72 Hour Sleeper Train Across America (New York to Seattle on Amtrak)


we are riding a sleeper train for 72 hours all the way across the United States from New York City to Seattle then from there we’ll cross the border into Canada and ride another train all the way back 95 hours from Vancouver to Toronto which means for over a week we are going to be eating drinking sleeping and everything in between on trains it literally sounds like someone’s banging along the way we’ll have the chance to see how the US cross country Journey on amtr compares to the Canadian Journey on V rail this video is going to be the first half of our trip crossing the US from coast to coast to do that we’ll need to connect two different trains first we board the Lakes Shore limited overnight from New York to Chicago and after a quick deep dish pizza we’ll jump on the Empire Builder which will take us the rest of the way to the West Coast and of course throughout the journey we’ll give you a full tour of our sleeper rooms oh no and our honest thoughts on the food this feels kind of more like an airplane meal that they stuck in the [Music] microwave if you’re new here we’re Karen dat and we’ve gotten to experience some of the best overnight trains all over the world including the world’s longest train the Trans Siberian the world’s most expensive train the orian express America’s most scenic train the coast Starlight India’s most luxurious train the maharajas express can I book a cooking class with you no ma’am Australia’s longest train the Indian Pacific and many many many more we’re so excited to be adding another to our list today and we should have come to the train station way sooner because apparently there’s a huge Am track lnge with free food but it’s already time to board our first train of this journey once we get on this train we are going to be spending the next seven of eight nights sleeping on a moving train room eight the right place all right she’s tight are we room a my chance yeah yeah we’re here drum roll please Welcome to our home for the next 19 hours oh gosh look’s dirty but it smells clean as long as you just don’t look too close yeah I mean it’s clearly an old train like I don’t think it’s their fault whose fault I don’t know oh we got it turned up to 85 in here it’s giving me flashbacks to azeron it must be 100° in here I shouldn’t be complaining at all we’ve been on some really rough trains [Music] wake up everybody how do we turn this down we are on our way to Chicago off we go all right we have just left New York in the distance and now we are rolling alongside the Hudson River and the crazy thing about this trip is we actually tried to do the same trip almost 2 years ago to the day it was going to be LA to Seattle and then take the train across Canada as opposed to New York to Seattle and we actually did the first half of that trip we took the coast Starlight up the California coast it was a surprisingly good experience but then when we got to the Border it was covid times and I had to take a test across the border into Canada and that test came back positive I had no symptoms but I definitely had Co and so that trip ended up getting cut short and we didn’t get to do the Canadian version of the trip so this time we decided we try out a different amtr route and compare what it would be like to cross the US by train versus Canada by train I think I might be the happiest person that’s ever sat in this room all right we’ve been on board for about an hour now I’ve gotten acquainted with our new little home and I’ve actually come to really love it despite what I said when I first wed on so now I’m going to give you a full tour of our room it has been so long since I’ve done a train tour Australia last year is the last train of the room so forgive me if I’m a little rusty a couple years ago when we rode am tr for the first time we booked a family room thinking that that would be the best room that gave us the most space turns out if you don’t have a family you probably shouldn’t book the family room uh we’ll start on this side we have a sliding closing locking door with a window which is fun cuz we can see out both sides but if we don’t want the window we have a PR on this side we have a closet there is duct tape on it which is a little strange but that’s to keep it from rattling like if car’s head is here tonight this is what’s going to be happening also on this side we have the attendant call Button if we need anything we have a thermostat don’t have that on every train and a fan also the attendant call button is in English so we won’t accidentally push it this time I heard it I didn’t mean sh sh oh no I didn’t think it was going to actually do anything um next to the sink there’s a sign that says ice water which makes me think that you can drink it they also have little cups I just I feel weird about drinking train sink water here we have the only Outlets that know of so far there’s Ro light button we have a cute little Trash Can here some stains yeah there’s even another closet on this side I just noticed there’s a ladder in here you’ll follow me to this side whoops fall over here above the seat we have a few more controls the first one is this knob that says speaker volume it doesn’t seem to work because no matter what I do it’s still very very quiet I can hardly hear the guy next to it we have some light controls we have a reading light on this side and feeling light Mo once more the seat is pretty comfortable this is obviously going to be my bed tonight they like the top bug when we boarded they gave us our dining menu they told us that we could have our dinner in the room like room service or we could go to the dining car and have our dinner so I think we’ll do that so we can see a different part of the train these one windows are the highlight of the room wo biging out some speed we have this fun little like bonus chair there’s a uh there’s this little foot latch it looked like it was something I wasn’t supposed to press ow oh oh I thought this was the bottom this chair is really fun because this way we both get a window seat and this is one of my favorite Parts the drain table goly it’s 1,000 lb and we can sit across from each other cover coffee morning or play checkers I mean chess comment below chess or checkerboard and are they the same because I actually don’t know I feel like if you want to seem more sophisticated you say chess if you want to sound like 5-year-old you say Checkers isn’t it this is just like Australia I don’t know what’s happening right now just wait till she gets to the bathroom and talks about her water shoes you travel with water Sho grandale you ready for this behind this door we have our own toilet and Dr roll please shower it’s very small like imagine the size of an airplane bathroom and that’s about what you have there’s a wet bath though if someone showers the floor will get wet be sure to bring your shower shoes you had to have watched a lot of our past videos to be able to appreciate this one I don’t know what’s with all the inside jokes I brought my water shoes so that’ll be great for some reason we have toilet paper in these little plastic bags it’s uh toil Pap without the roll so it takes up less space and you can take a shower and all of your toilet paper doesn’t get sorry this is really bothering me they also provid it washcloths whatever the medium siiz washcloths are called the ones that you dry your hands on hand towels hand towels and and I’m doing a scene here okay I really have to and three body towels is that what you call those I three towel towels lo I actually think the layout of the room is amazing there’s a lot of really great things it’s just old the state of this tray table the random cocking to hold together the room the scuffs down here the duct tape the questionable quenlin it literally sounds like someone’s banging time for dinner not sure which way the dining car is but we’ll try this way press press harder oh wow very loud how convenient it was just the very next train car over and the Sun is setting over the Hudson river right now I remember being really impressed by the dining car on the train of the West Coast as well this car definitely feels way newer than the rooms it has like old school Diner Vibes but in a good way Apparently one beverage is included with with their meal so Cheers Cheers oh my gosh it’s so hot two layers double aluminum I hate to compare too much but the dining experience on our last in track train was really lovely like I think we had real plates this feels kind of more like an airplane meal we’re flying economy right now in Canada will be a business class we’re very much having an economy experience wo okay I’m about to take back I said we got the Kaa kebabs plant-based protein spiced bosotti rice curried cauliflower chickpeas Peppers raisins cashews scall it also came with a little side salad and a warm piece of bread hot oh my gosh 10 out of 10 this has to be the best thing on the menu it’s better than the tortillini I got Aly We’re stopped here for like an hour so we thought we’d get out stretch our legs wo it’s been a long 3 hours it is cold and all absolutely freezing oh gosh painfully cold like I feel like I’m doing a PO Plunge in the air here we go back on now yeah let’s do it oh my gosh oh got it you may go up in the station and make purchases upstairs once we depart there will be a cafe car all the way up front but it will be open up on announcement only it is not open not open Cafe car is not open till we get the opening announcement close the door once you’re done with the restroom do not put paper towels down the toilet the back of the seats in front of you are not trash recepticles do not use them as such that was a lot of rules kind of felt like I was back in school again I’m connected to amra’s Wi-Fi right now it says unsecured Network which expose all unencrypted Network traffic it is great that Amtrak has Wi-Fi so that we can get a little work done and later on tonight as we’re going to sleep we can watch some shows but it’s also great that we have surf shark which is a VPN which stands for virtual private Network and it encrypts all the data sent between our computer and the internet so that as we’re connecting to these unsecure Wi-Fi networks we’re protected from hackers and other people who want to do malicious things to us we’ve been using it now for the last 3 years as we’ve been traveling the world and we’ve never once had an issue which is actually pretty amazing if you think about it but that it’s the necessary boring part of a VPN it’s never fun to pay for something that’s boring and necessary but the good news is there is entertainment value to this as well because a VPN can also be used to change the virtual location of your computer and get access to a completely new content Library so pretend tonight that we’re in another country and we want to watch the show that we’ve been binging recently which is Ted lasso it would be super easy to change the virtual location of our computer back to the US and still be able to watch Ted lasso if you don’t already have a VPN we obviously highly recommend surf shark plus it’s the only VPN that offers One account for unlimited devices and they offer a 30-day money back guarantee so there is no risk to try it out to get started just click the link in the description below and I’m whispering because uh we just had some neighbors move in in Albany so we’re trying to be respectful our room attendant should be by any minute to convert the couch into beds all right guys come on in then I can put the bed down fly guys come on in all right amazing thank you so much see you the morning thank you beted test huh it’s actually not too bad bottom bunk is gigantic huge actually it’s like the size of a double bed and I’m on a cot with the strap that will keep me safe looks like they added this pad on top of the chair put a sheet another sheet and then this slank kit Oh No E no it’s very curly why does oh gosh oh it’s on my [Music] pillow all right quick tour around the top bunk I’ve got all the same light controls as we have downstairs little cubby if I want to hold like a cell phone or a bottle of water or something and then also my own climate control it’s also cool having windows from the top bunk and tons of head room even sitting straight up are we too tired for Ted lasso mhm or do you want to come over and watch it with me no tomorrow just for a minute we have seven nights just one episode seven nights just half episode I used to hop on a train and just not even think about sleep like maybe we just used to exhaust ourselves like so much that we could just sleep [Music] anywhere good night see you in the morning you ready for the light to go off there we go oh the exit [Music] glows good morning solid 6 out of 10 sleep we just passed through too Ohio and we should be in Chicago in about 2 hours I feel got [Music] me not sure how it feels about this big bottom bed it’s very hard if you want to do anything besides sleep had you sleep not good we would just like hit a rail on the hole train just be like wow this has reminded me so much of the bike trp I know we probably biked by this exact point breakfast time there was a lot more offer for breakfast I could have got an omelette or breakfast sandwich or a lot of other unhealthy things like pancakes but keeping it light because we are headed to that’s what it was like trying to sleep last night we are heading to Chicago which is home of the deep dish pizza which I’ve never had so I went with another coffee it’s not bad [Music] I’m scared I can’t get hit all right woo to be fair it was a long night changing my score to a four out of [Music] 10 [Music] time to get up we got pizza to eat we ended up being about an hour and a half delayed but 20 hours later we finally made it to Chicago and I think we still have time for a deep dish pizza and to see the bean first we just have to figure out where to store our luggage so we thought we were going to have to paid $10 to store each of our bags which would have been fine but turns out if you have a sleeper car not only do you get access to the lounge but you also get to store your bags in there for free so we’re completely free now we are on our way to find deep dish pizza because somehow we have been to6 countries but never Chicago woohoo Chicago is kind of Epic the whole city feels like it’s just built around this River so you can literally just ride a boat through the middle of the city it’s amazing it’s like the Venice of the [Music] I’m sure if you’re a native of Chicago this is a very divisive topic but we asked Instagram last night while we were on the train and L was the most recommended what were the final two uh pizza restaurants L’s or po quads okay so between the two L girano though is number one for me I’m a stuffed pizza guy I’m not a deep dish that’s what this sign makes me want to do this a good sign LTI it kind of sounds like [Music] Illuminati all right let’s go some pizza oh that’s a ball oh my gosh this place is packed in such a Vibe I think we might have over ordered W this is the best looking brusketa I’ve ever seen in my entire life I’m glad you’re doing this for me wow look at that chees we got the L because we figured if they named the pizza after the guy who started it it probably pretty good it’s buttery Crest then they put the cheese first directly on the crest then the topping then the tomato sauce and chunky tomatoes on the very top so it’s like the opposite of normal pizza from what I understand and according to the internet back in 1943 there were a group of Italians living here in Chicago at a place called Puna and they claim to have invented Chicago style deep dish pizza one of those guys was Lou and then one day Lou was like I don’t want to live here anymore I’m going to move to the suburbs so he moved out of town and started his own pizza place oh yeah it lives up to the height how long I’d also like to mention that this is a small supposed to Fe two people the Bretta was just as good if not better than the pizza to the bean and now we have less than an hour to see the bean and catch our train which Google map says is 40 minut a walk all on foot we will not take a taxi oh hit it is very windy in Chicago today which reminds me that Cara taught me something this morning morning I thought Chicago got his nickname from the weather the windy city turns out it’s the people the people are windy I I think it meant like arrogant but it is windy it is actually physically windy what the heck they closed off the bean that’s like are you sure Paris closing off the Eiffel Tower that’s like duct taped on the bottom actually what the H over there let me get your picture with the bean wow love that I really wanted the classic tourist picture it’s bigger than I thought though it is pretty big all right let’s go to Seattle than at Union Station in Chicago is an incredible building the main entr and head now to the literally as soon as we walked into the lounge they called us the board I’ve been super impressed with the amre lounges on this trip great snacks lots of [Music] seats wow so this train is called the Empire Builder and it has to be one of the most iconic trains in the entire Amtrak Fleet having somewhere to store your luggage that’s not in the room is a game changer all right our last train was only one story tall and on this journey we’re going to be up top this one has the coffee station car’s kind of train I’ll take wow it’s very different it’s way better is it we literally left right on time to the minute I feel like we could stay here and just Tour all the restaurants for like a month otherwise sit back relax enjoy your ride and always thank you for choosing out okay here I did the last tour so I’m going try to do this one just to switch it up a little bit yes that light is flickering every time we go over a bump that will not drive me crazy for the next 48 hours uh the room is actually very similar like I think the floor layout is exactly the same we’re just missing some space above it’s definitely shorter because this is a double-decker train we’re losing the space up top where we stored the bags and also some of the head room that I’m going to get on the top bunk I’m definitely not going to be able to sit up up here it’s not like it was able to last night oopsie hey Daddy so similar layout we’ve got a closet over here which wow Cara has already stuffed with all of her winter clothes similar size sink mirror giant cabinet a coffee stain little more space a real roll of toilet paper this time like it actually has cardboard in the middle of it trash can biggest upgrade in this room is the seat it’s leather it looks way nicer way newer this headrest kind of reminds me of like what you would see on a Delta airplane he just kind of forgot to update the top looks like a child ate that deep dish pizza that we had earlier today and then just took their hands and went let’s see something positive let’s continue negative come around this way the biggest drawback to this room over the last one is that we don’t have two rows of windows but we are on the upper deck so when you sit down you’re at perfect Die Level and you have amazing use do we have no how are we going to play chess oh no we can see it oh nice it actually is here it’s just textured barely that’s funny definitely be getting some work done there over the next 2 days best of all we have a bonus Outlet Wooh it really confused me why they wouldn’t put the outlets by the desk on the last train but at least we have one over here this time same chair set up like this can fold back against the wall and then also a very similar bathroom oh also uh somewhere to store your luggage up here or something to hle depends on how you look at it very similar bathroom set up about the size of an airplane bathroom if you’ll come inside a little bit you can see that instead of using the duct tape on the closet this time they used it on the shower we’re now 24 hours without a shower so we will definitely be testing this one out I am actually very excited for the next 48 hours there is something really relaxing to me about being stuck somewhere if that makes sense like I see how you can think it’s crazy that we like this kind of stuff but like our life is so go go go that being forced to sit in the same place for 48 hours is actually pretty nice especially when even though we’re in the same place for 48 hours we’re actually moving it’s very productive like I love waking up and being in a new place than when I went to sleep downtown Milwaukee [Music] milwa just made our way to the observation car I assume it gets its name from all of the windows which already use right now because we’re from the walk keep train station but I think this is going to be a great office for the afternoon I all right first meal on the Empire Builder and I feel like there’s just automatically a totally different vibe to this train because we’re gonna be on this train for two full days like if this is terrible that kind of like says a lot about our next 48 hours um as I was saying I was a bit nervous but we already are in better shape than last night we have like semi-real plate but real glass cheers feels fancier we’re both starting with the mixed salad with a little bit of bre for our M we both got the bines with a plant-based meat sauce pretty good I’m loving the Italian theme of our day I also had like five espressos last but not least we got a chocolate mousse tart oh wow bedtime are the top buks always smaller it’s only 9:15 all right right see you in the morning hopefully sleep score is better than a six I promise this mattress is harder tonight not quite as much room up here I’m not a very tall guy and I’m still nowhere close to being able to sit up in this bed this is [Music] great good morning last night was better I gave it like a seven out of [Music] 10 you it looks like it’s just been brutally cold here with like no snow so I just pulled up Google Maps on my phone to see where we were and we’ve passed through Rugby North Dakota there’s a little icon that says that it is the geographical center of North America so I guess we’re halfway I’m scared for breakfast I ordered the breakfast case sadilla with potatoes pretty excited about it in our M good stuff great views of North Dakota wow welcome to North Dakota so we just stopped in not North Dakota for what they call a fresh air break which is anytime the train stops long enough for us to get off and get a little fresh air they just said man not and I just felt like that sounded so wrong cuz it spelled just like Peno so I’ve been looking at it ASO I said I’m having a hard time skiing and I’ve did that for 50 years what am I going to do on a snowboard you know um we were both wrong yeah it’s my not no me not no my not you were saying my not earlier oh me not oh maybe I was right then we were asking that guy back there how you say the name of the town that we’re in and then it was like all those memes and like shorts that you see about how Midwestern people are looks like you got a dead Branch over there yes I do I’ll take care of that for you seriously don’t worry about it no I insist that guy embodied all of it the accident meeting that man made it worth the stop well I learned something on this train ride today I did not realize how much oil there is in North Dakota we’ve passed tons of tanker trains big storage facilities and drilling equipment I think if you just pop me on this train and made me look out the window and guess where I was I would have said Texas as soon as I stepped outside and it was this cold I would have known I was wrong time for my first Amtrak shower n actually showered on our California amra a couple years ago and the shower just run out of water didn’t go so well I have high hopes for this one though step one close and secure shower curtain step two remove or adjust shower head step three adjust water temperature um okay obviously I’m going to put it on all the way hot okay wish me luck while car’s in the shower I wanted to show you a little bit of the engineering that I did last night to make this room a little quieter first I learned that these used tow warmers that car I wore yesterday in Chicago actually really helped to dampen the banging that was going on between these two walls and then this is the handle that turns the water on and off and it just sounded like a bell that was constantly ringing but uh but the queenex fixed that so I think both of those things contributed to our slightly better sleep last night well baby that was awesome it was so hot I never had to push the button every 30 seconds I didn’t push the button at all I actually tried and the button just doesn’t even work constant hot water constant hot water decent pressure never ran out of hot water like usually at the end you know you can kind of feel it trickling off no it was great I only ran into the wall like twice I mean I’d give it like an8 out of 10 well we ended up sitting with some new friends for lunch and we didn’t want to disturb their meal time but we both got the loaded baked potato with vegan chili I’m pretty sure we had the same thing on the California train and it was just as good as I remember it being at this point in the journey I have plenty of time to kill so let me give you a a quick tour around our carriage and show you how it’s laid out I’ll start at the back and work my way to the front so we are currently on the upper deck and there are 1 two 3 four five rooms just like ours this is where there is free coffee from 6:00 to 11:00 there are 10 rets which are the smaller rooms which basically just have two seats and a top bunk inside down the stairs there’s a place to store all our luggage and on the back half we have two restrooms not bad little bigger than the one we have in our room but then on this side you have the shower fresh towels this is like a laundry bag for the dirty towels and as you can see quite a bit more space in the shared showers than there is in the one in our room also free soap body wash lotion shampoo and conditioner that is a family room like the one that we stayed on on the coast Starlight another family room and then four more room ATS we made it to Montana and it’s snowing here this is amazing I don’t love being cold but if it’s going to be cold it might as well be snowing that makes it so much more fun okay that’s enough fresh air I ran out so fast I didn’t even grab my [Music] coat cheers Che Little T over my computer having little happy hours since last minut Bo I’m also watching TR try’s Video about Vil which is the train that we’re getting on next to go back across Canada and let’s just say it looks like we say The Best For Last this is going to be [Music] epic the uh I’m Mas for car’s idea but she does things I want to do all the time so I figured I could do some things that she to do I feel like I definitely get better this your D socks just because they are dad doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to have a friend he’s [Music] right good morning it is only 6:30 but on this trip our bodies have crossed time zones three times already so technically my thanks it’s 9:30 but I’m glad it woke me up because the views this morning are absolutely incredible we’ve left the flat Barren land of North Dakota and mostly Montana behind and we have woken up to these big beautiful glowing mountains how’ you sleep I don’t know if I’m sleeping better or if I’m just getting used to it so we are currently passing by Levenworth Washington which I’ve heard so much about because it’s like a German themed town which has always sounded a little corny to me and I never had a desire to visit but apparently these are the mountains that surrounded by it is now on my bucket list as much as I don’t want this to end I am very very very excited to go to Canada and check out the be I have a feeling it’s going to be way better I don’t know I cannot believe that it’s almost over I feel like I was looking forward to being bored I just feel like oh my we’re still on this train what are we going to do and I never got there I could easily do another day two 3 on the [Music] train 72 hours later we have made it across the country we have a few hours to spend here in Seattle before we catch a bus it’s going to take us across the border to Vancouver where we’ll spend the night and then tomorrow we get on another train and let in 24 hours is going to take us all the way back across Canada but I think the next is going to be a little more fun I didn’t even know what I was missing on Am track train travel does not get better than this what where where on the tree on the end of the tree the end tree the end I never see it I never saw it I never saw it s I’ve never been so sad I’ve never been here before so excited we weren’t even moving I [Laughter] just it looks rich and strong and dance just like I like my [Music] men pictures of people taking pictures welcome to the grossest place in all of Seattle we did not come here on purpose all the walls are covered in gum cigarettes wrappers this is all gum she’s usually a better dancer than that I promise huh I love pizza was that a reenact on of me [Music] today

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