2021 Great American Private Car Adventure: Part 3 - LA to CHI

      Los Angeles, CA, USA

      SI
      Special Interest Tours
      • Email address verified
      46 reviews
      Sep 16 - 19, 2021
      Group size: 25 - 36
      2021 Great American Private Car Adventure: Part 3 - LA to CHI
      Los Angeles, CA, USA

      Special Interest Tours
      • Email address verified
      46 reviews

      Sep 16 - 19, 2021
      Group size: 25 - 36

      About this trip

      Joins with author Fred Frailey as we travel in private rail cars pulled behind Amtrak along the historic Southwest Chief route.

      Available Packages

      Double Occupancy in a Double Cabin

      Guests will share a double cabin on the rail car and any hotel rooms with their travel companion. Double cabins on the sleeper car have an upper and lower berth and include a private toilet and sink. There is a shared shower and another toilet available on the sleeper car. Each cabin is supplied with towels, soap and shampoo & conditioner.

      $4,210
      Deposit: $0
      Single Occupancy in a Single Roomette

      Guests will have a single roomette on the rail car and will have their own room at any hotels. Single roomettes on the sleeper car have a lower berth and include a private sink. There is a shared shower and toilet available on the sleeper car. Each roomette is supplied with towels, soap and shampoo & conditioner.

      $5,060
      Deposit: $0
      Single Occupancy in a Double Cabin

      Guests will have their own double cabin on the rail car and their own room at any hotels. Double cabins on the sleeper car have an upper and lower berth and include a private toilet and sink. There is a shared shower and another toilet available on the sleeper car. Each cabin is supplied with towels, soap and shampoo & conditioner.

      $6,060
      Deposit: $0

      Available options



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      SI
      Special Interest Tours
      46 reviews
      Joined in June 2021
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      Reviews

      We had a great time.
      By James M for Group 1 -2024 Total Solar Eclipse in Texas, with Astronomer Bob Berman on Apr 20, 2024
      Well done! We had a great trip. Thank you!
      By James P for Group 2 - 2024 Total Solar Eclipse in Texas, w/ Astronomer Bob Berman on Apr 19, 2024
      Thank you Anjali, Sam, Julia and Andres for all your hard work. The private tours of the space center, River walk boat, and the Alamo were great venues, and even though we all would have enjoyed a longer totality, the entire package with a nice group of people made for a very enjoyable trip. See you on the next one!
      By Paul Z for Group 1 -2024 Total Solar Eclipse in Texas, with Astronomer Bob Berman on Apr 19, 2024
      The overall structure of the trip was excellent. We enjoyed the venues, special tours and various stops. Having said that, the actual organization of the trip was poor and chaotic and times. We recognize weather and other unforeseen events always happen, but that is not an excuse for keeping the folks in Group 2 informed which was not the case. The guide on our bus is a nice person but he had little useful information - he was more of a "babysitter" than anything else. He had to wait for somebody from the first bus to come on board and inform us of the up to date schedule and then that was not always clear. Cell phone communication usually works even in Texas. Having to deal with our own luggage to and from buses was a pain. I don't usually go on tours, but the ones I do always have folks from the hotel load and unload luggage from the buses. I know there was complexity related to having two buses that is easy to deal with. Give everybody tags attached to their bags where they write Group 1 or Group 2 to make sure that the right bags get into the right bus. And, then folks can take a look and confirm their bags are loaded if they want to double check. This is just one example on how to improve the. operational/detail aspects of the tour. The venue at the eclipse site (we did not stay there) was poorly run, disorganized and did not seem to know how to handle a medium size group such as ours. Again, the various guides on the trip were slow to step in and make sure things worked as promised. You know there is a problem when you can't even get a cup of coffee. You need additional professional help to better run your tours. Sometimes the small details can make the difference between a good trip and a bad trip. Having said all that, I will again note we enjoyed the trip and thought that having Bob Berman and the Hubbell's as part of the tour was a real positive., and we are considering the 2025 Chile trip. My last word is that if you want sophisticated clients you need to be operationally more sophisticated and professional which seemed not to be the case for this trip.
      By Michael D for Group 2 - 2024 Total Solar Eclipse in Texas, w/ Astronomer Bob Berman on Apr 19, 2024
      Amazing trip! Hotel rooms, transportation, activities were top notch ... great organizers and traveling companions. Mother Nature was pretty fickle, but the organizers were prepared for all with well-executed back up plans. Bravo!
      By Cecilia M for Group 2 - 2024 Total Solar Eclipse in Texas, w/ Astronomer Bob Berman on Apr 19, 2024
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