The Otto Train

When we were packing up and ready to come to Florida, I priced out several options.
1. Shipping Ed's Wrangler down by itself so we could drive in the Liberty together as a family.
2. Sending Ed and one of his MD buddies in the Wrangler for a road trip to Florida. Fly home so we could drive down as a family.
3. Ship both cars and fly down.

And then someone told me about the Auto Train. I'm not really sure why I'd never heard of it before. There are only 2 stations - Lorton, Virginia (just south of D.C.) and Sanford, Florida (just north of Orlando). It runs every day on the same exact schedule. It leaves the station at 4pm and arrives at the other one at 9:30am. Both northbound and southbound have the same schedule.

We got a sleeper car with a private bathroom, loaded both Jeeps onto the train, and the 3 of us cost about $900. When I priced the other options, it was going to cost more since there is no way I could drive the entire 17 hours in one stretch. And I really don't think Isabelle would have hung in there that long either. So with gas, food, lodging, a drive would have cost us a little more than $1,000, not to mention Ed & I would be in separate cars which I didn't like.

Thus, our first trip on the "Otto Train" as Izzi calls it. And let me tell you, it is a VERY fun way to get to Florida. The sleeper car is super tiny, there is not a lot of space to move around so I suggest not bringing too much stuff onto the train. Here was our schedule for our trip:

12 NOON - arrive and drop car off in front, hang out in the station reading, coloring, playing with other kids (it was raining the day we were there so we couldn't go outside but there is a decent playground for the kids, picnic tables, etc.). The shop in the station has basic snacks like you would find at the news stands in an airport (pre-made sandwiches, lunchables, granola/nuts, etc.). But you can bring your own lunch and eat it in the station or outside.

2:30 PM - Board the train. Each car has an attendant. Ours was Chris. He told us our schedule and asked if he should turn our beds down during dinner (the sleeper cars have sofa setup during the day and they convert into beds for night but the attendant has to do that switchover).

3:00 PM - Wine & Cheese welcoming party in the dining car. We hung out for about 90 minutes since the tables were spacious and other guests were hanging out too. We got complimentary wine for an hour and then bought a beer for the last 30 minutes.

4:30 PM - Went back to our private car because the 5pm dinner guests were about to arrive. We chose the 7pm Dinner Seating instead (you choose when you checkin). We got our bags situated, PJs out of our suitcase, and listened to music (the cars have radios with a few stations but we also had our iPod). When you get a sleeper car, you are allowed to bring your own food and booze if you want so Ed & I cracked open a cold beer while Izzi colored and we just chatted about our new adventure.

7:00 PM - Dinner time (included in price of tickets). I got a pasta dish and Ed chose the beef. Both were surprisingly pretty tasty. More complimentary wine so by now we had quite a buzz going on!

8:30 PM - We lingered at Dinner a bit and headed back to our sleeper car around 8:30. We got into PJs and Izzi watched a movie while Ed and I talked about what we needed to do once we got to Florida.

10:30 PM - We were all zonked out a little after 10. I only slept a few hours, woke up around 1am and couldn't fall back to sleep. Ed tossed and turned most of the night too. We had an announcement at 6am that the train was arriving early due to light traffic on the tracks overnight. We pulled into the station at 8 and it took about 90 minutes to get all the cars off the train so we pulled out of there right about 9:30 AM as scheduled.

It was a carefree, worry-free way to travel. Every minute was an adventure and Izzi just thought it was the coolest thing. She slept like a log and we had to actually wake her up when we arrived. She was so surprised to wake up and find out we 'were in Florida already!'.