USA by Rail – By the Numbers

Distance

Total train miles traveled	9,986
# of segments	10
Longest segment	New Orleans to LA – 1,995 miles – 46 hours
Shortest segment	LA to San Diego – 128 miles – 3 hours

Time

Total # of days	25
Hours on a train	231 (9 days, 15 hours)

Geography

States visited	24
Highest elevation	9,270 ft – Continental Divide in Colorado
Lowest elevation	-5 ft – outside New Orleans

Overnight

Nights on a train	8
Nights in a hostel	9
Nights in a hotel	3
Nights in a tent	3

Stops

Total stops	11
Biggest city stop	Los Angeles – population 3.82 million
Smallest city stop	Whitefish, MT – population 8,915

Cost

Train ticket (Amtrak USA Rail Pass)	$449.00
Other transportation (bus fare, metro/light rail, rental cars, gas)	$277.71
Lodging (hostels, hotels, campsites)	$453.47
Food	$363.61
Misc travel expenses (laundry, bag storage)	$18.25
Total trip cost	$1198.43

A Note on Cost

For a 25-day vacation, I think 1200 bucks is insanely cheap. Trains really lend themselves nicely to budget travel. Depending on one’s travel style, however, this could be much much more.

When unemployed mini-retired for two years, one finds creative ways to have inexpensive adventures. Frankly, I enjoy the challenge of it. It’s a game for me. How cheaply can I do this and still have an amazing experience? As in many areas of life, constraint breeds creativity.*

Here are some of the ways I kept the trip cost low.

• Rail Pass. Amtrak’s USA Rail Pass covers up to 10 segments of travel for up to 30 days. Normally $499, I got mine on sale for $449.
• Overnight trains. When you spend the night on a train, you don’t need to pay for lodging.
• Food. I packed my own food, instead of eating in the train’s cafe car or expensive dining car. I would resupply at grocery stores on my stops.
• Hostels. I mostly stayed in hostels instead of hotels.
• Travel reward points. For the 3 nights I did stay in a hotel, I booked with points.
• Camping. One night in a state park ($20) and two nights dispersed camping on public land (free).
• Entertainment. I spent $0 on entertainment. When off the train, I only went to places without an entrance cost: free museums, the beach, hikes, city parks, etc. The one almost-exception was a comedy show in San Francisco that was included with the price of dinner, so I counted that as a food expense.
• Public transportation. I used public transportation (or walked) instead of Uber/Lyft. Note: I did rent a car in Montana and Utah because I wanted to get to some more remote hiking. If you did a train trip only stopping in the bigger cities, however, you could easily do an entire multi-week train trip without ever renting a car or using a ride share app.

*I acknowledge that this paragraph is spoken like a truly privileged white American. For the majority of people in the world, living on little to no money is not a game.