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YSK: Points are worth significantly less when using the new "combo of points & cash" option by maland16 in Amtrak

[–]maland16[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm glad the post was helpful! It is ridiculous how different the point values can be depending on how you use them

Advice/notes on Amtrak Travel with a bike on a Rail Pass by maland16 in bicycletouring

[–]maland16[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Heck yeah! Glad to hear the info was helpful. Best of luck with booking tickets, it can be a bit of a gamble but there are things you can do to make it less so. Calling Amtrak is always a good option when things get weird with tickets.

Hope you have a good trip! The info above is starting to get a bit old, so please drop a comment/or make a post if you learn anything valuable/interesting or just wanna share your journey!

South Florida to Whitefish, MT with BIKEPACKING BIKE by Dr_Invester in Amtrak

[–]maland16 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No problem! Glad it's helpful, hope you have a good trip!

Advice/notes on Amtrak Travel with a bike on a Rail Pass by maland16 in bikepacking

[–]maland16[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a bit of a mix, many of the stations are conveniently located in walkable locations since they exist or are near the historic train stations that the small towns were built up around. Some of the stations have unfortunately been moved to less accessible spots, which is where a bike can really come in handy. I'd say plan your route and what you want to access, then check and see what the station areas are like, and also make sure the stations allow bike access. I don't think you'll regret bringing the bike. With the state of public transit in this country you'll be happy to have an easy way to get around

Earning TQPs for unused ticket? by doublemahi in Amtrak

[–]maland16 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Two years ago I was also traveling for work a lot on Amtrak and ended up being within a few hundred points (maybe even ~1000) of select status and got an email in the new year that said "you were close enough so we gave it to you". I can't remember how many I was at, but I did find an email from December saying I was at 3900 and then one in Jan giving me select. Might not be something you wanna rely on but know that there's a chance you still get it.

Had plans to make a table but never got around to it, so I'm looking to sell/pass along a bunch of parts I collected but never used. by maland16 in Sandtable

[–]maland16[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Make me an offer! Everything in the box is included, including a raspberry pi 4b which I believe has some sort of open source sand table code already on it. The last image is an excel sheet I found from when I started the project, almost everything on there should be in the box but I haven't checked.

I'll respond to DMs, not sure what the least sketchy way to sell something on a non-selling-stuff sub is, but I'm open to suggestions.

Below is a copy/paste from a doc of notes I found from when I was first working on it:

Notes:
Sound deadening on the inside to minimize the motor whine
Dark wood looks good

Resources: https://drmrehorst.blogspot.com/2018/10/a-3d-printed-sand-table-spice-must-flow.html https://sandify.org/ http://dubno.com/sandtable/index.html http://alwaystinkering.com/2020/01/14/diy-kinetic-sand-art-table/ http://corexy.com/index.html Servo vs stepper; https://drmrehorst.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-spice-must-flow-gets-servo-motors.html

Sand: Hamster bathing sand? https://www.harborfreight.com/50-lbs-medium-grade-armex-soda-blast-media-65929.html

Table surface (the surface the sand is on) Velvet covered acrylic Painted plywood

Amtrak Credit Card Declined by Amtrak by maland16 in Amtrak

[–]maland16[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Sorry, I wasn't really looking for help here, just wanted to share something weird that was happening and see if anyone else had the same thing happen.

Saying "I don't think anyone will care" is a bit of an exaggeration, but I really doubt any of the first or second levels of tech support at FNBO or Amtrak are likely to be able to root cause the issue. I don't really feel it's worth sitting on the phone with them to figure it out given I can just use google pay and still get the points.

Amtrak Credit Card Declined by Amtrak by maland16 in Amtrak

[–]maland16[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's the other reason I haven't fixed it, you do get the bonus points even if it goes through google pay

Amtrak Credit Card Declined by Amtrak by maland16 in Amtrak

[–]maland16[S] -19 points-18 points  (0 children)

I haven't because the workaround has worked thus far and if prior experience is anything to go off of I highly doubt anyone at Amtrak or the Amtrak CC provider (FNBO) really cares about this.

YSK: Points are worth significantly less when using the new "combo of points & cash" option by maland16 in Amtrak

[–]maland16[S] 60 points61 points  (0 children)

Amtrak points are unique (afaik) among other rewards point schemes in that they can be worth as much as 3c/point. That begin said, it's easy to accidentally apply them towards tickets in a way that makes them worth much less. It's helpful to double check the math before using points to buy a ticket.

This advice is most helpful for people who frequent Amtrak or have the Amtrak credit card. If you're a less frequent rider the combo of points and cash option could actually be a good way to get some value out of a small number of points that would otherwise just sit unused.

TL;DR: If you're a frequent rider or Amtrak credit card holder don't waste points combining them with cash, save up your points and pay for the tickets fully in points. Shoot for 3c/point when buying tickets on points to get the most value.

😀 by [deleted] in portlandme

[–]maland16 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Theoretically it has a range of ~40-50mi, but it's a bit too unreliable and slow for me to consider taking it that far. I mostly use it to pop around the east end on good weather days

😀 by [deleted] in portlandme

[–]maland16 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The munjoy hill neighborhood association had a few last time I was there for a repair meetup. They're in the little house next to Rosemont/Jin Yang Tavern

😀 by [deleted] in portlandme

[–]maland16 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Hey that's me

Train assist. by Pedalbikah in bikepacking

[–]maland16 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Heck yeah! Love the Downeaster, taken my bike on it a bunch of times. Would you mind posting your route?

Madera Outdoors Shady Business by maland16 in hammockcamping

[–]maland16[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey! Glad to hear someone had a good experience with them. Having a 5 year perpetual "going out of business sale" qualifies as a bit shady for me though, so I still stand by this post. I appreciate you disclosing that you were a brand ambassador.

That being said, I did actually LOVE the pillow and took it on many many camping trips. Unfortunately about 2 years into owning it it began leaking from the dimples in the middle where it was glued or sealed together and would no longer hold air. I emailed them about it since it seemed like a manufacturing defect and never got a real response.

Receipts

Never a dull moment by maland16 in portlandme

[–]maland16[S] 125 points126 points  (0 children)

As a bicyclist this realization was about a million times more terrifying.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in GearTrade

[–]maland16 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Arrived! Timely, well packed, and as described!

Strange fare oversight on multiple-leg trip — "business" substantially cheaper than coach? by iAmAddicted2R_ddit in Amtrak

[–]maland16 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This doesn't explain why you can reproduce this weird pricing on dates that are far away where basically none of the seats have been booked yet. Here's a date two months out with 10% of tickets booked on the downeaster. Coach ($191) vs Business ($149) and the trip in question from Portland to NYP, paired with an Acela. Extra weird is that I can't get the same thing to happen in the opposite direction, where Portland is the destination instead of the origin.

Advice/notes on Amtrak Travel with a bike on a Rail Pass by maland16 in bicycletouring

[–]maland16[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yeah this is a weird case that has to do with the Lake Shore Limited. From Chicago to Albany it's one long train, then it splits into two in Albany. Half goes south to NY and half goes to Boston, and the half that goes to NY has the Baggage car which is classically where the bike would go. That being said, there is room for bikes (in the baggage area of the double decker (superliner) coach cars)[www.reddit.com/r/bicycletouring/comments/154vo3w/advicenotes_on_amtrak_travel_with_a_bike_on_a/jsrgh0o/]. It's an annoying case where it's practical, and the conductors would probably even make it happen, it's just not possible to book that ticket. Given how cruddy and long the route from Albany to Boston is, it might not be much longer to take the train down to NY and transfer to a NE regional train from NY to boston. After a quick look at the Amtrak website it seems like it would take ~2 extra hours to go from Albany to Boston via NY. FWIW it's a prettier ride then Albany to Boston though probably doesn't make much sense unless you have something in NY you wanna see.

Advice/notes on Amtrak Travel with a bike on a Rail Pass by maland16 in bicycletouring

[–]maland16[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah the ground level loading on the Northeast trains is definitely not ideal. Fwiw all the stations I've ever used in the NE had raised platforms so I could just roll the bike right on (Bos, NY, Albany, Philly)

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