COMMENTS ON AMTRAK'S SCHOOLS ON TRAINS

What did you like best?

* The kids said that playing with the other kids on the trip down was the best part of the trip.
* The thing we liked best was just sharing the experience together!
* How well organized the trip was.
* The Science museum was incredible!
* Spending time with friends and family at a leisurely rate; having the flexibility to be with the group or go off on your own.
* The train itself was more fun than I expected. That part of the experience was new and exciting, and I could tell they were having a good time visiting with people and playing games. The boys both said that Powell's was the highlight of the trip and they both want to go back. They're wishing we lived closer.

What did you like least?

* The last half hour of the ride home. By then, my boys were tired, cranky, and not as well behaved as I'd have liked :-(; for once, I'd wished I'd actually brought their Game Boys.
* I guess the thing that we liked least were all of the delays - do you know if this is typical? (Trains typically DO run behind schedule here in the US …can you say, “government subsidized” and “no competition”?)
* I wish we had planned for a place to grab dinner before going home on the train. It was hard to know where to go and to be sure everyone had dinner.
* I didn't like the "uncontrolled" kids left uncontrolled.

What did you do on the train?

* Played chess, told stories, played word games, played cards, talked, listened to my iPod, watched the movie, ate, visited, read a book, looked at the scenery
* While we were on the train, we mostly visited, admired the view (while it was light out), and read books
* I personally read, talked and relaxed. The kids had the best time talking and playing games!
* Talked with friends, enjoyed the scenery, enjoyed a peaceful trip to Portland .
* On the trip down, my boys played chess and other games, and the girls played with their cousins and colored. The trip home I think was mostly more of the same, except the girls played with new friends, too, and one child watched the movie in another car. We adults mostly visited and talked about the scenery.

What did you do in Portland?

* Went to OMSI
* While we were in Portland, we went to OMSI. It is a small museum compared to our Seattle museum, but it was just right for the amount of time we had to spend.
* We went to OMSI .
* Went with a group to OMSI, but spent most of that time with family enjoying quality time, dinner with friends, and a beautiful walk over the bridge. Lucked out to get a discount due to so many people going to OMSI (In the future I would have this done before hand for a larger discount).
* The oldest two went off with friends to OMSI. We went to Powell’s bookstore and spent well over an hour there. Then went to a playground to let the children use up some of their energy, before having dinner in Chinatown .

How did you get to/from places in Portland?

* Bus, walked.
* We traveled there by bus.
* We caught the bus .
* A friend researched bus traveling, and we got to ride for free to OMSI on one city bus - door to door service. Then walked to the "free zone" and ended up with a super bus driver that dropped us off right across from the train station.
* We walked everywhere: Powell’s was less than a mile away, and the playground was between the train station and the bookstore. Chinatown is only a few blocks from there as well.

What would you do differently next time?

* BRING MORE WATER . The recycled air on the train was pretty drying, and everyone was dehydrated.
* As I said above, plan a place for dinner.
* Have an "example" day schedule put together, including transportation and things to do - written out in paper form.
* Aside from our confusion about where to catch the bus from one place to another, we had a blast. Next time I would take the time to figure out where the bus stops are before we even leave. Now that I know how the Max works and roughly where it is, I'd feel a lot more confident next time.
* I would follow my own suggestions and BE EARLY!! It wasn’t much fun running to catch the return train. I’d probably try to pack a bit lighter, even though most of our things were on wheels and we had plenty of people to take turns hauling stuff. Also, I think we’ll go to the zoo.

What suggestions do you have for other train travelers?

* Pack light. Get there early.
* I would definitely recommend to people to invite their other homeschool friends to go along! - However, it was also fun to meet and visit with people on the train.
* This brings me to recommendations for others. If many people are going to the same place, theyreally need to organize together ahead of time!! It turned out that we had so many people traveling to OMSI that we could have gotten the transit system to arrange a bus just for us - in fact they would prefer that we do so as not to overload the regular bus route. We were not aware that you could do that. However, we were very blessed to find some wonderful people working for the transit system! We all ended up at the wrong spot to catch the bus, but it turned out that we were right outside of their office, and they did arrange a bus just for us on short notice! They took us directly to OMSI instead of the regular bus route which would have dropped us off a little ways from OMSI. They also did not charge any of us. When we got to OMSI, an employee saw us arrive and came running out to greet us - saying that they didn't have any groups on their schedule. It turns out that there were enough of us that we could have arranged a group price for those that did not have memberships. Again, we were very blessed to find nice people working at OMSI as well. They did arrange a group rate for us, but said they could have given us an even better rate had we made arrangements in advance. I know that you put it out there for people, but maybe our experiences will emphasize the importance of being organized as a group!
* Realize the trains may be late and pack lots of snacks .
* I thought we could just "wing it" when we got there but found I should have had some idea of what we were going to do. Have a plan. If you want to explore a place, tie it in with education, whether it be learning to plan an outing, maps, art day, etc., and plan to do things around what you are learning. We just went for the fun of it.
* Remember to bring your own headphones if you want to listen to music or watch the movie, unless you want to pay $4.

Did you bring too much/not enough food?

* Too much, probably. The OMSI Kids' Meals were only $3.50 (the rest of the menu was outrageous). Meat, fruit, and cheese was all gone, but the kids hardly touched the commercial snacks. Burger King was only 8 blocks from OMSI and had a dollar menu.
* As far as food is concerned, we planned on bringing our lunch and buying dinner. This worked out great! We brought enough food for lunch, but I would bring more snacks for the train next time. Since most restaurants are a walk from the places that we visited, I would definitely make people aware of that. Some just assume that there are restaurants readily available, but we did have a bit of a walk - which needs to planned in to your time schedule!
* Not enough food.
* We brought a couple of snacks, plus a small sack lunch, then ate dinner out. Perfect amount!
* As far as food, we brought lunch and snacks and bought dinner at Lloyd Center , so we had plenty and it worked out well.
* We brought enough food, probably too much, since we ended up eating dinner in Chinatown instead of feasting upon the wonderful sandwiches and protein bars I’d packed.