35 HOUR OVERNIGHT TRAIN (Amtrak's largest private room)

If you're new here, the first four years of this channel was documenting our journey to reach our goal of visiting 100 countries. And we literally stepped foot in our hundredth country in December of 2019, right before the world shut down Run. During that time, overnight trains were one of our favorite ways to travel.

That was really scary.

We've ridden trains in Azerbaijan, India, Norway, Bangladesh. Called a prayer playing through the loudspeakers of the train. Vietnam, Egypt, Ukraine, and we even took the Trans Siberian Railway all the way across Russia from Moscow to Vladivostok. Now, it's been over two years since we've been on an overnight train and we've never taken a train in the us so I'm super excited to see how this experience stacks up against.

That is what you had to say.

I like to say train rides we've taken in other countries.

A lot more tunnels in the U.S.

This cabin on the Amtrak coast, Starlight, is going to be our home for the next 3:35 hours. Did the shower just run out of water? As we travel all the way from Los Angeles to Seattle, we'll be giving you a full tour of this cabin, which is the nicest that you can book on the entire train. It's absolutely massive, although it does feel like it was built about 100 years ago. And then we'll take you along with us so you can see what daily life is like spending a day and a half traveling all the way up the west coast of the United States.

Good morning. If you are a loyal viewer of the channel, this may be a bit of an unexpected video for you because we told you we were on a 3,000 mile road trip that would take us from Texas, through Colorado, all the way to the tip of the Baja Peninsula. At this point, we've made it to la, which is like halfway. So why are we getting on a train? Let me explain.

According to the Internet, it was the Roman poet Sextus, I kid you not, who first was credited with the phrase, absence makes the heart grow fonder. No truer words have ever been spoken than when it comes to van life. After living in the van for the last month, we could use a break from it.

Something between the sink and the water tank is frozen.

And I think the van could actually use a break from us. Yesterday it just decided it didn't want to go anywhere. There is no air left in this tire. In all seriousness, yesterday was a bit of a train wreck. Wait, I can't say that in this video.

So we've now been in LA for about 48 hours. The first 24 were awesome. We turned Internet friends into real friends. And we ended today swimming in the freezing cold Pacific Ocean with Thomas and Amar from yes theory Yesterday, on the other hand. Ah, but that's a story for another day.

So this morning we were up before the sunrise trying to finish packing, and now we're running around like crazy people trying not to miss our train. The first thing we have to do is try to find somewhere to park our van while we're gone. I haven't had enough going for this mileage.

Our back tire is not even reading.

It's his wheel sensor missing.

Home sweet home for you. Don't miss us too much.

Thought it was always supposed to be warm and beautiful in la. Now we have to catch an Uber to the train station, which is in downtown LA during rush hour traffic.

Thank you so much. No problem.

Before we hop on the train, let me quickly explain where we're going. A break from the van will be nice, but the big reason that we're actually pausing this road trip is because our friends Eamon and Beck are going through a rough time. They live just outside of Toronto, which is ultimately our end destination. And we could have just flown there, but we decided to take the more scenic route. So first we'll ride a train from here to Seattle, then we'll make our way to Vancouver, and then we'll ride a train all the way across Canada, which takes four days. So today, this moment starts a week of living on trains. Train 31, that's us.

Oh, there's not room for our bags in here.

No, this is not what I booked. This is a room at.

That's what our ticket says.

Oh, no, I'll upgrade it. Wrong room, wrong room. That was a room at.

This is more like it.

Oh, my gosh.

This is so much better.

Somehow we were here 30 minutes early and we still almost missed the train.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, guys and gals, boys and girls of all ages, welcome aboard train number 14, the northbound coast Starlight with service from Los Angeles to Seattle.

Okay, so there's a little confusion getting on the train. I had originally booked a roomette, and then I realized that there was a better class of service called a room. So I upgraded this. So when we first went to get on, Kara showed him our old ticket and we saw what our life could have been like for the next 35 hours. It was definitely worth a few hundred extra dollars to have more space than we have ever had on a tr. First impressions? Should I start with the positive or the negative?

Start positive.

Like I said, this is the most space we've ever had on a train. So I've actually learned that there are two different classes of rooms. There's a regular room, which I did not book even though I didn't realize that there was any other option. And the regular room has a toilet and a shower inside, which would have been really nice. However, I booked the family room.

Which has two children's beds instead of a toilet and a shower.

But the biggest benefit to a family room is it is the only type of room that stretches all the way across the train car, which means we have not one, but two windows so we can see what's happening outside both sides of the train, which is the entire reason you ride a train. Also, the biggest and best surprise so far is that all of our meals are included. And free coffee. Well, so I've got the Mary, Spicy if you like it.

And mimosas.

Uh huh.

Nate's gonna make me be negative one. There's really just one big con that I've observed so far, and that's that it kind of feels like this room is a hundred years old and they've done nothing to try and upgrade it at all. I'll end with another positive. You have to wear a mask throughout the entire train if you're out and about. But if you're in your room with the door closed, you don't have to wear one. So it's one of the few ways you can travel these days without wearing a mask. Real quick, we want to say a big thank you to BetterHelp for sponsoring this video. BetterHelp is the world's largest therapy service and it is 100% online. The way it works is first you answer a few questions about yourself. Then BetterHelp matches you with one of their 20,000 licensed professional therapists who can best meet your needs and preferences. And you can start communicating with them within 48 hours. In addition to scheduled weekly calls and video chats, you can message your therapist at any time from anywhere. All the therapists at Better Help have either a master's degree or doctorate degree in their field, plus at least three years and 1,000 hours of hands on experience. But if for some reason it's not working out, they make it easy and free to change therapists if needed. Prioritizing your mental health is arguably the best thing you can do for yourself, and therapy is a great way to do that. So if you're ready to join over 2 million people taking charge of their Mental health. You can get 10% off your first month at Better Help by using the link in our description below, which is betterhelp.com K&N. That's better. H E L P.

All right, now that we've gotten settled in a little bit, let me give you a full tour of our home for the next 34 hours. First of all, we have a full length mirror on the back of our door. Rattles just a bit. Over here we have the one and only outlet in the entire family room. Who has a charging cord that like, you know, like whatever you plug in here is just gonna.

Once again, ladies and gentlemen, that was the station stop of Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara. Our next station stop is gonna be San Luis Obispo. San Luis Obispo will be next.

There's a call button. And then we have this cute little blue night light and. And a regular ceiling light.

Now if you'll follow me into the main bedroom slash.

Hangout area. We have a closet. Does it really hold a lot of our stuff? Just. It's very small, but it also has washcloths and towels because there is a shower down the hall. So we don't have one in our room, but if we wanted to take one, it's right there. I don't think we've ever been on a shower. I mean, I don't think we've ever been on a train where a shower is an option. In this corner we have a coat hook, which I turned into our mask hook. We have an unopened box of tissues. Not one, but four bottles of water for the whole family. Our own cute little trash can. This is a very heavy 100 year old train table. Tray table. Not a train table. It is technically a train table. It opens up to be quite large. So much room for activities. There's even some little checkerboards built into it, which is super cute. Great for the kids.

We have these like drink.

Places. They're not really cup holders. I feel like on a moving train. That's not very helpful, but it's a good effort. We each got a blanket in a bag, which makes me think that it's clean and sanitized. And a pillow, which is questionably clean.

Seems clean. This might be dirty. The seat's actually quite nice. We have some pretty good blackout curtains which would be good during the night when we pull into train stations and stuff. The light won't wake us up, hopefully. There are these little lights all over the place. And here we have temperature control so we can turn the air to be Cool or warm using this knob. And up here is the air control. But we can control how much air is coming out, so rate circulation. Hopefully that won't be a problem like it has been in the past.

So hot.

The room is so hot.

Over on this side is what we. We think are the kids beds. We're not 100% sure what the sleeping arrangements are going to be yet, but they're going to come tonight and do turn down service. So we'll know for sure then. Pretty sure. This is a bed for an adult. This is a bed for an adult. And then these will, like, slide together to be a kid's bed and of course, this bed. But we'll see. There's not a lot of places to put our stuff. Nate has, like, a regular carry on suitcase that fits the in most overhead bins, and it just barely fits under the seat. And we've stuffed one backpack here. My backpack's just shoved over there. And unfortunately, there's just no hope for my bag. I usually have a bag similar to Nate's, but went thrifting in Las Vegas and got this very nice samsonite for only 18.99.

Is that gonna fit on the train? Is it?

I thought you were giving me a high five. That wraps it up for our room. So let me show you the bathroom.

I'm pretty impressed with this bathroom. It's definitely old as well and needs some updates. But it's got running water, flushing toilet, plenty of toilet paper, nice big mirror. I always really appreciate it when there are toilet seat covers. And they went the extra mile and gave us a bottle of Febreze. They also wrote Amtrak with a Sharpie, so nobody got it confused with their own bottle of free Febreze they brought. We've had some very interesting bathroom experiences in the past. Like, no being able to see the train track, unidentifiable bottles. There are also, like, four bathrooms just for our train car.

Whoa, baby. Look at this artwork. This is amazing. There is a shower on this train. They have plenty more towels in here. I think when you're done, you just put your dirty towel in the. This bag. Shower's nice and big. Looks like it has hot water. It does seem like you would need to bring your own soap, though, which we have.

Whoa. We are literally just right on the ocean. So many people just camped out.

I love California. Is that Alcatraz?

No. Wow.

Wow.

Oh, look at the guys down there serving. Wow. This is incredible. I'm already so glad that we did this. I did not realize how much Time the train was going to spend on the coast. Neither one of us have ever, ever gone up and down the coast before. Kara has now been in California for a grand total of 72 hours. And this is just such a fun and unique way to see the state. Plus, if we were driving the van, I'd have to be paying attention. And this is just a low stress way to take in the views.

Thank you.

This is lunch plate. We have fresh plates.

Whoa, look at that house. What.

My face.

Our room is just a tad on the dark dungeony side. But as soon as we walked into the meal car, it was just bright and beautiful. We had these panoramic views. I got a glass of ros? And I feel like I'm on vacation.

Thank you.

This looks amazing. It's chili in a baked potato. I've never had my chili in a baked potato before, but I'm very excited.

Oh.

This is really good. And it feels free. We paid for the ticket, so it's not for you. It feels like it.

And it comes with dessert.

Wow. This is the richest chocolate cake I've ever had. I'm not kidding. The food on this train has been surprisingly good so far.

I'm gonna get free coffee to eat with my cream. Oh, I hate this. Let me out.

From what I understand, this coffee is always here and always ready. This might be my favorite train ride over. There's also ice water.

It's super nice in here. On the way back from lunch, we found the room that we meant to book, which is not the family room. So while nobody's in here, we thought we'd give you a quick tour. We have a top bunk, bottom bunk, recliner, well, chair that doesn't recline. The family rooms are only on the bottom section, so if you book a room, you can be on top, which we've learned has much better views. The other big perk to the room.

Is your very own bathroom and shower. You also have a sink in your room.

It's like a wet bath. It's like being back in the van all over again. Let's get out of here.

If I had it to do all over again, I would definitely book a room as opposed to a family room. While you technically don't have two windows, if you sit in your room with the door open, there's also this window. So the best to way part like the. The biggest benefit to the family room, you kind of also get in the room as long as you're willing to leave your door open and you're closer.

To the coffee back to the basement. It's not so bad. I think I could use a little afternoon siesta.

After a quick nap, we decided to explore the rest of the train. The first car behind us is what they call business class. It's basically two very padded recliners that sit side by side. They would be plenty comfortable to sit in during the day, but I don't think I'd want to sleep here. Behind business class is the skyview car. It's a place where anyone on the train can come hang out, buy a snack or a drink, and enjoy the views through the panoramic windows. This is amazing. The final car we found at the very back of the train was coach, which looks similar to economy class on an airplane. The great thing about these seats is they also have access to the skyview car, so you could book the cheapest seat on the train and just hang out in there all day.

For dinner, we are starting with lobster cupcakes. That looks nice.

I think my expectations were really low for the food. I don't know why. Actually, I do know why, because we've never had an experience like this on a train before. We were just reminiscing on our past train travels, and we remember that we took the Trans Siberian railway all the way from Moscow to Vladivostok. Don't leave us. So we were on this train for what, a week?

Two weeks?

We ate in the train car one time. We literally brought all instant meals and ate in our room for every meal except for one.

Not bad.

We even brought instant coffee. Oh, how times have changed.

Thank you very much.

And for our main. Nate got the salmon, and I got the pesto tortellini.

I'll give it like six out of ten. Six and a half. And I think a little salt and pepper can't fix.

I give the salmon a 6.75. I believe that it is slightly better than your tortellini, but it's not great.

I have confirmed that the. The salmon is slightly better than the tortellini.

Also, if you can't tell, the conductor decided that it was time to go. As soon as the sun went down, it was like, all right, no more sightseeing. I'm going to speed up now, which makes for a very bumpy dinner.

The dessert menu doesn't change, so I got the same chocolate cake as lunch.

11 out of 10.

Next station stop in just a moment will be that of Oakland Jack London Square.

Okay.

Wow.

Thank you so much.

Okay, so we were kind of right about the beds. This one Came down. But this one is bigger than the top bunk because he, like, combined the backrest and the seat into one bed. So it might be able to fit both of us. I love it. He actually put a mattress on top of of the seat with one sheet to sleep on top of and then an extra sheet.

Is that how sheets work it?

This blue velvet blanket is very retro. Feels as old as this train car.

I don't have enough hands for this. This is one of those times that it would have been really nice to have a bathroom inside our room. Something about brushing your teeth in a public bathroom.

My friend gave me these makeup remover wipes from Costco, and they are magic. And literally just take all of your makeup off in, like, two seconds. I'm not using soap or anything. Just wiping it off.

I think.

I think you're probably gonna push me out of bed tonight.

Do you want the inside?

No.

Because I have to get up and get coffee. Okay. You'll be fine.

Okay.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is the station stop of Emeryville. Now arriving Emeryville.

See you in the morning.

Good night.

Dining car will be open for breakfast. Breakfast to be first come, first serve, starting at 6:30am.

Good morning. According to my phone, we just crossed over from California into Oregon. It looks very different this morning. There's a little snow on the ground. There's a lot more pine trees, but. But it's just as beautiful in its own way.

So if Klamath Falls is your station stop now, it's time to look around your room. Make sure you have all those small, important, personal items like your cell phones, your car keys, your wallets.

Your children.

Serve Starbucks coffee in the mornings.

We're moving. We've been stopped at this lovely farm in Oregon for probably like an hour because there was a freight train problem. I slept surprisingly well last night. First hour was a little rough. I woke up with my face against the really cold metal wall at one point, and it was, like, shaking. So then I rolled over. But after that, I slept so well. At one point, I woke up because Nate was up and, like, going through his bag. I thought something was wrong. I was like, what are you doing? Are you okay? And he was like, it's 7:00am it was so nice getting to sleep in the same bed. It's the first time we've ever been able to do that, and I think that's why I slept so well. I don't like sleeping alone when it's cold and lonely.

What a way to start the morning. We have already Seen two bald eagles. There it is.

Wow.

I think this lake with the mountains in the background is the second most beautiful part of this entire train ride so far. The most beautiful being the first four hours we were on the train yesterday as we were just riding straight up the coast, staring out at the Pacific Ocean. In the US at least for most Americans, train travel is very much an afterthought. So I came into this journey with pretty low expectations. And honestly, I've been blown away from the train experience itself, but also by the views. I would say the only views on a train that rival what we've experienced over the last 24 hours is the Glacier Express, and that's known as the most beautiful train ride in the world. So much so that they make the cars completely out of glass just so you can enjoy the views. So far, everything about the Amtrak experience has been a very pleasant surprise.

All right, now to take the thumbnail that made you click on this video. You think, facing this way, let's try.

It just like normal. It's. It's quite the process if you can't tell. We can spend 40 hours making the best video possible, but if the COVID photo is not good, no one will watch it. So this feels a little ridiculous, sitting here taking pictures for the better part of an hour, but it's a necessary part of the process.

It hasn't always been this way.

Oh.

I hate the stupid train.

So much has changed in the last 24 hours. After a good night of sleep last night, we have been immediately transported back to winter. Oh, look at the sun coming through those snowy trees.

Wow. It is a winter wonderland.

Eugenia's cold.

We have made it to Eugene, Oregon. We've now been on that train for 28 hours, and this is our first time stepping off. It feels really good to stretch the legs.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard the Coast Starlight train number 14 northbound with service to Seattle and points in between.

All right, we made it to Portland. Almost there. At this point, we're just doing things over again. We had lunch again. We're about to have dinner again.

Is it weird that I don't want to be there yet?

There is something very relaxing about knowing that you don't have to do anything.

It's like why we love flying so much. Except for 35 hours.

The height of my productivity in the last 35 hours has been booking the place that we're going to stay tonight in Seattle.

Which you did 10 minutes ago.

Yeah, but I booked the perfect place.

So we have about three hours until we get to Seattle. At this point, I feel like we've pretty much done everything there is to do on the train except for take a shower.

Okay, step one, turn the. Oh, it's very cold so far.

What happened? Hit the shower, Just run out of water. Oh, press the button.

The water's nice and warm. The only difference is there's this button you have to hit every 60 seconds so the water keeps going. Like almost everything else on Amtrak. That was surprisingly enjoyable.

All right, ladies and gentlemen, now arriving, Seattle. Now arriving, Seattle's King street station.

Hello, Russell Wilson.

All right, Seattle.

I feel like I'm leaving my home.

Wow. Getting off the train is a lot less stressful, and you can actually understand the announcements.

Thank you so much. 35 hours later, we have made it to Seattle. I did not expect to say this, but I think that might be the best overnight train we have ever ridden.

Who would have thought, right here in the usa?

I didn't know America did trains well. Sorry. Welcome to the U.S. everyone's so friendly. All right, from here, we're heading to Vancouver, where we're boarding a much longer train that will take us all the way from Vancouver to Toronto, and we'll see how the Canadian trains stack up against the US traffic.