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Back in February, I wrote about how I added a trip to Los Cabos, Mexico, to our California trip itinerary this July. Well, the winds of change blew in and disrupted my plans. I just canceled that portion of our trip in favor of a train trip on Amtrak’s California Zephyr.
What the what? Why Amtrak?
For me, it’s really all about nostalgia. I traveled on many Amtrak train trips with my family as a child. I still remember our first Amtrak overnight trip, when we sat in coach seats and could not sleep at night. After that, my mom resolved to only book us on sleeping cars. And then the fun began!
We traveled through the East Coast, to Chicago, and out to California on some of our vacations. Then, my high school band traveled on Amtrak from Denver to Portland. I even did two solo Amtrak trips as a single adult in my 20s.
My husband doesn’t understand why I want to take the kids on Amtrak. You see, there’s something really unique about traveling across the U.S. on a train. It’s nothing like flying on a plane.
Time slows down. People start talking to you. There is plenty of room between your seats. You can get up and sit in the observation lounge car, or play a game of cards in the snack car. Kids start playing together. Even when I rode the train as an adult, people were inviting me to join them in games.
Everyone has a different story about why they are taking the train. Some people hate flying and driving, others are big train buffs, and yet others want to see scenery you can’t see from the highway.
I’ve been wanting to take my kids on a cross-country train trip for years, but the timing never worked out. I think my kids are the perfect age for this trip now. My dad’s recent passing and his love of trains is what prompted me to make this trip happen this summer.
Amtrak’s California Zephyr
The most scenic train route on Amtrak, in my opinion, is the California Zephyr between Denver and Emeryville (near San Francisco). The route is timed perfectly in both directions to maximize the scenery during the daylight hours.
The train goes over the Rocky Mountains through the Moffat Tunnel and over the famous Donner Pass of the Sierra Nevadas. I’ve been on this route three times. Narrators from the California State Railroad Museum come on board to highlight the significance of the history and passing scenery.
I booked a family bedroom for me and the kids to share. During the day, it has a sofa and two chairs facing each other. At night, it has two adult bunks and two kid bunks for sleeping. All of our meals in the dining car are included. Our journey will take ~33 hours.
New Itinerary for our California Trip
Our July California trip still starts with us flying to LAX and staying three nights at the Hyatt House Anaheim Resort. We will spend a day at Disneyland and a day at Disney California Adventure, followed by two nights at Great Wolf Lodge.
My husband then has to fly home, but the kids and I will make our way to San Francisco that day. As much as I’d love to take the train up the coast, I think we will fly instead.
We will stay three nights at Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport. It costs less (on points and on cash) than the other Hyatt alternatives in downtown San Francisco. Plus, it had rates available on the Points + Cash rate of 6000 points + $75.
I was also able to use one of my Explorist Club Lounge Upgrade certificates to use the Regency Club Lounge during our stay. Yippee, free breakfast and dinner!
I’m thinking about buying the CityPass to cover our tours and entertainment during our short stay. We can take the hotel shuttle to the nearest BART station to sightsee in the heart of San Francisco.
We leave on Amtrak’s California Zephyr on a Wednesday morning and arrive in Denver on Thursday night. I reserved two nights at the Grand Hyatt Denver on the Points + Cash rate. I was also able to use another Explorist Club Lounge Upgrade for the Grand Club lounge here. We really loved the hotel and the lounge on our last visit.
We will visit family in Denver for two days before flying back on Saturday night. That’s a total of twelve days for me and the kids—I hope we can make it!
Flexibility with Point Cancellations
The good thing about booking a trip with miles and points it that I can be fickle and change my mind. However, this only works with some points programs.
Canceling Hyatt Place Los Cabos was easy. I had made my reservation entirely on points, and the points refund was instant.
Our flights to Cabo were on Southwest, and our return flights to Dallas were on American but booked with British Airways Avios. I was able to cancel both flights and receive refunds on the points portion.
Unfortunately, the taxes on award flights were different. I received Southwest funds for the taxes that I can apply towards future flights. However, I had to forgo the taxes I paid for the British Airways flights, around $52 per person.
Still, the refund policies for Southwest and British Airways are a lot more generous than on the legacy U.S. carriers.
Using Points for Amtrak Travel
Booking sleeping accommodations on Amtrak can be expensive with cash. But, there is no way I would make a 33-hour trip without a bed.
I did not have any Amtrak points at my disposal for this trip. You can get Amtrak Guest Rewards points by transferring from Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) points, or by opening the Amtrak Guest Rewards World Mastercard by Bank of America. After spending $1000 in the first 90 days, you get 20,000 bonus points. Annual fee of $79 is not waived. (This offer does pay us commission if you apply through our links.) You can read Leana’s review of co-branded Amtrak credit card here.
You could also apply for the Amex SPG card, although the bonus was recently lowered. Since you can transfer Marriott points to SPG at a 3:1 ratio, the Chase Marriott Premier card with 100k bonus translates to 33,000 SPG points which you could then transfer to Amtrak.
Other options for paying for Amtrak travel with points include cards like Barclaycard Arrival Plus, which lets you use points to erase any expense coded as travel.
What did I use? I used our USBank Flexperks to offset the cost of our ticket. This was not the best use of those points, as I only redeemed them for a statement credit at one cent per point. However, to me, the redemption was worth it. Getting to take the train trip in a few months is priceless.
What about Cabo?
I still want to take my family to Cabo on points. And, the Hyatt Place near the ocean is such a bargain.
However, my husband wants to join us, so we are looking at going in the summer of 2018. We could book three nights at the Hyatt Place and use that time to sightsee in Cabo. Then, we could end our trip with two nights at Hyatt Ziva all-inclusive property.
My husband and I would each need to apply for the Chase Hyatt credit card for the two free night certificates. We would have to get two rooms to fit our entire family, but combined with three nights at the Hyatt Place, we would have a nice short getaway.
Risk vs. Reward
Am I crazy to cancel a Cabo beach trip for a 33-hour train trip? Will my kids love the train as much as I did as a child? Or, will they think the trip is boring?
Well, I won’t know until I try. I’ll let you know how this adventure turns out!
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Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
My advice to you is to bring hand sanitize and those toilet seat covers. Also try to limit the liquids..after 33 hours on the train, the bathrooms will be super gross….
Great advice, thanks! At least we will start with clean bathrooms, since we are starting at the beginning of the route.
Nancy, the train sounds wonderful. We have 3 Amtrak train trips scheduled this year. The first one is in 3 days..on Thursday we have a 10 hour ride from Philly to Montreal on the Amtrak Adirondack, In July we have a 2 hour trip, Philly to NYC on the Northeast train. And our longest one, 18 hours or so is the Silver Meteor from Philly to Orlando, Florida in August. We are in coach for the first two and sleepers for the Florida ride.
We’ve also been on the autotrain in sleepers at least 4 times. We love train rides and it doesn’t hurt that my hubby hates to fly.
I churned the Amtrak card this year for all 3 trips.. DH applied for the Amtrak card which gave him 20k points and I got 2 of the platinum card which gave me 12k points twice. You also get one lounge pass and a companion pass with the card (the 20k card), which we have used and will use shortly.
I do plan on one additional Amtrak trip, from Philly to Niagara Falls next summer. However, we plan to fly to Florida next August instead of the train.
Hope you have a great time.
Wow, Natasha, you are the queen of Amtrak! Great strategy churning those Amtrak cards. If we end up loving our train trip this summer, I plan to apply for the Amtrak card to fund a trip for next year.
Nancy, it sounds like a great trip. So sorry to hear that you had to cancel Cabo, but I think you’re better off rescheduling it to 2018 so the entire family can go. Out of all the Mexican stops we have been to, Cabo is just absolutely beautiful and my favorite.
As for your train ride, 33 hours is a long ride, but you’re smart to get the sleeper car. We have only taken the Amtrak from Seattle to Vancouver (since it was cheaper to fly into Seattle for our Disney Alaskan Cruise), and took the 4 hour train ride into Vancouver. We still talk about it to this day…we all loved the train ride. Since there were 4 of us, we were given a table, and we were fortunate to have the view of the Pacific Ocean…Bald Eagles were just hanging out on the beaches, and we saw all types of wild life.
We drove past the Hyatt House in Anaheim this weekend, and it’s in a perfect location — I hope your family loves it. There’s a Walgreens underneath and a CVS across the street, and a Panera, McDonalds, Mimi’s Cafe, and a Morton’s all on that same street. You can just walk across the street to get into the Parks (after going through security).
Glad to hear you were able to use your Lounge Certs for your Hyatt Regency stays. I got totally DENIED when I called Hyatt last week — I was/am soooo disappointed — they’re booked to capacity at Kauai and told me that I can call closer to my check-in dates to see if there are any cancellations. Then for Boston, she just said that it doesn’t seem that Hyatt Regency has a lounge so I can’t get anything for it. At that point, I was so irritated that I have 4 lounge certs that I can’t even use…and the Hyatt lady just kept telling me, “you have plenty of time to use them as they don’t expire until March of next year…so just book something else.” As of right now, I am not a happy camper with Hyatt right now.
I’ve had the same experience with my Hyatt certificates. We have a stay in Savannah at the Hyatt Regency in a week, and there’s no lounge. I even considered switching to the Andaz, but they don’t have a lounge either. Then I called for a stay at the Coconut Point Hyatt that we have scheduled for September, and she said I couldn’t use them that weekend. Bummed.
I was looking at the reviews for Andaz Savannah and decided that we would stay there when we visit. I think they fill their fridges with snacks and drinks for free for your stay and it looked like it was in a great location for touristy stuff.
@Jennifer that’s such a bummer! I would keep trying to use those at Coconut Point. Maybe the hotel will open up some space.
@Michelle–that’s so disappointing that you can’t use your lounge certificates! It sounds like they have a lot of blackout dates. I hope you’re able to confirm using them closer to your trip.
That train trip between Seattle and Vancouver sounds dreamy!
Nancy, you are a brave soul to do this by yourself with three kids! I’m not worthy, I’m not worthy…. 🙂
@Leana–I hope this will be easy!