TRAIN RIDE!!

Hello!

I have just returned from the Dominican Republic!  We had a wonderful time and it was nice not having to lift a finger for nearly 2 weeks.  Truth be told, by the end it got to be a little boring.  No, we did not jam pack our trip with tours.  What is the point of going to an All Inclusive if you end up not using the All Inclusive features?  I intend to go back to the Dominican Republic but stay at a regular hotel.  Now that I have been there, I think I can manage without the "protection" offered to tourists by the resorts.

Now, for the real purpose of this blog.  I am now planning our Spring Break 2016 trip.  I have decided it will be a train trip from Los Angeles all the way to....not sure.  It will be somewhere in Oregon or Washington.  We will be taking the Coast Starlight train.  Now, I am still working out the plans but I just wanted to give you a heads up before you miss out on an opportunity come January 1, 2016.

Amtrak's current Rewards program will be revised come January 1, 2016.  Although their website states that it will be "better," I believe the true reason is because they realize the current program is not quite cost effective.   Since I am new to Amtrak travel and my research has only been on the Coast Starlight, my discussion here will only be related to the Coast Starlight train on Amtrak. 

The Coast Starlight train runs from Union Station to Seattle, Washington.  It takes just over 36 hours.  The train offers 2 categories of fares: Seats and Sleepers.  The Seats are Coach and Business Class.  The Sleepers are Roommettes (sleeps 2), Bedroom (sleeps 2 and has a sitting area), and Family (sleeps 4 - 2 adults and 2 children). 

I am going to show you why Amtrak is revamping their Rewards program.  Currently, the ticket prices for a trip from Union Station to Klamath Falls, Oregon for a single adult is as follows: Coach ($113 for Value, $221 for Flexible), Roomette ($309), Superliner Bedroom ($545), and Family ($788).  The website did not give me a Business seat price.  Perhaps they are all sold out.  As you can see, the sleepers are much more expensive than the seats.

Under Amtrak's Reward program, the number of points required for a seat is based on how many zones you will cross and the type of seat.  There are only 3 zones: Western United States, Central United States, and Eastern United States.  Imagine cutting the United States vertically into thirds and there you have it.  The Coast Starlight, because it is traveling north-south, it is considered 1 zone.  So, for a single zone travel, the number of Reward points you need is as follows:  Coach (5500 points), Business (6500 points), Roomette (11,000 points), and Family (25,000 points).  The amount of points needed for the Bedroom will be between the Roomette and Family Bedroom. 

Let's take a typical family of 4.  If a person wanted to use their Rewards points, they would have to redeem 22,000 points (5500 x 4).  That is like getting 2 Roomettes.  Or, better yet, spend 3000 more points and get the Family Bedroom.  There is a reason why you want to splurge and get into a sleeper, which is called "first class."  This is because meals are included in the price of the sleepers.  Also, folks in the sleeper will eat in the Parlour Car versus the regular Dining Car.  The food quality is better and it is made to order.  Also, folks in sleeper can participate in the complimentary wine tasting.  Now, if you are going to be on a train for 34 hours, you will need to eat and food alone will end up costing a family of 4 about $150 to $200 (remember, the meal prices on the train will be inflated). 

Now, if you are going to pay out of pocket and you do not care about sleeping in a chair with everyone else, you may not be tempted.  However, if you will be using points, you definitely should get the sleeper.

Now, there are other reasons why you may not want to travel Coach.  First of all, Coach does not reserve you a seat.  Even if you purchase a "Reserved Coach Seat" and the website states that you are guaranteed a seat, it does not mean that you will get the seat without a little struggle.  You may have to scour the train for a seat to find that last empty seat.  Now, if that last empty seat is taken by someone else's personal belonging, you will have to cajole that person into giving the seat up.  While I am sure most would do so without a fight, there are some people who can be jerks and refuse to believe you that their stuff is taking the LAST seat in the train.  Worse yet, what if the 4 seats for your party are dispersed among several train cabins?  Moreover, there is no privacy or security in the main cabin.  You need to be vigilant of your belongings.

While the Business Class seats offer a better experience (more room) and access to the dining car (a $6 coupon for food and beverage), and access to the wine tasting (with a fee), when I considered how much more expensive the upgrade would be, upgrading to a sleeper accommodation, even the lowest one - the Roomette - seemed like the better value due to all the other benefits of sleeper accommodations tickets.

Now, what is the distinction between the Roomette versus the Family Bedroom or the regular Bedroom you ask?  Space.  The Roomette is very small.  The sitting area turns into a bunk for sleeping.  While in sitting mode, the two sides are so close together that the people sitting on each of the two sides will most likely be knocking knees (unless they are children).  It looked like (and sounded like) there would be more leg room in Coach seating.  However, if I was paying out-of-pocket, I would most likely purchaser the sleeper for the meals aspect and then seat in the communal observation car if I needed to stretch my legs out.

For our Spring Break 2016 trip, there will be 7 of us: our family of 5 plus my husband's parents.  So, 2 Family Bedrooms will cost (at this time) $2158 one way.  That is $4316 round trip.  Phew!  That is just for the train.  It does not include the hotel, the car rental, the food, and the entertainment.  So, you know I am not about to pay that!  With a little planning and scheming, I hope to cover the entire round trip train ride using Reward points.

First of all, Amtrak is featuring 2 credit offers.  If you get both credit cards, you will earn 32,000 points.  In order to receive the bonus rewards points, you have to spend $1000 for each card within 90 days of opening the card.  That is easy to do as I try to run all of our household expenses through a credit card.  In fact, I just learned (although it is not a new technique) how to pay expenses that one cannot typically pay with a credit card using (indirectly) a credit card such as the mortgage, the car note, etc.  I am not saying I will pay these debts with a credit card because I do not have the money to pay them.  Rather, I am saying I will run these expenses with funds from the credit cards to generate the bonuses offered by these cards - be they train miles, airline miles, or cash rebates - then pay them off with our monthly income instead of directly paying the mortgage with the monthly income.  Once I have set it up and feel comfortable with how it works, I will post a blog on it.

Amtrak also offers a Rewards sign-up bonus and a referral bonus of 500.  The catch is that you have to go on a train travel within X number of days upon enrolling in the Rewards program. Luckily, November is right around the corner and my kids' school has the week of Thanksgiving off.  I am planning a smaller train trip with my mother and aunt to Paso Robles.  I have to entertain the kids anyway, why not get help from the grandma and auntie-grandma and give them a treat as well.  They have never been on a train in the United States.  My husband will have to work so this and he needs to study for an upcoming conference so with the kids gone, he will have 3 days to devote to his studies leading up to his conference.  Just through the referral program I will earn 3000 bonus points.  Then, I will earn bonus points for the cost of the train ride, which I will purchase using the Amtrak credit card at 3 points per dollar spent (especially since I have to spend $2000 to get the credit card sign-up bonus).  That should give me another 1000 in points.  I will have about 36,000 miles to use for the Spring Break trip.  Then, through my regular spending, I should be able to get to 50,000 points in no time. 

While I am working on the above to cover the trip north, I will cover the trip south using the Rewards points I earned using the Chase Sapphire card which allows me to convert each Chase Sapphire point to an Amtrak point $1 for $1.  We will 40,000 points if we spend $4000 in the first 3 months from opening the account.  I can earn 3x each dollar spent for all things related to travel.  So, I have booked the hotel I will be staying at in our November trip with that credit card, as well as my husband's upcoming business trip, with that credit card.  So, we should be able to make the 50,000 points soon. 

Now, I mentioned earlier that come January 1, 2016, the Amtrak Rewards program will change.  However, if I can book the travel before January 1, 2016, my trip will not be affected.  I still have 3 months to make this happen.  Planning ahead made a difference yet again!

As for a place to stay, we will stay at our timeshare condo.  I know most cringe at the word timeshare but I have been very happy with our timeshare.  I bought our timeshare on the secondary market so I paid a fraction of what it costs normally.

As for car rental, AAA members are entitled to a free day (regular member) or 2 free days (gold member) of car rental (I believe) each year they renew.  If all goes well, I am hoping to spend very little on the car rental as well.  I have not yet begun researching car rentals but if I do and I find some insider tips or tricks, I will share what I have learned.


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