Unwilling to travel by plane, they opted for ground transit to Florida. the best option for this, without having to drive the roughly 1300 miles, is the Auto Train.
The Auto Train runs from Lorton, VA, near Washington DC to Sanford, FL which is near Orlando. It makes one rest stop for crew at the halfway point in Florence, SC. There are no passenger stops.
One train operates in each direction daily, leaving its terminus at the same time.
The Auto Train is unique for Amtrak in that it contains car carriers where you can bring your automobile. This worked perfectly for our needs. We drove from New York to Lorton and gave over our car.
The train has a maximum capacity of 320 vehicles. In order for you to buy a ticket, you must be bringing a car. Otherwise, there are other Amtrak trains.
To avoid traffic, we picked November 26…Thanksgiving Day. According to the announcement made, the train had 47 coach passengers, 141 sleepers, 114 vehicles and no motorcycles. So, about a third full.
My previous time on the Auto Train was May 10, 2010, from Sanford to Lorton. During that trip, where I wanted to experience the Auto Train, I’d been in a coach seat. As the whole purpose of this trip was isolation, this was the first time I got to experience a bedroom.
Amtrak offers roomettes, which do not include a bathroom and shower(it’s down the hall), and bedrooms, which include a combination bathroom shower. We opted for the bedroom so we could isolate.
Except when the attendant helped us set up the beds, and when we received our meals, we did not leave the room for the entire trip. As of this January, coach passengers do not have meals included in their fare, however, those who have rooms do and they will bring the food to your room.
Taking the train is an experience that I encourage. The advantage of the Autotrain is this….you bring your car along. On arrival in Sanford, we waited till they offloaded our car…wiped it with disinfectant, sprayed Lysol, and went on our way.
During the pandemic, Amtrak is requiring mask wearing at all times in their stations and on their trains, unless you have a room, in which case you may remove your mask in there only. They claim to clean the train thoroughly between uses, however we took no chances and disinfected it ourselves.
The last Amtrak train I’d taken before this was from San Diego to Anaheim in September 2019. Prior to that, Baltimore to New York City. I think Amtrak is best suited to the medium-distance journeys of 5 hours or less. But a long distance train trip is a unique adventure.
