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- I regret not knowing a few things ahead of my long-haul, overnight Amtrak rides in 2021 and 2025.
- I spent 75 hours on Amtrak sleeper trains and noticed that time seemed to pass slowly on the rails.
- I wish I knew internet service wouldn’t be reliable, among other lessons I learned the hard way.
In October 2021, I booked a round-trip ride between New York City and Miami on Amtrak’s overnight sleeper train. In total, I spent 60 hours on the rails.
On the way to Miami, I spent 30 hours in a $500 roomette accommodation, a 20-square-foot enclosed private space with a foldout table, two chairs that fold out into a bed, and an additional bed that pulls down from the ceiling.
On my way back to NYC, I spent 30 hours in the next level up, a bedroom accommodation that cost $1,000 for a private 45-square-foot room. It was double the cost of a roomette for twice as much space and a private bathroom.
Most recently, in January 2025, I took another overnight Amtrak train from Denver to Salt Lake City in a roomette for $400. This ride was 15 hours long.
While I enjoyed these trips, there are some things I wish I had known about this type of travel before that would have made me more prepared for the ride.
I thought the train rides felt bumpy the whole time.
This is not an exaggeration. I found my Amtrak trips to be as bumpy as a flight with turbulence where the seatbelt sign is on from start to finish. The motion sickness and terrible sleep were too much for me, and had I known this before my trip, I might have packed some medicine to prevent motion sickness.
Regardless of where I slept, I felt bumps throughout the night. But the top bunk was the shakiest.
I’ve tried sleeping on both the top and bottom bunks on overnight Amtrak trains.
I experienced bumps along the journey in both cots but found it easier to sleep on the bottom, where I thought it felt a little less shaky. Next time, I’d skip the top bunk entirely.
While the bed, sheets, and blankets were comfier than I expected, I didn’t think much of the provided pillows.
The beds on the 2021 Amtrak trains were firm and slightly cushy on top, just the way I like a bed. But when I was drifting off to sleep each night, I thought of my fluffy, dense pillows at home and wished the ones provided to me on the train were a bit softer.
Luckily, the pillows on my 2025 Amtrak ride felt thicker and softer.
Although the roomette sleeps two, it can feel cramped even for one person.
I am 5-foot-3 and of average build, and I felt cramped in the roomette’s 25 square feet of space. If I were taller or larger, I imagine I would feel even more cramped, especially if I had to share the room with another person. This makes the upgrade to a larger bedroom worth it, in my opinion.
My WiFi service was spotty throughout my trips, which made getting work done a little tricky.
I planned to spend several hours of each journey working on my laptop. Amtrak provided WiFi on the first two trips, but I thought the train’s internet connection wasn’t consistent, so I had to adapt my workflow to do work that didn’t require it. And on the 2025 trip, there was no WiFi at all.
My cell-data service was also in and out throughout the journeys.
The internet wasn’t the only service that was spotty. I noticed that the cell service on my phone seemed to come in and out, too. I wished I’d downloaded more movies and shows from streaming apps to keep myself occupied when my phone and internet weren’t working.
I didn’t realize that time would seem to pass more slowly on my long-haul journeys.
I knew 30 hours would be a long ride one way, but time seemed to pass so slowly that 30 hours felt twice as long as it usually does in my regular daily life.
I was glad that I at least packed other things to keep me occupied with spotty WiFi and cell service, such as my Nintendo Switch and music.
The cupholders in Amtrak roomettes and bedrooms fit a standard 12-ounce water bottle. I didn’t know mine wouldn’t fit.
I brought a big water bottle to stay hydrated on my long journey, but it was too large to fit inside the cupholder, meant for a standard 12-ounce cup.
I would have packed a few smaller water bottles if I had known this.
I think you have to view the ride itself as part of your vacation to really enjoy it.
I’m someone who deals with travel anxiety, and so I found the length of the trip initially overwhelming. It’s tough for me to relax when I am between destinations, and for some reason, I struggled to view the train as a destination in itself.
But after spending 75 hours on long-distance Amtrak trains, I’ve realized that if you can think of the train ride as part of the journey, you’ll find it much more enjoyable.
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