Bring Back Big Families

(Long one. You’ve been warned.)

As I began typing this, we were on the home stretch of our three day trip. Day one saw us on the train for just shy of seven hours, two nights and a day spent in Dallas (I’ll focus on that in another post soon), and then our 7.5 hour return trip before an hour and forty minutes in the car back home. 

So first, you might be wondering why? Why did we choose Amtrak for our trip? Honestly, it had been in the back of my mind for a while. My wife had been on one several years ago with her mother. She never really spoke too lovingly of it, so I never really pursued it. A few months ago, when I hinted at and finally asked her about potentially taking the kids on a train trip, she actually seemed interested. 

Also, part of the selling point was that the train ride became part of the trip, an attraction just like any other. I’m a huge fan of old fashioned things, and train travel is old fashioned. I’ve always loved the idea and thought of it. And when we asked the kids, their eyes widened and they immediately, almost in chorus, replied, “YES!”

Done deal. 

We discussed trips of varying lengths. My kids love Chicago, and so we looked into that. Well, 29.5 hours on a train right out of the gate didn’t seem like such a great idea. So, we decided to look a little closer to home and settled on a relatively short trip some place we’d never been. Start small, we figured, and see how it goes. So, we landed on Dallas, TX. 

$132 later, the round trip train tickets were purchased. 

You read that right. For all seven of us to travel round trip to Dallas, TX, it cost a grand total of $132. We probably would have spent more in gas driving there and around Dallas if I had to guess.

So yeah, that definitely had something to do with why we chose train travel. With seven, going on eight people to move, price is a huge factor. 

Which brings me to the meat of this blog: the tips.

Tip #1: Book Early

The earlier you book your tickets, the cheaper they are. I purchased our tickets to Dallas for $20 each (kids are always half price, which is an incredible deal) two months in advance. I checked the same tickets only a few days before our scheduled departure just to see, and the same tickets were $47 each. We saved almost 2.5 times the money by booking early. 

The return trip was an absolute steal at just $13 on sale. Again, half price for the kids, and we were set. 

Tip #2: Coach Class

Coach Class is the best bang for your buck. The rooms may be more private, but the price of Coach is virtually unbeatable. I hate to harp on it, but $132 for a family of seven to travel round trip is insanely cheap.

And if you’re thinking of Coach in an airplane, you’ve got the wrong idea. I’m 6’ and rather burly, yet Coach is incredibly comfortable. I had more than enough legroom to completely stretch my legs out. It’s been twelve years since I was on a plane, but I know the seats haven’t grown any farther apart. That’s a huge bonus for me. 

Tip #3: Seating in Coach With Kids

Seats are side by side with a center aisle, four seats per row. For us, the best arrangement was a 4×2 setup (we had six seats total since the baby doesn’t require a seat, but occupies a lap in a seat). We picked four seats on one side and two on the other. This allowed us to keep an eye on everyone and make sure everyone was doing ok no matter where they sat.

Also, and this is a huge bonus for Amtrak, none of the seats were too far away from the stairways for the inevitable and numerous bathroom trips. Luckily, each Coach car has five bathrooms. That’s a huge deal for kids. And it was another reason why we chose rail travel. Five bathrooms that we don’t have to stop the trip for every time someone has to go? Priceless. I actually lost track of how many times I visited the restrooms over the 14.5 hours we spent on the train. 

Tip #4: Coach Cons

Honestly, I couldn’t find any huge cons of Coach Class, at least, not for our 7 hour trip. I’m sure it would get a little less inviting after more than 12 or so hours, but even then, everyone has plenty of room to stretch out and get comfy. So, I could honestly see us taking a longer trek in Coach Class. 

That being said, I guess the biggest drawbacks to Coach is the lack of privacy. The only time this was an issue was when another passenger seated close to us began talking on the phone and using some less than savory language. Luckily, our car attendant was close by and overheard me tell my wife that I didn’t want to sit there if she would be cussing the whole time. The attendant promptly asked the passenger to stop, and she did, only to move a little while later to another car.

I’m sure this is not unique to Coach rail travel. You never know who you might be seated next to, so it isn’t a massive problem at all. It’s simply something to plan for in case something should happen like this. Planning is huge.

Tip #5: Departure Station

I found out in my research that not all stations have free parking. Some require paid parking through Spot Hero. Easy enough, but for a family on a budget (i.e. us), free parking is a big plus. That’s more money to spend on other fun stuff.

Try to find the closest station to you that offers free parking. Of course, a lot will also depend on your destination and whether or not your closest station goes where you need it to, but we planned ours around the closest station that had free parking. It would’ve been $40-$60 to park at a different station. Not a huge amount of money, admittedly, but that was another meal for us. Definitely worth the savings and extra legwork at the beginning. 

Tip #6: Walking

One of the major downsides to train travel is the lack of being able to drive once you reach your destination. Of course, you can seek rentals and Ubers and buses and city transports, but those all cost extra money.

If your family is able to, I highly encourage finding destinations with lots of walkable options. We picked Dallas because the train station is literally across the street from the hotel we booked which is within about a half mile of tons of things for us to do.

Be very intentional in picking destinations. Do your research and see what you and your family are able to walk to. Mine did incredibly well walking everywhere. The only transport we took was a hop on/off trolley for sightseeing. It was well worth the price as it dropped us off at one of the farther attractions we wanted to visit and returned to that same drop off spot every 90 minutes. Aside from that, we walked everywhere. It was incredibly worth it, especially after dinner when the sun had set and the city lights shone brightly.

Honestly, and I’ll touch on this in my Dallas report, this was probably my favorite thing to do while on our trip. I love walking, but waking around my hometown is nothing compared to walking after dark in a big city like Dallas. There’s simply no comparison.

Tip #7: Bathrooms

Anyone with kids knows they have to use the bathroom. A lot. Like an insane amount. It gets ridiculous, yes, but it’s something to be aware of. Look for public bathrooms before you go. Lots of places, especially in downtown areas, only offer restrooms for paying customers. So, when you go for your meals, go to the bathroom before, during, and after. It’s worth it, even if they “don’t have to.” They do. Trust me. 

Your best bet in a pinch is to find a fast food restaurant (McDonald’s was our friend) and buy something cheap, a drink or some fries. Then they can’t say you weren’t a paying customer.

Speaking of cheap…

Tip #8: Budgeting

Two teacher salaries. That’s what we live on. So, for all seven of us to travel, we have to stick to a pretty tight budget. I’ve had lots of practice budgeting as I’m in charge of several bills and groceries, so travel planning was very similar. There are a lot of things that have to be considered when budgeting, of course, everything from the train ticket prices to food prices to souvenir prices to hotel prices to unexpected prices. Find out if anything offers discounts or special offers. See if museums have free admission days. See if there are coupons for restaurants you want to visit. Spend some time looking at the things you intend to spend money on to see how much it will cost and if you can afford it. If not, make sure you have a backup plan.

Tip #9: Hotels

One big thing I’m just realizing with our big family is the need for multiple rooms. We had been able to get by with one room for a while now. Not so in some cases. Two rooms are swiftly becoming a must, and it all depends on the number of beds in each room. Some hotels do not have rooms that accommodate more than five people That one restriction can dictate the length of a trip. We had intended to spend more time in Dallas. But paying for two rooms essentially cut our trip in half. Did it stink? Yes. But did it ruin our trip? Absolutely not. It just took a little more planning to make sure we could do everything we wanted to in less time. Some things had to get moved until next trip, but we still were able to pack a whole lot into our short trip. 

Tip #10: Planning, Planning, Planning

If I had to sum up the other nine tips in just one tip, it would be this one. I can’t stress the importance of planning enough. When it comes to small kids (ours are all under 11), you have to plan for everything. Of course, as a parent, this should come naturally. But it really becomes important on a train. Once you’re on, you’re on. Sure, there are numerous stops and some of them give you the opportunity to get off and stretch your legs, but 95% of your trip is on the train. You’ve got to plan for this. We did it with snack bags and a play bag that had various activities for the kids to do on the train. The little bit of planning and foresight it took before the trip on how to keep them fed, hydrated, and occupied paid dividends in everyone being (mostly) happy, hydrated, full, and entertained for the majority of 14.5 hours we spent round trip. 

Planning is the most import at thing you can do. You won’t think of everything, but you can think of lost things. And the easiest way to do that, we’ve found, is making a list and sharing it in the Notes of our phones.

As simple as it may sound, this one little list kept us sane as we prepared. You can’t see everything on the list, but you can see the start of everything we planned on taking. Planning, planning, planning. This is how we plan for trips. And it has saved us some major headaches as I’m sure it did on this trip.

Final Tip #11: Relax

This one is probably the most important one of this blog.

Don’t forget to relax and enjoy the trip.

With our five, we worry about them every minute of the way. Where are they, whose hand are the holding, are they walking too close to the street, are they holding the handrail, did we bring the baby’s cup, did we bring the baby’s shoes, are they wearing the right underpants (you laugh, but…)? There’s a million and one things to worry about, and they all have to be worried about. It’s part of being a parent.

But what I worried about most on this trip was doing something as a family for the first time and the memories my kids would hopefully take from it. For me, it was, aside from my honeymoon, the most enjoyable trip I have ever been on. I became an instant fan of rail travel, and I know my kids did, too. My oldest had just received her first phone for emergencies, and she was so excited to have it for the camera. She took so many pictures and was so eager to share them with whoever would like at them when we got back. She called a friend who loved to Pennsylvania recently and talked to her about the train trip. It’s already a core memory for her.

My first son got a kids smartwatch with a camera on it. He took tons of pictures on it to show off too.

The little three, the five and under crew, were in awe of the tall buildings and lights and buses and streetcars and everything else downtown Dallas had to offer that our city doesn’t.

I know they all enjoyed themselves thoroughly. I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

Were there stressful moments and moments of anger and attitude from the kids? Of course there were. They’re kids. They’re not angels. They’re not supposed to be. But they are beautiful little children who deserve to have experiences like this one. And I was so happy to provide it for them.

At the end of the day, all of the worrying and planning and preparing and packing and booking hotel rooms and buying train tickets and checking and rechecking packing lists and checking train statuses and holding their hands while we crossed the street and making sure everyone had jackets and shoes and hats and enough underwear (again, you laugh, but…) all become worth it as I saw their eyes light up as soon as the train pulled into the station.

And then watching the sun literally and metaphorically set on our train ride vacation as we returned home, a perfectly fitting ending to our big family trip, suddenly the worry became completely worth it. 

So that’s what you should worry about most when panning a trip. Worry about how many memories you can pack into how many ever days you get to be at your destination, whether it’s one day or one week.

That holds true no matter what kind of trip you take, though I would highly encourage rail travel if your family is able to. It’s the most memorable trip we’ve ever had together, one I know my kids will remember for a long time, one we will be able to reminisce about together in the future. And hopefully it’s only the beginning of our family train travels.

I don’t know when the next one will be, but it will happen. And I can’t wait to see where we’re going.