I’ve spent 75 hours on overnight Amtrak trips. I wish I had known 9 things before stepping aboard.

This is not an exaggeration. I found my Amtrak trips to be as bumpy as a flight with turbulence where the seatbelt sign is on from start to finish. The motion sickness and terrible sleep were too much for me, and had I known this before my trip, I might have packed some medicine to prevent motion sickness.

I’ve tried sleeping on both the top and bottom bunks on overnight Amtrak trains.

I experienced bumps along the journey in both cots but found it easier to sleep on the bottom, where I thought it felt a little less shaky. Next time, I’d skip the top bunk entirely.

The beds on the 2021 Amtrak trains were firm and slightly cushy on top, just the way I like a bed. But when I was drifting off to sleep each night, I thought of my fluffy, dense pillows at home and wished the ones provided to me on the train were a bit softer.

Luckily, the pillows on my 2025 Amtrak ride felt thicker and softer.

I am 5-foot-3 and of average build, and I felt cramped in the roomette’s 25 square feet of space. If I were taller or larger, I imagine I would feel even more cramped, especially if I had to share the room with another person. This makes the upgrade to a bedroom worth it, in my opinion. 

I planned to spend several hours of each journey working on my laptop. Amtrak provided WiFi on the first two trips, but I found the train’s internet connection to be inconsistent, so I had to adjust my workflow to accommodate work that didn’t require it. And on the 2025 trip, there was no WiFi at all.

The internet wasn’t the only service that was spotty. I noticed that the cell service on my phone seemed to come in and out, too. I wished I’d downloaded more movies and shows from streaming apps to keep myself occupied when my phone and internet weren’t working.

I knew 30 hours would be a long ride one way, but time seemed to pass so slowly that 30 hours felt twice as long as it usually does in my regular daily life.

I was glad that I at least packed other things to keep me occupied with spotty WiFi and cell service, such as my Nintendo Switch and music.

I brought a large water bottle to stay hydrated on my long journey, but it was too wide to fit inside the cupholder, which was designed for a standard 12-ounce cup.

I would have packed a few smaller water bottles if I had known this. 

I’m someone who deals with travel anxiety, and so I found the length of the trip initially overwhelming. It’s tough for me to relax when I am between destinations, and for some reason, I struggled to view the train as a destination in itself.

But after spending 75 hours on long-distance Amtrak trains, I’ve realized that if you can think of the train ride as part of the journey, you’ll find it much more enjoyable.