- 1). Decide on your departure city and arrival city. Following a map, list any cities you wish to visit in-between your starting and ending points in geographical order (i.e., starting with the city nearest your departure city and ending with that nearest your destination.)
- 2). Visit Amtrak.com to book your ticket.
- 3). Click on the "One-Way" option under the "Tickets" tab if you plan to go across the country by train without any special detours but not to return to your point of origin by train. Click on the "Round Trip" option if you plan to return by the same route. Click on the "Multi-City" option if you plan to travel one-way but want to make detours to particular cities en route. Note that booking a Multi-City ticket is similar to booking a One-Way or Round-Trip cross-country ticket except that your trip is divided into Segments, each of which includes "From" and "To" destinations.
- 4). Enter the point-of-origin city in the "From" field. A scroll bar will display options for the Amtrak train stations in that city. Click on the correct station. If you receive a message stating that "No stations match your entry" (which can happen if you refer to the city only a little differently from how Amtrak does), click on the "Find a station" link and choose a station from the alphabetical listing in the pop-up box.
- 5). Enter the appropriate city and choose the matching train station (in each subsequent field.) You will need to fill in only two fields---one "From" and one "To"---if you are purchasing a one-way ticket and don't care which intervening cities the train goes through.
- 6). Click on the "ADD TO CART" button next to choose an itinerary from the options that the Amtrak website now displays. You will see the price of each option, departure and arrival times, and the duration of each leg of the trip.
- 7). Supply the passenger type and promotion code for any discount to which you are entitled on the page to which you are now taken. If you see a message that checked baggage service is not available for one or more portions of the trip, click on the link provided to learn about carry-on baggage policies for that portion.
- 8). Click on "Enter Passenger Information" to supply personal and credit card information and finish booking your ticket.
- 9). Call your local Amtrak station to learn when things tend to be slow at that station if you wish to book your ticket reservation in person, not online. Bring your ID in addition to all relevant information about your trip when you visit the station to reserve your ticket.
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