About

Dear Reader,

Welcome to my new blog in which I am sharing stories and pictures of my 45 day rail trip across the

"Coast Starlight"

United States. I am writing this blog in order to promote more travel by rail and hope to be able to inspire and motivate more fellow travelers to consider the train for their next trip. Traveling by train can help to reduce one’s personal carbon footprint tremendously compared to air traveling. Using the train makes especially sense on short and medium haul trips. The train offers many advantages, among them are that using the train is often cheaper than flying, you can move around freely during the trip, you will finally have the chance to really see your country and traveling by train is a great way to meet new people. The idea for this journey was born about three years ago during my second visit to the United States. I was attending a conference in Washington D.C. and ended up visiting Union Station where I got an Amtrak System Timetable into my hands. Unfolding the map on the first page, I was surprised to learn that it was actually possible to cross the entire country and reach all major cities by rail. About a year ago I moved to California where I did research as part of my Ph.D. at the UCLA under a Fulbright Scholarship. I wanted to do a U.S round trip by the end of my one year visit but I didn’t want to just fly from city to city. The best alternative obviously was to get one of Amtrak’s USA Rail Passes which are available for 15, 30 and 45 days. After I had mapped out all the places I wanted to see the 15 and 30 day passes seemed just not enough and I decided to go for the ultimate experience, taking the 45 day pass. Planning and preparing the trip took quite some time but in the end I had lined out a route that included almost all the place within the U.S. that I wanted to see. For my trip I chose the following route: Los Angeles – San Francisco – Denver – Chicago – New Orleans – Atlanta – Miami – Orlando – Washington D.C. – Philadelphia – New York – Boston – Chicago – Seattle – Portland – Salem – Los Angeles. Altogether this trip covers more than 10.000 miles (16.000 km) on rail passing through 35 different states, traveling on 14 different trains for more than 200 hours.

Train tickets

I warmly welcome you to join me on this journey by reading my blog and viewing my pictures. I hope this blog will inspire you to take the train when you are going to travel the next time. Please feel free to write comments on my blog and don’t hesitate to ask if you are planning a similar trip and need still some tips or in case you are just curious.  

About myself: My name is Stefan, I am born in Germany as a dual citizen of Germany and Finland. I am a doctoral student at the University of Jyväskylä / Finland in Corporate Environmental Management. Currently I am a visiting graduate researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Institute of the Environment and Sustainability under a Fulbright Scholarship. I am an environmental and human rights activists dedicating most of my work and time to fight climate change and bring more social justice and equality to this world. I am also very passionate in learning and understanding other cultures and traveling as well as photography.

All texts and pictures are my own work and reproduction in any form is only allowed with my written permission. Pictures are mainly taken with Canon 7D / EF-S 18-200 IS.