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| - I took the Le Canadien from Vancouver to Toronto (4 days total) on Via Rail.
I booked into a single roomette - perfect for me. Gave me privacy I wanted and come & go to interact with other passengers as I saw fit. By day the room w huge window is configured w sink, toilet, & sofa seat. At night, bed and sink. (toilet is covered by bed) There is plenty of small bag storage (max 2 pcs). My roll-aboard (21") fit fine in top shelf. But rethinking for future trips - maybe 2 backpacks or soft bags instead. Room had soap, shampoo, towels and other little accessories. nothing fancy - well suited for train. The shower & full bathroom was down the carl, very adequate for daily shower and use when room config to cover toilet.
Price. (~1000 USD) It wasn't cheap, but wasn't that expensive either. Private room, all meals & snacks incl (some small portions of alcohol too), three nights (hotel) accommodation, ground transportation from Van to Tor. I could not have done it for that price driving. And I wouldn't have been able to see the countryside. The Canadian dollar is down right now, so my USD went very far.
age groups -- no kids on trip (no one under 25). first leg the average age was pushing 65 and up. second leg it was more in the 35-40 range. almost like two different trips. that said, i think anyone from 21 - 99 would enjoy it. there are some mobility issues (stairs to get to sky car, etc.) but most folks managed it well.
meals -- ABSOLUTELY fab!!! chef for both legs of journey. (you get 2 crews - 1 Van to Winnipeg, 2 from Winn to Tor). Breakfast was always my fav. Lots of hot and cold options. Omelettes, fruit, pancakes. You name it. There was always a gluten free options (at all meals). For lunch & dinner - you picked (or were given) a setting while you had breakfast. First set was 11:30 & 17:30 (ish)...times were adj a little w stops along journey. Second set was 13:00 & 19:15 (ish). I was impressed w dinner car, the very friendly folks working in there & all the options. As a solo I was seated w/ different folks every meal and to my surprise this was a very social & easy way to make acquaintances on the trip.
After lunch there was some sort of group evt in skycar. Beer tasting, Wine Tasting... history lesson. It was very relaxing a treat.
On / Off loading: I joined the trip in Van - boarding was at 7pm. There were about 20+ folks over the age of 65 for the first leg, so getting onboard took a lot of effort. Unfortunately bc of all asst they required, I ended up schlepping my bag through car & setting up my own bed for night. (porter was just too busy) Not a big deal (wasn't hard to figure out how to pull down bed) but noticed at other pts in trip this was done for travelers vice having to do it yourself. Would have been nice to get the asst, but they were so crushed with all the walkers, canes and folks who couldn't maneuver that well.
Trans from Van airport to terminal was super easy. One train ride, with one switch. Toronto train sta to Tor airport, direct buses or train as well. However, I rented a car from Toronto (one street over and one street up from station) so I could do some sightseeing in Ontario. You could do it with public transport - but I liked the freedom the car gave me.
Time. the trip was never more than 30-40 mins behind schedule. trains have to wait for "cargo" trains to pass, because freight has priority. i didn't realize the significance of sharing a track with national cargo --- but it does impact time of trip. Don't be on deadlines when you take this trip. That said, the conductor would make up time & we ended up only 4 mins late in Tor. I was impressed ! (I would not book any dep flts fm your end point, on the same day as train arrival. Book for next day and do a hotel or hostel for the night.)
Exercise: Every medium town stop was for at least 30 mins. i didn't realize how much i would enjoy the social aspects of power walking. Most pers would get off & walk back-forth for the length of the train until the conductor yelled "All Aboard" It was a great way to stretch the legs. For the big cities, stops ran for 90 mins to two hours. This allowed for short excursions into the main street areas (small shops) for a treat or something you needed/wanted.
Technology. Most stops had some sort of wifi. I was able to sync up emails & download. I could respond with quick one liners if need be. Most of the time i would type up all the replies and then hit send at the next stop. I didn't want to work on this trip -- but sometimes it couldn't be helped. The car managers would often announce if there was going to be an extended stop --- and you needed to use phone, etc. where it was.
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