If you live near the East Coast and you’re traveling to or from Florida
for a cruise or other vacation, you may want to look at Amtrak’s Auto Train as
a relaxing alternative to driving the not-so-relaxing interstates, like I-95.
In this video, we’ll provide an overview of our Summer 2021 trip,
when we took the Amtrak Auto Train -- with our minivan -- from the Orlando, Florida area to the
Washington, D.C. area and spent our time reading, watching movies and TV shows, playing video games
on our Nintendo Switches, researching future cruises, and -- of course -- sleeping overnight.
The Amtrak Auto Train offers non-stop daily train service for passengers and their vehicles from
Sanford, Florida -- which is located about 30 minutes north of Orlando -- to Lorton,
Virginia -- which is located about 40 minutes south of Washington, D.C., and vice versa.
Passengers on the train can travel in coach or private rooms on a “Sleeper Car.”
And the vehicles are transported in several multi-level, enclosed freight cars.
For our trip on the Auto Train, our train was scheduled to depart Sanford,
Florida at 4:00 pm with all passengers and vehicles required to be checked in by 2:30 pm.
Our train was scheduled to arrive in Lorton, Virginia at 9:00 the next morning.
Since we wouldn’t have access to our minivan while we were traveling in coach,
we made sure to pack small carry-on bags with anything we might need for our overnight journey.
We each packed a blanket, small pillow,
electronic devices with headphones, a sleep mask, and earplugs.
We also packed snacks, drinks, and sandwiches for the trip
since Amtrak allowed passengers to bring food and beverages on board.
When we arrived at the Sanford station, there was a fairly long line of cars waiting to enter
while Amtrak off-loaded vehicles from the train’s previous journey from Lorton, Virginia.
After checking in, our vehicle was assigned a unique number
and we were directed to a drop-off area where we could gather and remove our carry-on items.
A staff member then recorded video of the minivan to document any pre-existing
damage and another staff member drove our vehicle onto the enclosed freight car.
With our vehicle ready for the train ride to DC,
we headed into the terminal to wait for passenger boarding to begin.
In addition to restrooms, the train terminal had a gift shop with souvenirs,
snacks, over-the-counter medication, and other travel-related items available for purchase.
Our coach train car had seating on two levels.
The lower level had multiple restrooms -- including one
that had a changing table -- but there were no showers available.
The lower level also had significantly less seating
than the upper level, so a majority of the passengers rode on the upper level.
The upper levels of the train cars had gangway connections that allowed passengers
to move between cars and to visit the Cafe, which offered meals, snacks, and beverages for purchase.
Free ice water was available through a dispenser in each train car.
We were pleasantly surprised with our experience in the coach seating area.
The seats were much wider,
much more comfortable, and provided much more legroom than coach seats on an airplane.
Additionally, there were footrests,
legrests,
window curtains,
individual reading lights,
a fold-down tray,
and electrical outlets available.
Storage was available both above the seats and below the seats.
Our mobile phone had data service for most of the trip,
but it was a bit spotty in the more rural areas.
Still, we were able to use Google Maps and location services
during our trip to see our current location.
We entered the Sanford and Lorton train stations in the Directions part of Maps -- with the
train option selected -- to see our route and make it easier to see where we were heading.
Amtrak did offer free, basic Wi-Fi which was fine for checking email.
However, the service did not provide enough bandwidth
to stream videos or play online video games.
We highly recommend downloading podcasts, movies, and TV shows
to your devices prior to boarding the train to avoid any problems.
In the morning, a complimentary continental breakfast was available in the Cafe.
When we arrived in Virginia, we waited in the terminal for about half an
hour for our minivan to be driven off the train.
Like the Sanford terminal, the Lorton terminal
also had restrooms and a gift shop with various items available for purchase.
After our vehicle number was called and displayed on the monitors located in the terminal,
we simply walked out to the pick-up area, checked for damage, and drove home, well rested.
One final note: our train arrived about two and a half hours late to the Lorton, Virginia station.
We were slowed down by strong thunderstorms overnight that caused flash flood watches
to be issued for several areas along our route.
So, much like taking a flight -- or any other method of transportation that could
be delayed -- we recommend arriving the day before embarkation if you’re going on a cruise.