The Rules

Beyond the rules imposed by the USA Rail Pass, these were the rules we tried to follow while planning the trip, and those we intend to follow while on it.

1. No checked luggage. I am an acolyte of OneBag.com and the light-travelling philosophy found there. That means we'll be travelling with one carry-on-sized duffel each, plus my laptop bag and a large purse for her. Not only does this mean no potential luggage SNAFUs, but it also means that hauling a bag up and down subway stairs and shoving our way into crowded buses will be easier. It ought to also speed our customs passage- we'll be crossing into Canada thrice- not to mention the weight it'll save on our backs. So, one bag for one month- and if it doesn't fit, it stays home.


2. Make a list, check it twice. For this trip, as with any trip during which we expect to live out of a single bag, we will be making a packing list- and sticking to it. Not one item that isn't on the list comes with. (Hopefully, not one item on the list gets forgotten!)


3. Souvenirs are in the mail. Since we're travelling about with one small bag apiece for the month, souvenirs need to be kept small. (We have a tradition of collecting magnets from the places we go, started by my parents in the family RV and continued on my fridge. I also like postcards with interesting cancellations.) Even small items, though, can collect over time and clutter up a tiny space. Therefore, I'm grabbing a single small Priority Mail flat-rate box (they fold up really, really tiny) before we go, and we're going to fill that up and mail it back when things get overwhelming. On mailing it, we'll get another box and repeat.


4. Shop for groceries. As budget travelers, we really can't afford to be eating out all the time- especially aboard Amtrak trains. (Train fare comes in two varieties. Snack car food is over-priced microwaveable stuff that has all the taste of cardboard... if you're lucky. Diner food is actually pretty good, depending, but is also priced somewhere around your average family restaurant, and perhaps a bit higher. When you consider that we'll be on board some trains as long as three days, you can see that "dinner in the diner" would mean financial ruin in short order.) Even in town, eating out has never been cheap. Therefore, part of our packs will be devoted to inexpensive, shelf-stable food- probably salami sandwiches and Cup-O-Noodles. Additional suggestions are welcome in the comments, remembering that we have to cook this stuff on a train.


5. No chain restaurants. Since part of the fun of travel is new and interesting food, and because nobody can live off salami and cup noodles for a month, we will inevitably eat out. When we do, though, we will not visit any restaurant that we could get at home. Denny's and Burger King taste the same everywhere, but Chicago pizza is only in Chicago, and Portland's famous food trucks have not been seen in Riverside recently. There is no point in wasting precious travel money and time on eating the same fast-food hamburger again.


6. Sleep on the train. When planning the trip, I have made use of as many overnight trains as possible. (There was one I missed Boston-DC that I'm kicking myself for.) More sleeping on trains means more time for sight-seeing, and less time paying for hotel rooms. More generally, the philosophy behind the trip is that train time is down-time. We don't have many days to sit and do nothing on the trip, except when we're on board a train- many of which take several days, and most of which take the better part of a day. All that reading a book, napping, and generally regaining strength that is required on a vacation will happen aboard Amtrak.


7. Take lots of photos. Self-explanatory.


8. Update regularly. No point in having a travel blog if you don't update it!