Amtrak Adirondack
I just took the Adirondack train from NYC to Montreal yesterday. It was sort of an experiment - I usually fly, but I've been doing a lot of traveling this year and wanted to save some cash. With a 15% "I heart NY" discount, the r/t price came out to be like $114. So I said, why not.
I was extremely pleasantly surprised with the trip. I had read the Amtrak promo materials touting the beauty of the route, but I frankly didn't expect the scenery to be as gorgeous as it was. Part of it was obviously the seasonal colors, but beyond that, just being along the Hudson and Lake Champlain, and passing through the picturesque towns in the Adirondack region - :-::-::-::-:
One thing that made the trip extra-special was the fact that they put on an observatory car in Albany, so I got to ride much of the way with panoramic views. That was particularly awesome when we reached Lake Champlain - the trees were beautiful, there was a mist rising off the lake and fog in the hills... amazing.
The food in the dining car wasn't as dire as I had feared - although it was rather overpriced. I had a bagel and a hot dog and a couple of Diet Pepsis. Had I had the time and foresight beforehand, I'd have stocked up on snacks from the grocery store or something, but although I had planned to do that, I didn't get around to it. Oh well, not a huge deal.
The fellow passengers were also friendly and pleasant - particularly once we got past Albany and all the NYC-ALB commuters got off the train, so it was just the tourists. There were some enjoyable conversations to be had in the observatory car.
The one thing that worried me a great deal was the 11-hour travel time, and the attendant possibility for delays. But we got in only about 20 minutes after the scheduled arrival time - and part of that may be the Canadians' fault, because the train moved particularly slowly through the southern suburbs of Montreal.
The 1.5-hour wait at the border was really the only negative. For some reason, US customs agents boarded the train and did a passport/luggage check on exit, and even the Amtrak agent said it was unusual. That took a long while. The Canadian immigration/customs check was pretty straightforward and seemed much faster, although they did take one guy off the train, and he apparently never returned.
I'm thinking seriously of taking this train trip again, and possibly making it my standard when I go up to Montreal. I guess the long travel time means it might not really make sense for a 3-day long weekend hop up, but for longer trips it saves $200+ on air fare and is so much more pleasant.
Another bonus - when I got off the train, I wasn't as exhausted as I always seem to be when flying, even on short flights. I think the fact that I could get up and walk around and wasn't cramped into a tiny seat (to say nothing of the airport/TSA BS) was a factor there.