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Hi,

I was interested in travelling overland from Miami to San Diego preferably by train and staying in hostels. If not train bus or hire car. Could anyone recommend a route taking roughly a week?

Thanks

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1

The train from Orlando to New Orleans is no longer running. You could take the bus to New Orleans, where there are hostels. ( mixed reviews on these ) You could then continue by train three days a week to San Antonio, where there is one hostel. ( also mixed reviews ) You could then take a sidetrip up to Austin, a city that many like, where there is a hostel on the lake. ( I liked it ten years ago. ) Continue on by train to Tucson and I recommend the Roadrunner Hostel, only a few blocks from the station and then continue to California. ( This train runs three days a week - check the schedule of the Sunset Limited at www.amtrak.com. ) This would easily fill up a week and then some. The train, the Sunset, terminates in Los Angeles and there are frequent trains to San Diego.

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2

The simplest connection using rail from Orlando would be Savannah-Atlanta by bus(there is no thruway AMTRAK bus) There is a Hostel In Atlanta. As the sothern trip is mostly pine trees out the window...I suggest you fly Orlando N.Orleans, get aboard there.I would book thru to CA.(any stop enroute wili consume you two days)& rail up & down the coast a bit (SL Obispo) before the S.Diego finish...carracar

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3

I would not bother taking a bus to Atlanta and then the train, unless you have a burning desire to spend time in Atlanta. True, any of those stopovers west of New Orleans will eat up two days. I think you would find the train ride New Orleans to LA enjoyable, perhaps one stop, and spend more time on the west coast. ( By the way, that train, while pleasant, is famous for being hours late. Just don't make any appointments the day of your arrival in LA. )

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4

the trip from San Antonio to Tucson/Phoenix is one of the most boring things I have ever, ever done.

Imagine hours of just bland bland desert. It's really not exciting. Take a bus that far and then fly to Phoenix or just shoot over to LA. Trust me, you're not missing much.

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5

#4... Ya must have been asleep, Del Rio-El Paso.The rest of the "desert" is done after dark. I suppose it's the cruise that appeals...You non foamers can fly... Its a wonderful country from 35,000 feet...carracar

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