2 seats together. DH gets one in front or behind.
DS and I sleep on the FLOOR under the seats. DH sleeps from 12 to 5am in the observation car (shhhh, no one will care if there aren't many travelers playing this angle!)
Where to sleep in NYC for CHEAP CHEAP? We will rent a van from UHaul and park it in front of an apartment complex in a decent neighborhood in a borough. SHHHHH!!!!!! Showers at friends and DSILs' hotel room! It will be stifling hot. DH plans to buy a fan and wire it to the van battery. He knows how to do this stuff. Wet wipes and camping mattresses. And hey, we won't be spending much time here. Just sleep.
Same for DC. The rest is going to be camping.
FOOD ON TRAIN: Lots of snacky stuff, crackers, jerky, cheese, fruit, something for dessert every day etc. BUT...What about hot food. I cannot be happy without hot food. Solution: Just add hot water meals! My staple is cup o noodles ramen. Pop many out of styrofome and put it all in a big zip lock. Buy freeze dried vegetable mix (soup mix available at our local bulk food outlet). Add to ramen mix. Also, take along freeze dried coffee and cocoa for a hot drink fix. Now bring a thermos with no coffee taste. The worker will give out hot water if asked, and we are off to the races!
Hope to hear about must sees, especially cheap ones, in NYC especially!
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Not sure when you are traveling but NYS can be very hot in the summer and the van may not be sleepable (you won't be able to open window because of bugs). also if you are in Manhattan you may not be able to stay on the street, parking can cost as much as a campground. I would look into staying at a campground outside of the city and commuting in. You'll also have the option of cooking a few meals.
Not sure when you are traveling but NYS can be very hot in the summer and the van may not be sleepable (you won't be able to open window because of bugs). also if you are in Manhattan you may not be able to stay on the street, parking can cost as much as a campground. I would look into staying at a campground outside of the city and commuting in. You'll also have the option of cooking a few meals.
Yup, I know! We will be traveling with mosquito netting, and we will be parking in Queens, Hoboken, Newark, Long Island (but close in), or possibly Brooklyn. We have a friend there, but i know she gets tons of guests so we can't stay at her place all that time...Not that close of a friend. I've asked her to scout a parking spot for us.
We want to be able to catch public transport into the city without driving and reparking, that's why we don't want to go to a camping place. The van costs 1 dollar per mile plus the daily price of the rental.
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I traveled cross-country via Amtrak years ago and it was a great trip! Hope you have a wonderful time.
If I have the time, I vastly prefer overland travel. Except maybe crossing an entire ocean. Not sure how I would like that unless it was on a real cruise ship!
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SQUEEEEEE!!!!!!!! Last night DH said...You know, we are going to be THAT close to Orlando...Why don't you take DS to WDW?!!!!! Now, we don't have the budget for this...but......BUT.....BUT... I'm starting a WDW on the cheap threat over at the planning forum. !!!!!!!!
SQUEEEEEE!!!!!!!! Last night DH said...You know, we are going to be THAT close to Orlando...Why don't you take DS to WDW?!!!!! Now, we don't have the budget for this...but......BUT.....BUT... I'm starting a WDW on the cheap threat over at the planning forum. !!!!!!!!
Ahhh, I've hit an existential crisis around this trip. Seems so so so expensive...and for what? A wedding, that's important, I suppose. And MORE adventure...? I don't know, I love planning it, but it seems so expensive now...DH and I don't have anything in savings, really. (OK, a tiny bit in an inaccessible location, nothing like a retirement account or anything). We will take our immediate savings to ZERO with this trip. And yes, we will save up, get another tax return, and be able to do it all again next summer, BUT....I don't know, I may have lost my mojo on this one... Maybe we could just hang out at home? And maybe go to Disneyland again?!?!?!?!!!!!!!
I guess if I had my way, we would fly to NYC, go to the wedding, hang around a few more days, and fly home. Then maybe I would take DS to Anaheim, Las Vegas, or something like that for a short trip. Oh, this Disney addiction. It's ruining me on other domestic travel!!!!
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figuring out what to do. I know there's been some talk in the neighbouring Globetrotting forum and Disney does spoil you for exploring other places, although invariably I find when we head somewhere else (and sometimes somewhere new) it's always worth it.
Well, I'm partially recovered from my "Why are we spending all this money" crisis. And we have a decision.
Our itinerary was looking very cramped, so we decided to spend an extra $500 to air it out a bit. We are purchasing the 45 day Amtrak RailPass, and here is our itinerary at this time.
NYC-6 nights
Pitsburg-2 nights
Virginia (Charlottesville and camping)-6 nights
S. Georgia-One night to get DH settled. He stays another 6 nights camping in the swamp.
Orland-Me and the boy-6 nights (may be joined by DF and her 2 kiddos)
DC-4-5 nights
After that we have some free time and will decide on the fly.
I do wish I could afford more than one day in a Disney Park, but for now one day is the max, and even that is tenuous. I will be buying Tix when I get there based on the budget.
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