A few weeks ago, I flew from Denver to Sacramento. It’s good news, when the flight isn’t cancelled., every square inch of the Airbus 321 was packed. I travel often, filled with quiet anxiety because I’m not only a big man, I’m a tall man So I’m wedged into a seat that’s too narrow and not enough leg room. The back seat of an Uber X. (their smallest car) is downright luxurious in comparison.
If the flight is longer than four hours, I fly out of San Francisco and often use my points to upgrade to first class. Unfortunately, there are few direct flights beyond Denver, and you pay (or use extra points) for each leg of the flight.
When ever possible, I try to fly on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturday. I find it interesting that many travelers are shocked when their flight is cancelled or delayed. Airlines cancellations are common and is all over the Networks and print media.
THE SHORTAGE IS REAL
In July, my Greyhound bus from Sacramento to Reno was delayed six hours, due to a driver shortage. Greyhound flew in a driver from Portland to drive us to Reno. Before, I could complain, the twenty or so passengers waiting for the bus to Las Vegas were told their bus wouldn’t depart Sacramento until one am. With the driver shortage, express buses are nonexistent.
In a few weeks, despite the news of cancellations. There will be images of angry frustrated travelers who’s flight was either delayed or cancelled. Images of weeping mothers and children unable to make it to grandma’s house for Thanksgiving.
In Denver, I took a train from Denver International to Union Station. New tracks, new trains, the ride was wonderfully smooth and quiet all for six bucks. At Union Station, there were light rail cars that could take passengers to the neighborhoods and beyond. Bravo Denver
The Station was filled with several open spaces, bars and restaurants. Taking Union Station in, I thought to myself, the train is slow, but unlike a bus or a plane, I could work, walk and the atmosphere would be much better than the plane. On You Tube, their or many video’s raving about the scenery from Denver to California. I plan to fly to Denver and take the train from Denver to Sacramento after the first of the year.
City Fella
I took a 35 hour train ride from Denver to San Francisco for $74. Here are the 7 best and 7 worst parts.
By: Diana Kruzman/Business Insider
I got to depart from Denver’s historic Union Station.
Located in the heart of Denver’s Lower Downtown (LoDo), Union Station was the perfect place to begin my journey.
The building is over 100 years old, with high ceilings, gorgeous chandeliers, and a variety of shops and restaurants.
I got coffee and breakfast at Pigtrain Coffee Company and admired the shop’s collection of train paraphernalia.
The tracks and platforms were airy and light-filled and looked much more modern than the historic building.
The boarding process was easy and convenient.
Once I found my platform, I waited in line for a few minutes with some of my fellow coach passengers. Then I received my seat number and was able to board.
I appreciated how quickly and easily we were able to get on.
Because Amtrak agents walk through the cars to scan tickets after everyone’s boarded and seated, there weren’t any long waits before boarding like I often experience during plane travel..
Not having to take off my shoes or remove my laptop to go through a security checkpoint was also definitely a plus.
I did have to fill out a COVID-19 form the day before, but that was easily done through the Amtrak app.
There was way more legroom than I’m used to.
Anyone who’s spent time on a plane knows that the legroom is minuscule — and only seems to be getting smaller.
I was relieved to find that I could fully stretch out my legs in my seat on the train, making the journey infinitely more comfortable.
The seat reclined, too, and it even included a footrest.
The views were phenomenal, especially through the Rocky Mountains.
The stunning views are a huge draw for lone distance train travel,, and they didn’t disappoint on my ride.
As we left Denver, the tracks switchbacked up the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, opening up to grand vistas of the city and the plains beyond.
After passing through a few tunnels (the California Zephyr goes through 43 of them along its route), we were treated to views of distant mountain peaks and lush forests, with aspen trees that turned bright yellow for the fall.
The train followed the Colorado River, and we passed through dizzyingly deep canyons with the water rushing below us.
The views didn’t stop once we emerged from the mountains. We entered Red Rock Country, and the rock formations and swirls of color around us were mesmerizing.
By the time the sun set as we crossed over the Utah border, I was fully awed by the beauty of the West.
I spent hours sitting in the observation car.
A major perk of the ride was not having to sit in my seat the entire time.
Although there are windows in the passenger cars, the light-filled observation car is an entirely different experience. I sat here for hours, sipping coffee and reading or working on my laptop while gazing out at the views..
The pandemic was still a concern, and we all had to wear masks, but it was also nice to be around other passengers — the observation car was a great place to socialize.
Plus, it was just upstairs from the cafe car, making it a convenient place to eat or snack.
My ticket was only $74.
It’s hard to beat cheap.
Amtrak offers frequent sales (as well as student discounts), and I was able to snag a $74 ticket during the fall 50%-off sale.
I considered getting a sleeper-car reservation, but at more than $600, it just wasn’t feasible for me.
Flying normally costs me $100 and up, so I thought the savings were worth the long trip.
I felt good about lowering my carbon footprint.
It’s no secret that flying contributes a significant amount of greenhouse-gas emissions. According to The New York Times, about 3-4% of the US’ emissions come from commercial air travel.
By comparison, rail travel produces up to 73% fewer emissions than flying and 83% fewer emissions than driving, according to Amtrak.
Traveling by train was worth it for me just to know that I was doing what I could to cut down on my personal carbon footprint.
On the other hand, the food from the cafe car wasn’t the best.
Although Amtrak trains have restaurant cars where you can sit down and get a made-to-order meal, because of the pandemic, they were restricted to people with sleeper-car tickets on my trip.
As a coach passenger, my only food option on the train was the cafe car, which held a variety of prepackaged snacks and microwave meals, like mac and cheese, hot dogs, burgers, and chips.
Eating that food for two days definitely wasn’t fun, but I was glad that it was there, as much as I wished I could get a hot meal in the restaurant car.
At least the cafe car had lots of coffee, tea, and wine on hand.
Traveling in coach meant sleeping upright in my seat.
I had to figure out how to sleep in my seat, which was comfortable but wasn’t exactly the same as a real bed.
You also don’t get any privacy. But luckily, the seat next to me was empty by nighttime, so I was able to spread out over two seats.
I can proudly say that I slept through the night.
Although I had cell service most of the ride, there wasn’t any Wi-Fi.
Some Amtrak trains now offer Wi-Fi, but mine wasn’t one of them.
You can look at it as a chance to disconnect and enjoy a slower pace of life — and I did that to an extent, catching up on some books I’d been wanting to read and enjoying the scenery — but I had some work to get done and ended up doing much of it on my phone using cellular data.
Next time, I’ll remember to download some shows or movies beforehand.
The bathrooms were tiny, which wasn’t ideal for such a long journey.
Not much of a surprise here, but the bathrooms were cramped and not super comfortable.
Anyone who’s flown on an airplane would be used to them, but traveling for 35 hours rather than a quick flight meant that I had to deal with the inconvenience much longer.
There also aren’t showers, which is definitely something to consider on a trip that spans over a day.
I appreciated that the bathrooms were at least generally kept clean for the duration of the journey, and they never ran out of toilet paper or other supplies.
The train was very slow, and we got delayed.
Amtrak trains travel very slowly, especially compared to flying.
Traveling slow allowed me to enjoy the scenery. But I was definitely frustrated with the pace at times — like when we had to backtrack due to a boulder on the tracks in Utah or wait for a freight train to pass in front of us in Nevada.
The scheduled 33-hour journey ended up taking about 35 hours because of delays.
The stops were very short and there wasn’t a lot to do on the platforms
Most stops the train made were very short, 10 minutes or less. Although longer stops would’ve made the whole trip even longer, I kind of wanted to get out and explore a little as we passed through different cities and towns.
At the stops we did make, most train stations were empty, and there wasn’t even enough time to go to any restaurants or shops that some had.
The observation car filled up pretty quickly.
The first leg of my trip, from Denver to Glenwood Springs, was filled with families and couples, which meant there were lots of people filling up the observation car.
Amtrak workers did their best to make sure people rotated out so everyone got a spot, but it was tough to miss some of the best scenery.
Representatives for Amtrak didn’t immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
SACRATOMATOVILLE POST 
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