One thing which irked me in past in the inability to reserve seats on Amtrak. I'm not used to that concept at all. Is that the norm for all Amtrak routes?
It's an unfortunate reality... investment in rail in America is almost non-existent, and what investment there is is constantly under threat by the Aviation and Highway lobbys.
Yeah, mate, that's what I said! Leaves Montreal at 9:30 am and gets to NY 8:40 pm; then I'd need to get to the DC area, either arrive after midnight or spend the night in NYC and go to DC the next day. Same problem returning; the train NYC-Montreal leaves early morning so I'd need to travel from DC the day before. And with flight schedules would probably require a night in Montreal each way, too. The two weeks disappears pretty quickly. Or I could tour the south of France.
Agree on both points. But in this case I'll already be in Europe, having arrived through ZRH which is considerably less daunting than CDG and where the security/immigration folks are also professional.
Professional to the point of not even wanting to look at my wife's passport. On our departure we had to ask them to open hers & stamp it. As passport checks go, that was a bit on the "lite" side (pre-Schengen) but you have to appreciate the lack of any hassle or harassment. And the train is right downstairs ... some of the world's best brats are downtown on the waterfront.
