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45 days until Anthrocon 2008.
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Amtrak Discounts |
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Well, I know there was a code for a discount last year. It was good for about $15 off
of tickets that were not coach.
The details of the current discount are here, with the rest of the information about
travel by train:
http://www.anthrocon.org/travel-train
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permalinkBlog: [Link]
That was for last year. We are still working on arranging a discount for this year.
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permalinkWebsite: [Link]
If you have a AAA membership, you can get a discount on Amtrak tickets.
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permalinkWebsite: [Link]
I'm from jersey and I took Amtrak to pittsburgh the first year the con was held there, never again, lol. Amtrak apparently uses commercial rail lines in the middle of PA and the train was constantly stopping and waiting for freight trains to get out of the way. Ended up being a couple hours behind schedule.
So last year I flew instead, was able to get round trip tickets from Jetblue for under $100. Flight is less than an hour, only hassle is getting to JFK but you can take public transit all the way there.
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You must have gone a different day than we did, since there's only one train a day that goes cross-state. I think it ended up about 30 minutes late, which is really good for that long a run.
Amtrak basically suffers from a cascade effect. If they get more than 10 minutes off schedule, they lose their "slot" on the lines. So things on time go first and they must wait for an unbooked slot.
The bottlenecks are generally the rail bridges.
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permalinkLocation: Bronx, NY
Website: [Link]
Amtrak owns the tracks from Philadelphia to Harrisburg. The rest of the way, Norfolk Southern owns it and calls the shots. I take Amtrak from NYC-Pittsburgh.
Last year we were able to run flat-out on the Philly-Harrisburg segment (top speed 110MPH) since the bulk of the track replacement had been done by then. The conductor credited Norfolk Southern with letting us out of Harrisburg ahead of a couple of their freights, and we got into Pittsburgh 15 minutes early.
The first year, I missed the Pennsylvanian by mere minutes and had to hotfoot it to Washington DC to catch the Capitol Limited up to Pittsburgh. That trip was over CSX tracks almost all the way up from DC, and we were tailgating freights soon after getting on CSX property. We didn't start making up time till we got to NS tracks, and after that, I think we came in about 45 minutes late. But it's fairly widely known that NS runs a tighter ship than CSX (rumor has it they've earned the nickname "Nazi Southern").
As for air travel out of NYC I have a less than charitable view of that, what with all the recent horror stories of bumped and stranded travelers seemingly every day now, and the overall abysmal on-time performance of airlines in this neck of the woods.
---PCJ
FurAffinity stuff -- VCL Stuff
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Often by the time you factor in the time that it takes to get to the airport, check in at the airport, get through security, fly, then retrieve your luggage, get cab, it works out very similar to the total travel time on the train.
Plus the Pennsylvanian has so many furs on it Thursday and Monday, there might as well be a furry car. Lots of people wear their badges and ears on the train. Most folks seemed to skip tails simply because they get thrown off balance with the sway of the train AND a tail.
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permalinkI took the Pennsylvanian from NYC to Pittsburgh the same year you did, first stop to last stop. That's why I've taken it last year and will take it again this year. From the first to the last stop, we were not "a couple hours behind schedule."
We were about 1 hour behind schedule.
Last year, I came in Wed July 4. If I could do that again this year, I would. Since freight trains seem not to travel on national holidays, we had no bottlenecks and didn't have to yield right-of-way. We got there over an hour AHEAD of schedule.
(Coming back Sun was reasonably close to schedule.)
Plus, I know my train will get there. There's no "we're going to wait a few hours before moving" or "we're grounding the train."
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Well I've never had any problems with Jetblue and the only issue I've heard about them having was last year during that crazy ice storm on valentine's day. They also have the lowest rate as far as bumping passengers go.
Just saying it's an alternative. I take Jetblue to FC, AC, and when I go to visit friends in california and have yet to have any issues. And yes, there are furries on the plane too
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Side note on travel, but if you're concerned about the environment, train is probably the most eco-friendly way to go, short of walking or biking.
Planes and cars burn a similar amount of fuel to cover the distance, BUT planes release their exhaust direct into the high atmosphere (plus release things other than just CO2), making them more damaging. Scientists argue about how much worse it is, but seems to hover around twice as damaging as driving. It's mitigated some by having lots of people on the plane, but still, its a lot of emissions all in one go.
Trains vary a lot in efficiency depending on age and type. Amtrak has an elderly, fairly inefficient fleet, so per trip, its not a whole lot more efficient than a car. (freights by comparison tend to be unbelievably efficient!) Except that you've stuffed about 1,000 people in your car. mass transit wins.
If you really want to go above and beyond, you can also buy a carbon offset for your Amtrak ride. It's $3.
THREE DOLLARS.
That's roughly two bottles of soda pop or one Starbucks stop. Buy here:
http://www.carbonfund.org/site/pages/land/amtrak
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permalinkLocation: Hainesville, IL
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Blog: [Link]
When pricing Amtrak tickets, I always refer to this link which compiles all known Amtrak discount codes into one convenient location.
---
Tom Brady/Duncan da Husky
Artists Alley and Con Store Manager
For fastest replies to questions about Artists Alley, e-mail me at
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Awesome link Duncan! Thanks for sharing. I'm going to have to see if that transit to/from Philly one will work for my itinerary.
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