Revenge of the #NerdTrain

NerdTrain Members

Who says Spring Break has to end? Ever.

When one group of young people came up with a hair-brain idea about meeting in different cities around the country and traveling to them by train, it was all about the fun and adventure. Three years later, they’re still at it, and racking up tons of rail miles not to mention Amtrak Guest Rewards points along the way!

“Whenever I took Amtrak, I would always tweet my Amtrak mileage,” says Matt, who is an annual participant on the self-dubbed #NerdTrain. “My friend Ashley would always compete with me, and finally she said, ‘We should go on a trip together,’ and because we were doing this over Twitter, other people jumped in.”

scenery

“We all love taking the train. We’re all fans,” Matt says, who redeemed his AGR points for a free trip. “It’s the best way to travel. Flying is a hassle, and the train is really relaxing, and you meet people and have interesting discussions.”

The group, which votes to decide its destinations, has logged some serious train vacation hours, seeing cities ranging from LA, Montreal and Minneapolis. For those interested, that’s the Empire Builder, Adirondack, Empire, Sunset Limited, Capitol Limited and Coast Starlight.

The #NerdTrain crew is spending lots of their current trip on board our Sunset Limited today and Friday chronically their adventure to New Orleans. From Instagram to Twitter, the hashtag accompanies pics of beautiful scenery, good food and of course the occasional selfie.

Matt even has advice for first timers wanting to plan similar trips. “It’s a really enjoyable way to get places, if you really want to see things and enjoy the trip instead of being stressed out the whole time.”

NerdTrain Member Games

Want to see what taking over five roomettes on the Sunset Limited is really like? Check out hashtag #NerdTrain or follow the crewmembers’ Twitter accounts below.

Who knows, next year, you may be on the adventure yourself!

@tracktwentynine
@marctomik
@aimeecustis
@mamakoid
@bjustin
@martarider
@cctgirl
@chrismillerWBT
@heyhauser41