I have recently had a realignment of priorities. As part of this realginment, I am taking the month of July off from work. I asked my son (age 8) what he wants to do during the month. He said that he wants to travel America by train. We have no place specific to go and are certainly not on a schedule. We are thinking about taking the Amtrak train through five legs across America on Amtraks National Rail Pass. The legs are Los Angeles to New Orleans; New Orleans to Washington DC, Washington DC to Chicago; Chicago to Seattle; and Seattle back to LA with 3-day stops for tourist stuff at each leg. Why a train, because I can finally write the book that I have always wanted to write while he reads, plays Nitendo, etc. Does anybody have any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions? Will this be fun, or torture? Am I better off to keep working?

You want to subject an 8 year old to reading while train is moving? It's such a strain on the eyes! Have mercy on him and his eyesight!

Same about electronic games.

Faina, I'm curious, why would reading while on a train be bad for your eyes? My gosh, thousands of people do it everyday on their daily commute.

I find train travel in this country to be unpleasant, but it might be fun with an 8-year-old child. Perhaps it would be better to eliminate Washington DC from your itinerary and to make more stops along the way. Let us know how it goes. There are probably some little towns along the way that would be fun to explore with your son.

Travel Tip: It is a far better value to eat in the dining room than to try to live on junk from the snack bar. Make reservations as soon as the opportunity is given.

SeeTheWorld, because the train is shaking and rocking, and the eyes must constantly adjust to it. It's not good for adults, but really bad for a growing up ones. My aunt was an eye doctor, she taught me that.

Sounds like fun to me. I would definitely upgrade to 1st class so that you can have a room in the sleeper car. I can imagine that travelling coach on a long trip like that wouldn't be as fun. And with a 1st class ticket, your meals are included.

I have heard that the Chicago to Emeryville route is terrific. I drove through some of that country and it was incredible.

Hi Longboardsteve, as a mother and grandmother of seven grandsons I personally feel like your little fellow will get bored and drive you to distraction. And if he isn't bored he will constantly want to talk to you about what he is seeing and experiencing You say you want to write your book. IMHO that is not going to happen.

I have done train travel with grandsons and although they have been excited and have enjoyed it there is no way I could have written letters much less a book. Children's timespan attention is limited. From my experience you will have constant interruptions of one kind or another. I do not believe your son will be constantly occupied with books, Nintendo, Game Boy etc. An eight year old saying he wants to travel America by train really has no idea what this entails.

I could be wrong, and if I am I apologize in advance but I have a feeling that you are a divorced dad that is not with your son day in and day out and consequently have no idea the time and attention children take. Or you are a dad that works such long hours that you are not home enough to know the demands that are put on the caregiving parent 24/7. And please do NOT take this as a critical statement. In no way is it meant to be. Again, I could be wrong. But unless you have an unusually mellow little guy I just do not see how your train trip will work out. I would think your son will not be happy if "dad" is writing a book and ignorning him, especially during the month that is suppose to be a special father/son bonding time which I assume is the intention.

If I were you I would "start" with a short trial run with your little fellow. Maybe LA to San Diego and back, just to give you some idea of how things will be. Just my thoughts, for what they are worth. Best wishes with whatever decision you come to.

From the time I was 2 1/2 until I was about 8 or 9 years old my mom and I took the train from Los Angeles to Detroit each year to visit my grandparents. I absolutely loved it! Now granted, this was back in the 1960's when it was common for families to travel that way (so there were always other kids on the train to play with), I loved to read, play solitaire, color, play with my Etch-A-Sketch, look out the window and was generally pretty good at entertaining myself when my mom wanted to read, nap or be quiet. Plus we always got a sleeping compartment which I'm sure made a big difference. I Can't speak for your son though and depending on his attention span, how "mellow" he is (as LoveItaly mentioned) and how good he is at entertaining himself (if no kids his age to play with on train) I don't know how much writing you'll actually get done.

As LoveItaly mentioned you should try a shorter run first to see how you both like it. But I would do an overnighter as the trial to really get a feel. Maybe the Coast Starlight to Oregon or the Southwest Chief to Albuquerque and then fly home. Some people love sleeping on trains and some can't stand it -- and better you find out before committing yourself to a month of it.

I absolutely second J_Correa's recommendation to go first class and get a compartment -- your meals are included, you get privacy, you can lie down flat in an actual bed and you won't have everyone snoring around you every night (or staying up late reading and talking while you're trying to sleep).

Hey everybody, thanks for the great advice and warnings; keep them coming. When I say write a book, I was really referring to using the trip to take notes - the conversations with my son would be the basis of the books. I would do the typing later.

I have traveled probably over 5000 miles my trains of all kinds. Forget that "bad for the eyes" nonsence. I think you and your son's plan sounds like a great idea. You will love it and never forget it. What a perfect experience.

Hi Longboardsteve, ok, taking notes about conversations between you and your son. That sheds a whole different light on things. I visualized you trying to write the next "great American novel" and you gettig frustrated because of your little guys interruptions and his gettig annoyed because he didn't have your attention as he might want.

I hope that you can get this worked out as I am a true believer in the benefits of taking vacations with your children. Enriching for everyone.

BTW, you might want to think of getting him a dental checkup and maybe a medical checkup before you leave, just to make sure he is in good shape. Unless of course he has recently been to the dentist etc.

Other thought I had was regarding food? Is he a child that will pretty much eat what is avaialble (as would be the case on the train) or is he a fussy eater. If so you will have to thik about working around that.

Best wishes to the two of you while you arrange your summer adventure.

That certainly does place a different spin on things! I'm a huge fan of train travel. It's so much more exciting and satisfying than plane travel, especially if the fun of getting there is just as important as the actual destination (which in many cases for me, it is!). And unlike car travel you don't have to be paying attention to the road, so you can relax and enjoy the scenery and get up and walk around whenever you want. I think it will be a great experience for you and your son and probably one he will cherish well into adulthood. Plus, if you do write that book he will love to read it later on to remind him of that great trip you two took together.

BTW -- the leg that takes you from Chicago to Seattle is a gorgeous one and one of my favorites, esp. when you go through Montana. Hope it's light out when you get to go through Glacier Park....it's a stunner!

Longboardsteve: Why don't you take along a pocket tape recorder to record some of your conversations. In the evenings, while your son sleeps, you can always transcribe the conversations into your notes.

Have a wonderful time with your son. It sounds like this could be a once in a lifetime, memorable adventure for the both of you! Good luck.

Now I am getting really excited. By the way, my son is quite the adventurer. In 2001 we did 30 days in France and survived. He is self entertaining as long as books and Lego's are within reach along with ability to throw baseballs every once in a while (I am aware that you can't throw baseballs on the train. hehehe)

Whether or not this will work depends a lot on your personalities. One of my kids would have thought this was great - the other would have gone insane from boredom and driven me crazy at the same time. And also dependent on amount of time and attention you are willing and able to devote to your son along the way. Even a kid good at amusing himself in semi-solitary activities will need a great deal of attention/bore3dom relief from you along the way.

With due deference to Fainaagain's aunt, I would ask to see research documentation of this causing eye distress before I am sold on the detrimental effects of sight-intensive activites on a moving vehicle. Many older health care theories have since been proven wrong (or right, for that matter).

Train travel is not inexpensive when you factor in meals, stops, etc. In fact, your trip might be less costly, if that is a consideration, finding inexpensive airfare to all or some of these destinations. I do understand that the experience is part of the trip, though. A thought is that you might want to combine train and plane travel if that makes financial sense.

I do not know the answer to this, but a laptop might be good to bring along if you have it. Your son could do some research about what he wanted to see in each place, map the route, etc. Of course he could do this ahead of time as well, but long-range planning is not usually a strong point in kids of that age. Also, you could use laptop for your writing. (And there are some great games available to keep you both occupied)

Recently were from L.A. to Seatle--Coast Starlight- with 14 year old grand-daughter. We had "roomette",therefore meals included.
She loved it..We both took books, CD. player, wrote letters. We did have a portable DVD player but only watched one movie. As she said roomette was "cool" my term would have been "small" but it was quite adequate.. Big window,Two lounge-type chairs faced each other with table between--this unfolded into very comfortable single bed..From the overhead a "bunk"pulled down (the attendant does all this). She said it was like the Navy bunk her grandfather described!!! Bathroom at end of each car and shower downstairs. Of course the "vista-dome"car is popular and the snack bar in lower level where I noted people and teenagers playing cards, checkers,etc.
PS this train was only one hour late--which is good for this particular train..
We both agreeded that 2 days on this mode of travel would be plenty..
Good luck...

Congrats on the realignment of priorities!

The trip sounds fun - as long as you schedule in those 3 days off the train to see the sights. I took the Atlanta - Washington leg and there was NO rest in the middle of the night with multiple stops along the way. Someone else posted recently and was dismayed to have a similar experience. The night ride was not very pleasant on that leg. No scenery and constant stopping and starting. I'm envious of the legs out west!

I took my nephew to DC when he was just a bit younger and he had an absolute blast. His favorite part of the trip? Chasing squirrels on the Mall. So much to see and do and most of it is free!

When I had a change of territory, I handed him a AAA guidebook of our state and let him plan a trip across he territory. He chose very obscure "sights" to see, but loved the planning - and I got to know my new territory in a unique way.

Include your son in the planning. Be sure to let him plan what he wants to see at the stops. Maybe he would switch out the Nintendo for a guidebook every once in a while.

Have a blast - and definitely don't just keep working! Go!!!

Longboardsteve -- This posting makes me want to save up for a trip just like it with my DH. If you do go, please post a detailed trip report...I would love to read it! Or if you write the book, let me know and I'll be sure to buy it...

Sounds fun, but I'm wondering possibly too much of a good thing? That's a LOT of train riding hours in one month's time! Maybe trim the itinerary a little bit? Skip a couple legs, or fly to a starting point.

Definitely spring for a sleeper cabin.

How smart to realign priorities! I suspect many of us wish we would have when we could have; you can always work later.

The conversations with your son should prove a fascinating experience whether you actually put it in a book or not. I can't think of a better way to spend time with your children than what you describe. You should emerge with not just the materials for a book, but also with a new closer relationship with your son, as well as a true adventure that is rarely part of travel any more. As they say, "for everything else, there is MasterCard."

Expect some adversity along the way. Otherwise would be unrealistic. There may indeed be moments of torture, but 10 years from now, they will be long forgotten.

And about those eyes ... if that were true, all subway newspaper readers in the world would be blind.

B/