Auto Train to FL?

[boiler_eng]

Absolutely. The worst part of any drive from this part of the country is the first 500 miles. After that it is smooth sailing.

Yeah I have done MA to Ohio, 10 hrs, the worst part is NY.

Years ago I did IN to WA 48 hours, worst part was the smell of 3 guys in a truck for 2 days straight.

I would drive over taking the train purely based on it lets you control your own destiny. After driving long distances having to fly or take a train makes me feel trapped on someoneelse's schedule which which I am bound to but they can delay/cancel without my input.

 

[Mr Weebles]

I moved to FL from NH in June and drove the 1493 miles by myself.

The first day I didn't make as much progress as I would have liked because of traffic in NYC. My first overnight was in VA. The second day I covered miles like nobody's business and my second night was in Palm Coast FL. The third day was only a few hours to my new home in Port Charlotte.

If there's not a lot of traffic I LOVE long drives. My iPod was filled with podcasts and I listened to them the whole way.

 

[Fixxah]

Friends were drinking at The Forge on 138 one night and one of them said let's go to Florida. All lauhed as they rode home and one passed out. He was bullshit when he woke up in Maryland and was pissy for the next two days in Daytona. I enjoyed the ride myself.

 

[Garys]

Rookie mistake. Never go through New York City if you don't have business in New York City. When my son lived in central NJ, we always took the Merritt to the Tappansee, to the Garden State Parkway.

I moved to FL from NH in June and drove the 1493 miles by myself.

The first day I didn't make as much progress as I would have liked because of traffic in NYC. My first overnight was in VA. The second day I covered miles like nobody's business and my second night was in Palm Coast FL. The third day was only a few hours to my new home in Port Charlotte.

If there's not a lot of traffic I LOVE long drives. My iPod was filled with podcasts and I listened to them the whole way.

 

[Mr Weebles]

Rookie mistake. Never go through New York City if you don't have business in New York City. When my son lived in central NJ, we always took the Merritt to the Tappansee, to the Garden State Parkway.

I've gone through NYC dozens of times. Never hit traffic like I hit that day.

 

[Garys]

The only time I didn't hit traffic going through NYC was at about 6:30 on a Sunday morning. I left my son's place in NJ at 6:00, was through NYC by 6:45 and home at 9:00. Other than that, I count on it being a mess. There are always accidents or breakdowns. Not to mention that they were still stopping trucks and vans for random searches the last time I was through there.

I did two trips to Manhattan last fall, both took forever, especially getting out of town.

I've gone through NYC dozens of times. Never hit traffic like I hit that day.

 

[Radtekk]

Grew up in NJ, had family in Baltimore and grandparents in Florida, assorted towns over the years. Done everything from flying to driving, took a train round trip once too to visit dad in Miami. Driven solo, with my brother, a girlfriend, the whole bit.

Easiest trip was the train. No real stress, just an uncomfortable seat, but I could nap, get up and take a walk or a leak whenever I wanted w/o stopping. Hot lucky and hooked up with some kids (I was 20ish at the time) that had a sleeper and a "bag" so the time flew by

Flying is faster, driving is less restrictive, train takes about the same as driving as I recall. Costs? Been a while since I did any of 'em so no help there. If you're open to meeting people and seeing sights without having to worry about wrecking, train wins No experience with the auto-train but I see the good and bad

 

[Malodave]

If you are going to drive to DC, that is about 1/3 of the way. Drive a bit longer, spend a night at a motel, then finish the next day. Take the MA pike and the I-84 into PA, then I-81 south and then back over to I-95 around DC.It does add some miles, but misses the NYC, Philly, and Baltimore areas.

Also misses the tolls on I-95. Last time I checked it was $70 round trip to Baltimore and back in tolls.
The western route was $.50 southbound and $2.50 Northbound.

Malodave

 

[60 buckscash]

We were up north and the in laws are in central fl. Before we moved down we drove it 4+ times and now have come back up several times. Here's my thoughts.

For a 10ish day trip you wash price wise.

-Auto train you don't have to drive 2/3 of the trip.
-Flying you get there quicker and have a tempoary ride.
-Driving you have your car and can do what ever you want whenever you want.

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

 

[Coyote33]

My brother's father in law used to do FL to NH in a day. Would start at 3 am Ft. Myers to Nashua.

 

[FormerlyIndifferent]

I have never taken the Auto Train because I've never had the need to; that said, I have done the New York to FL Amtrak, and return, dozens of times.

Leave your expectations at home, look out the window, and enjoy watching America go by. It's always interesting outside, some things are always the same (I've seen many of the same things out the window for 35+ years and it's nice to see in 2015 what you remember from 1979), but some things of course change. What's out the window? Whatever you choose to see. History, industry, farmland, city, country, archaeology, marine landscapes, urban decay, crack houses in Bridgeport or Baltimore, urban renewal (and other downright interesting shit), are all outside your Amtrak window. We enjoy it every time.

The food on the dining cars is excellent (which, Amtrak is experimenting with phasing out, of course). One of the best steak dinners I've ever had was on the Amtrak train to FL in 2014.

Coming home in 2014 we were 8 hours late out of FL due to various fusterclucks (train ahead of us hit a car, then there was a power failure and none of the gates at crossings worked....the conductor had to get out and flag every crossing manually). Everyone on the train was pissed except us. We watched a horrific thunderstorm from the comfort of the dining car (while enjoying steaks and drinks), and the 8 hour shift in schedule meant that we got to see parts of the rail line in daylight that normally we went through in the middle of the night.

One of the most interesting things we learned, is that the Amtrak right of way goes right through (or damned close to) the site of the Civil War's Battle of Fredericksburg. We saw a memorial to it, right out the window. I tried to envision all those Civil War guys on the very same land that was right outside the train. Another cool thing was Ashland, VA. The Amtrak tracks go right up Main Street like trolley tracks. We had never seen that in daylight.

That's us, though, and we have always made lemonade out of lemons. Most of the others on the train were pissed because they were late. We got to see a Civil War battle site, from our seats. How can you beat THAT? (As an aside, an awesome ride for Civil war stuff right out the window, is the Washington DC to Chicago Amtrak run on the former Baltimore and Ohio railroad.)

So, the trip's what you make of it. Whatever Amtrak F's up, we consider part of the adventure. It's always fun.

Disclaimer: we don't do ANYTHING anymore where it matters if we're late, so the train being late didn't phase us one way or another. It became part of the adventure. Look at it THAT way, and Amtrak won't disappoint!

 

[shootback]

I have taken the auto train several times and been very happy with it each time. You can cut cost even further by not getting the sleeper car. The regular seats are quite large and comfortable. I bring my laptop and watch movies and play on the net.

 

[GlockJock]

To each his own. I can't imagine being stuck on an Amtrak train for 17 hours (each way.) If you do it let us know how it works out.FYI, it's 17 hours on the Auto Train and only 11 1/2 to drive.

That's 17 hours SCHEDULED...add a switch or signal failure (especially in colder months), a crossing failure or two, a fallen tree (common in autumn and winter)...plus as soon as you're south of north Virginia you are no longer on tracks that are owned by Amtrak, therefore you're not a "priority" to the rail traffic controllers in charge of your journey. CSX (and other railroad companies along the way) will not hesitate to throw a freight train with "important" cargo on it in front of you (translation? some big business needs the load and has his henchmen visit the CSX honchos frequently, and always with a briefca$e in hand) and your 17 hours just became 30. Amtrak Acela is great for an alternative to flying from Boston to NY/PHI/DC etc, but if you're traveling distance you're always better off avoiding the railroad. The Amtrak Lakeshore Limited is an example. You can board it in Boston, shave, and by the time you reach Chicago you'll look like Mike Napoli or Johnny Gomes during the Sox' magic 2013 season!...Don't take the auto train! Or buy plenty of Gillette Good News Razors if you do....

 

[ridleyman]

I drove my family down to FL and back this summer to see nesting sea turtles. traffic around NY, NJ, and Maryland sucks bad, but after that it wasn't bad. I don't mind driving long distances anyways. 3 years ago I drove to LA and back, the scenic way via Yellowstone. driving is relaxing when you don't have lots of people driving too slow. or too fast. or just anywhere near you.

 

[FormerlyIndifferent]

Amtrak's suckiness is really sad considering that in the 1890-1920 era, this nation's RR infrastructure and service was perhaps the greatest in the world. Basically every city in the USA had several-times-daily service to everywhere else, and the services and amenities onboard rivaled that at the best hotels in the world. See "The Trains We Rode" by Lucius Beebe for a peek at once was, here in the USA.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Trains-Rode-Lucius-Beebe/dp/0883940817

Amtrak's a joke compared to that era, but, it's all that's left of it.

We (my family and I) make the best of it. That and I dislike long distance drives. After 3 hours on the road everything on me starts to hurt.

 

[Will Brink]

I think it depends on your age, your attention span, and your bladder capacity. Your biggest problem is going to be if you are driving alone.
A couple of years ago a friend of mine and I drove to western Iowa. We drove straight through, stopping for food, gas, bathroom only. We split the driving into 2-4 hour shifts depending on how we felt. It took about 24 hours out and 21 hours back.

I've also driven from BWI to southern AL, splitting the driving with my son. 21 hours straight through.

Boston to Austin with my daughter was a three day trip, but part of that was because of an issue with her truck and part was because of an issue with her cell phone. I could probably shave 6-8 hours off that trip now. In that case, I did all the driving, 12-14 hours the first two days, 8 the last.

I happen to enjoy driving, so it's not a big deal for me. If you don't enjoy it, it's torture.

I'd advise against having your car shipped by truck. Depending on exactly where you are going, it could take up to three weeks for your car to actually be in your hands. The car will go to the trucking company's depot, will sit there until they have a full truck to your area, and then will be delivered to you. That happened to my daughter in law when they moved from NJ to AL. They let the moving company handle the car move, they subbed it out to some car transport company, and it was three weeks before she had her car. In the end, the trucking company paid for her rental, but it took a lot of phone calls and yelling to get that done.

Bingo! Beyond 4-5 hours I'm stiff, annoyed, and coming out of my skin.

 

[GlockJock]

Bingo! Beyond 4-5 hours I'm stiff, annoyed, and coming out of my skin.

Sounds like Bill Clinton during a Monica Moment....

 

[Juiced06GTO]

I drove my race car down to Florida a few years ago for a two day race at Bradenton. I met up with a buddy in NJ and we both drove down. On the way back he didn't feel like driving anymore, so I mad the trip back solo straight through in 24 hours. I was home back in Mass before he made it back to NJ. By the time he mad it to Orlando and on the train I was already into Georgia and when he landed in VA I was entering NY if I remember correctly. He was well rested and ready to go when he got home though, I think I collapsed and fell asleep in my driveway when I pulled in!

 

[clampett]

I drove my family down to FL and back this summer to see nesting sea turtles. traffic around NY, NJ, and Maryland sucks bad, but after that it wasn't bad. I don't mind driving long distances anyways. 3 years ago I drove to LA and back, the scenic way via Yellowstone. driving is relaxing when you don't have lots of people driving too slow. or too fast. or just anywhere near you.

What kind of turtles? Kemp's Ridley

 

[shadowr434]

We used to drive down years ago. 1st day would be to Fredericksburg VA, 2nd to Savannah GA and we were in Vero beach by noon on the 3rd day.

Unless you enjoy all that stopping, you are taking way too long to get there.

 

[Obie1]

I've done the drive with two other guys, straight through. I enjoyed it, but then again while my son was in college in Philly, I frequently drove him and his stuff 6 hours there, unloaded him and drove 6 hours back.

 

[cbrxx]

Also misses the tolls on I-95. Last time I checked it was $70 round trip to Baltimore and back in tolls.
The western route was $.50 southbound and $2.50 Northbound.

Malodave

Good point Dave....

 

[FormerlyIndifferent]

Last week I took Amtrak's "Silver Star" to Florida, and the "Silver Meteor" back home. Roughly 31 hours down, including the layover at NY; and roughly 29-1/2 hours home, including layover at NY.

The "Star" no longer has a dining car, but one of those AmCafe bar and snack cars only. The "Meteor" still has a traditional-style dining car. I got my steak dinner again (see post 41) and it was excellent, as before. Prepared right on board.

I sat in "coach" again for the X-dozenth time; next time though I think I will take the sleeper. I had the double set of seats to myself on the way down, and I had a fellow next to me on the way back; I'm at the point in my life where I don't want to take a gamble on who might be sleeping next to me on a train! Sleeper for me, next time.

Enjoyable, as always.....and it provided pleasant memories of the same trip taken many, many times over the last 30-plus years. It's nice to look out the window and see it be "1979 outside" in many places between Boston and Washington, and "1988 outside" in many places between Washington and Orlando.

 

[Matt2109]

If you are going to drive to DC, that is about 1/3 of the way. Drive a bit longer, spend a night at a motel, then finish the next day. Take the MA pike and the I-84 into PA, then I-81 south and then back over to I-95 around DC.It does add some miles, but misses the NYC, Philly, and Baltimore areas.

This^