The quintessential budget backpacker's tour of Europe, often undertaken by college-age middle- and upper-class Americans, is so common as to have become a cliche. We know how it's supposed to work: EURail passes, backpacker hostels, and lots of self-discovery while immersed in an entirely different culture.
My wife and I had planned to do the same thing when she finally completed her teaching credential (on pace for this June), but when we put together the numbers they simply didn't add up. We could afford the train passes, and lodging in Europe is quite cheap if you're not too picky, but round-trip airfare for the both of us was looking to be nearly as much as the rest of the trip put together- putting the whole enterprise out of our reach.
Said darling wife mentioned that, well, she really hadn't seen too much of this country, and she'd be happy to backpack around the good old US of A. Thus, Epic Train Trip was born. I immediately got to researching Amtrak's rail pass policies and planning a trip that fit within their rules and our priorities. After several months of refinement, we booked those reservations in January.
The trip will take us through 30 states (and 4 Canadian provinces) in 30 days, from June 20th-July 20th. We'll ride 11 long-distance trains, along with a smattering of intercity buses and ferries (and, once, a bus on a ferry), more public transit than many Americans have ridden in their lives, and precisely zero airplanes. We'll do this all on a grad student's salary, and all with only one duffel bag each. And, best of all, I'll be blogging the entire way. The fun begins this summer.
