Comfort, ease, and enjoyment.
I pack for every overnight Amtrak trip with these three things in mind. And after 128 hours of experience, I’ve figured out the essentials for a fantastic experience.
I’ve traveled through 15 states, from the East Coast to the West, in Amtrak sleeper cars. I’ve stayed in roomettes — roughly 20-square-foot private cabins with two seats, two beds, a table, and a sink and vanity — and bedrooms, which are double the size and also include a full bathroom.
My packing list has evolved over the years. Some items have been with me since the beginning. Others come from lessons learned along the way.
I’ve been packing a comfy outfit separately from the rest of my clothes since my first overnight train ride.
You won’t catch me dressed to impress on an overnight train. I prefer to spend long days on the rails in my coziest garments.
But I don’t want to fish through my luggage to find them once on board. I make it easier on myself by putting a pair of sweatpants, a pair of basketball shorts, a soft T-shirt, and undergarments in a small packing cube at the top of my suitcase.
I’ve never boarded an overnight Amtrak train without video games.
Entertainment is everything when you’re stuck in place for dozens of hours. One thing that makes my cabin feel more like home is packing activities I often enjoy in my own living room. So I always pack my Nintendo Switch.
The portable console is thin enough to slide easily into a tight crevice in my bag. It’s loaded with all types of games to satisfy every mood, from “Animal Crossing” and various Pokémon titles to the “BioShock” series and “Red Dead Redemption,” to name a few.
I always have a journal on me.
I’ve only traveled solo on overnight trains, so I spend a lot of time thinking. I rarely make time for journaling in my daily life, but on trains I indulge in the opportunity to write out my thoughts uninterrupted. And the ever-changing view out the window is a constant source of inspiration.
My camera has been my sidekick since the beginning.
On overnight trains, I spend more time with my camera in hand than my phone.
You may be thinking, “Why not just use the camera on your phone?” And I have good reasons. For one thing, I don’t want to be limited by my phone’s battery life and storage space.
A long-haul train ride is visual overload. The view out the window is never the same as the last time you looked, and train car interiors are so distinctive compared to everyday indoor spaces that I want to photograph them from every angle possible.
As a photographer, I also prefer to manually control the settings and use multiple lenses to get more variety than I could with my phone. In fact, I usually bring two cameras on these trips.
I can’t imagine a long-haul train ride without noise-canceling headphones.
Every overnight Amtrak train I’ve taken has begun with an announcement requesting that all passengers use headphones to play audio — even behind the closed doors of their sleeper cabins.
I completely understand why. Sound travels far in a train car. I can often hear other people’s conversations in the room next to mine.
I use noise-canceling headphones to watch TV and movies, take phone calls, and listen to music and podcasts.
I’ve always made room in my bag for skincare products.
Amtrak roomettes and bedrooms have a sink and vanity inside. Bedrooms also have a full bathroom, while roomette passengers have access to shared toilets and showers in the sleeper car.
Replicating my skincare routine before bed in my tiny, moving hotel room makes me feel more at home on the rails.
After a little experience, I started packing waterproof clogs.
I’ll never forget my first thought when I opened the door to an Amtrak shower for the first time: “I don’t have the right shoes for this.”
Whether the shared shower in the car or my own in a bedroom, I won’t be barefoot on any train. After a couple of shower-free rides, I started bringing a pair of Crocs.
I highly recommend Crocs over flip-flops, especially if you’re traveling in the winter. Once dry, I find it’s easier to slip on my Crocs than lace up my kicks or boots every time I leave my room.
I forgot motion sickness medicine on my first two overnight rides, and I never will again.
My first two overnight train rides were 30-hour trips from NYC to Miami and back. But they felt longer.
There is nothing comfortable, easy, or enjoyable about motion sickness. Take it from someone who gets woozy at the sight of lapping bath water. Without medicine, both rides felt like uphill climbs. I couldn’t relax or stay present while enduring waves of dizziness. Honestly, the whole time, I just wanted to get off.
But now I pack Dramamine — the less drowsy version for daytime and the original for nighttime. I sleep easier and feel better throughout my trips. I can truly enjoy the ride. And I’m never in a rush to get off anymore.
I didn’t think to pack a pair of slippers until my most recent overnight Amtrak ride.
In February, I took the longest train ride in America — the 53-hour California Zephyr from Chicago to Emeryville, California.
It was also the longest train ride of my life so far by about 23 hours, so I thought it was worth packing a little extra comfort from home.
I wear these padded Muji slippers every day around my apartment. And they were thin and squishy enough to slip into my seemingly full bag with ease.
My slippers made my two-night stay feel a tad luxurious, and since they hardly took up any space, I’ll bring them on every overnight ride I take in the future.
My last overnight train essential is something I’ve never packed, but I will next time: binoculars.
I’ve probably had the thought at least once on every overnight train ride I’ve taken: “I want a closer view of the passing landscapes.”
But on my last trip on the California Zephyr, I thought about it at least a dozen times as we rode through forested mountains, deserts, and canyons. I spotted a few other passengers with binoculars and imagined what they were seeing — wildlife, distant valleys, and nature’s details, maybe.
From now on, I’ll bring my own, and I won’t have to wonder.
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