When our family found out we were moving down to Florida, we were beyond excited about going back to the sunshine state and having an “endless summer”. Palm trees and sunsets are two of my favorite things in nature and the fact that we’d be able to move to a different part of Florida this time was super exciting to us.
The only thing that wasn’t exciting was the actually moving part.
We’ve done this trek before. Almost 1,000 miles, driving down I-95. Been there, done that. For us, this trip wasn’t too exciting because we had done it not so long ago when we moved from Homestead, Florida up to Washington, D.C. During that move, we had an emergency room trip, a cracked windshield from road debris, and had to high tail it the rest of our trip because our transmission started going out. PCSes(Permanent Change of Stations) are known to succumb to Murphy’s Law but this particular move made every other move seem like a cake walk.
So as we thought of our move down to Florida, we brainstormed how we wanted to do it this time. Chris had heard from several people about their positive experiences with the Amtrak train. Obviously we know what Amtrak is but have never taken it or really even considered it. Let’s be real, the train seems to be the mode of transportation that people use when they have a lot of time on their hands. In today’s world, it is way easier to jump on a 2 hour flight to Florida than deal with an overnight train. But as we did more research, not only was it a train, Amtrak specifically had one line available that ran between Lorton, Virginia and Sanford, Florida that could also carry our automobiles-The Auto Train. Two places that were directly on our route. Could this be our solution?
As I did research online and plugged in the dates we wanted, and the type of cars we had, we encountered some issues. Chris’s Jeep Gladiator was too long for the extended vehicle price and being able to stay together in a Family suite was way more than we would have spent for gas and lodging for the road trip down. So, I decided to call Amtrak directly and see if they could help answer some questions and get a real idea of what to expect about the experience.
I will say, I was so impressed with Amtrak’s customer service. I don’t know if I just got lucky that day or their customer service department is just amazing but I was able to get all of my questions answered, book the Jeep as two standard vehicles, and get an incredible discount on the Family Room due to their military discount. (They did also have summer sales where kids ride free but the military discount ended up being cheaper). Though the trip was definitely more expensive than flying or driving, for a little over $2000, we were able to book a family room for four and both of our cars. This also included a dedicated First Class attendant (Shout out to Big Chris!), lounge access, priority boarding, and complimentary dinner and breakfast for all of us. At this point in our lives, it was worth it.
So as I usually do, I posted a short 1 minute reel about our experience with the Auto Train on my Instagram account. And boy was I surprised to find that not only had most people not heard of it, like us, but so many people were either so excited to find out about it or angry that I had let the world know the Auto train “secret.”
Well, I am now here to let you in on all details of our trip. Hopefully it will help answer some questions. Hopefully it will clarify some of the misconceptions I’ve seen on comments. But if anything, I just want to share our wonderful experience and our first easy PCS move. (Well, at least the travel. Getting our stuff in Florida was a whole other story). So here are all the details from our Auto Train trip:
Saturday, June 29, 2024
Lorton, Virginia is about 95 miles from where we lived in Maryland. It’s supposed to only take about 1.5 hrs to get there but because we have to go through Baltimore and D.C., one bad accident and that 1.5 hours could easily turn into 3-4 hours. Living in this area on and off for a long time, we knew that the best thing we could do was leave really early to avoid any issues. Amtrak had notified us that Check-In for vehicles started as early as 12:30 and closed at 3 PM for our 5 PM train. We packed up our cars full of all the necessities we’d need to live out of a hotel or possibly empty house for weeks and left Maryland at 9 am. Because we left so early, of course there was no traffic, so we waited in line at the gate for Amtrak to check us in right at 12:30.
The check-in process was very easy and quick. We gave them our names at the gate and were told to park in front of the station’s main entrance where they gave our cars a magnetic number and asked us to remove any valuables from our cars. Because our boys have severe food allergies and the train wasn’t able to accommodate (per our phone conversation), we packed suitcases full of food and snacks for them, extra clothes, toiletries, and some valuables that we wanted to hand carry. Just in case. We also chose to bring our small Yeti cooler on board so we could fill it with some perishable food for the kids and some adult beverages for us.
Because we arrived so early, we spent a few hours hanging out at the station’s waiting area and walked around taking pictures and videos of the cars being loaded on the trains. It was pretty cool to see how quick and efficient the process was, considering there were hundreds of cars and other automobiles being loaded within a few hours.
About half an hour before boarding, we headed to where our sleeper car was and were able to head into our Family Room. We passed by several other suites that could accommodate about 2 people, but ours was the only room that spanned the width of the train and had enough room for all four of us and our bags.
The room doesn’t look like much when you first enter. 5 seats, a very narrow closet that had our linens and towels, and a door to close for privacy.
Dinner started almost immediately upon entering the Auto Train. There were three slots to choose from when we checked in. (5, 7, & 9 pm). We chose 5 pm because we are early eaters and wanted to be able to relax in our room afterwards.
To get to the dining train, we went up the stairs and down the hall past the Lounge. Everything was very narrow and a little bumpy to navigate, but the kids loved seeing the different cars and the big windows that were upstairs to see the scenery.
Dinner was okay. It honestly just reminded me of an airplane meal. But we had our own table with a big window, great service from our waiter, and options for what we wanted to eat. The dinner menu consisted of steak, chicken breast, salmon, and pasta primavera. I opted for the chicken while Chris chose the steak. They also offered a complimentary alcoholic beverage with each meal. The meals were very similar to the reheated airplane meals you get. Not great but did the job.
After dinner, we went back to our room to watch our downloaded shows on our respective iPads and got our “turn down service” around 8 pm. Because it’s such a small space, we ended up going upstairs to the lounge area where we played some cards and hung out.
At around 9 pm, we went back to our room where our chairs were magically turned into beds. Chris and I got a full size bed to share, while the boys had beds that were probably a little smaller than twin size beds above us. Though it wasn’t the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in, I will say that I did sleep very well. We chose to turn off the overhead announcements in our room and woke up to the sounds of breakfast calls at around 7:00 am.
Sunday, June 30, 2024
Breakfast on the Autotrain consisted of 3 options. Continental breakfast which included cereal, coffee cake, and bananas, Egg white breakfast sandwich, or a bacon, egg & cheese soufflé. I opted for the soufflé but decided to just stick with the fruit and coffee cake after one bite. I don’t do well with microwaved egg products. It was not good.
After breakfast, we headed back down to our car to get packed up and ready to leave. At around 0900, we pulled up to Sanford station where we would disembark. It took about 30 minutes to be get off the train once we arrived at the station, and then about another hour and a half before we received our cars. Unfortunately for us, we were the last cars to be left off the train. From what we’ve heard, it was well worth the money to opt for priority offloading (which guarantees you are one of the first 30 cars to be unloaded). I was not aware of that option when booking but will definitely choose to do that if we ever go back on the Autotrain again.
Overall, I will say we really enjoyed our experience with the Autotrain. It was so nice being able to stick together as a family and enjoy the comforts of a bed while traveling.
As a family, we found so many benefits to traveling on the Autotrain:
1. Staying together as a family
2. Saving mileage on our new vehicles
3. Not having to stay at hotels overnight or driving through the night without sleep
4. Having our valuables/household goods safe and not worrying about if someone would break in our car while we stayed overnight at a hotel
5. Sleeping in a bed overnight while continuing to travel
6. Not having to listen to our kids whine about “how much longer” because we could walk around, play games, use electronics
Some cons to consider:
1. It is expensive. It is definitely cheaper to drive, even with gas and hotels included.
2. It is not pet-friendly; you would not be able to take your pets onboard
3. It is longer and unless your destination is on your route, it might be out of the way/take longer.
4. There may be delays. (however we were told that traveling on weekends prevents that because there are less active lines)
So in all, if the pros outweigh the cons for you, I’d say do it. It worked out well for us and it was definitely an experience we’ll never forget. We all loved it and would 100% do it again.
Would you try it?
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