AMTRAK

Noreen- We have never traveled by train but my sister rides Amtrak quite often. She said there is food everywhere. First there is the dining car but that can be easily avoided.You don't have to keep all food items in the dining car that you purchase there. However anyone can bring food and drink onto the train. My sister said the food is expensive and not that good so most people bring their own. She said most seats could be a problem with food residue because of the continued change of passengers. Her kids love to "seat hop" to view changing scenery. As long as you stay in section you paid for (coach,commuter,first class...) you can change seats.
My neighbors Mother traveled Amtrak across country and said it was very busy. People constantly coming and going doing their own thing.They stuck to their same seats and made friends with those around them.

I hope some of this helps.

Hi Noreen,

I am a PA adult and I travel on Amtrak quiet often. I have never had a problem on the train. LinneCake is right that people often bring their own food on the train and that there are always people getting on and off the train, but I have never felt uncomfortable about travelling this way. Actually I like the idea that if I happen to smell peanuts I can move to another car unlike on a plane where there is no place to turn. (I have never had a reaction to the smell, but it makes me very very uncomfortable - also I am not touch sensitve)

The longest train trip I have taken has been about 4 hours between NYC and Washington DC. I travel almost every other week between NYC and Philadelphia. I always feel more comfortable travelling in the morning because people are less likely to be eating peanuts. I have never spoken to anyone at Amtrak about my allergy, but I never have as much anxiety boarding the train as I do getting on an airplane.

I hope this helps a bit. If you do contact Amtrak please post and let us know what they tell you.

Stay safe.

My daughter has a peanut allergy. We have done 2 train trips (to california and within Colorado). The food in the dining car is really good. We notified Amtrack when I made the reservations and when we boarded and they were really good about it. Nothing in the dining car was made with peanuts. We had a sleeper and sat in the observation car but never saw anyone with peanuts. Overall a very good experience.

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anyone done this??? boston to tampa

I am PA and have taken the train lots of times. But always had a sleeper car (since it was business travel, my employer paid for it.)

I am going to copy a post from last year I made. I forgot to add that the food was awesome!!! Amtrak could not tell be about it in advance so I packed a cooler. We ate like royalty in the dining car every meal. The chef saved my PA DS all the safe "gourmet hotdogs" he had. And when I question a selection, DS happily took the hotdog.

I am saving like crazy for a 3 week trip. And yes, a roomette or sleeper is a must!!! To many unruly kids with parents that don't seem to care in coach.

We took a MAGNIFICIENT Amtrak trip this summer. We were offered a "roomette" at a greatly reduced price. I highly recommend one as I don't think I could sit in coach for longer than 1 hour. Too many unruly kids with very complacent parents. Make sure that you do NOT have a timetable or schedule you must keep. Train are always late. One of our legs was 7 hours late. It was great tho. All meals are included with the roomette. As for PA...My 9 yr PA son loved there "gourmet hotdogs" They were labled so I felt really safe with them. I did check the other food and spoke to the chef. Most of the stuff is prepackaged by I felt it was safe after speaking to numerous Amtrak employees before and during the trip. Breakfast was really good too. The kids had boxed Kelloggs cereal, milk, juice, fresh fruit bowl and a croissant (PA son did not eat the coissant). You can also bring coolers on board. I did this as not knowing what was available. Most of the stuff was eaten the week of vacation. The lounge car has a snack bar. It is here that you will find the nuts. It is a pretty typical concession stand with chips, packaged nuts, drinks etc...We did NOT go there except to walk through the train. (that's fun)
My parents are avid trainers. They belong to a train club and go just about everywhere. Last year they took the train from Chicago along the north route to Vancover and back along the Pacific, through San Fran, Grand Canyon etc. I was/am so jealous. I want to do that!!!! I started looking into it and the prices are really high. I know if I really looked hard I probably could come up with a decent package.

My favorite thing was sleeping to the clacking on the tracks. It was awesome, I didn't want to get up!

We also met some really neat/interesting people on the train. And our porters were great!!

PP

Quote:Originally posted by esmom:
[b]anyone done this??? boston to tampa[/b]

This was the route I was on. Most of the families w/kids got off at the Orlando stop.