When it comes to long distance transportation, I’m partial to trains. Given this, when I stumbled upon Amtrak’s California Zephyr route a few years ago, I immediately put it on my domestic travel “to do” list.

2025 was the year I decided to make this dream trip happen! After researching, some consideration, and multiple conversations, I came up with an eight-day itinerary that, as long as everything fell nicely into place, seemed to be both foolproof and very enjoyable.

Planning

• Choose which way you want to travel on the Zephyr (definitely not round trip the first time!) I decided to fly into San Francisco on a Saturday and hop on the train in Emeryville (by Oakland) early Wednesday morning for the long ride home.
• Pick your travel dates. I could only spare eight days in March, but I was confident I could make the most of them!
• Book your room. Since this was a solo trip, I settled on a small roomette, knowing that there was no way my aging bones could survive a 4-day coach seat. Roomettes come with a large window, attendant service, and three meals, plus complimentary beverages, including one alcoholic drink/night. Much more convenient than trying to pack my own food. I was assigned Room 3 which turned out to be a fantastic choice in terms of views, noise, and proximity to the bathroom.
• Order travel insurance (just in case!) I used Allianz, who I’ve found to be simple and efficient.
• Utilize your social networks. I reached out to old friends (Fred and Sat Daya) in San Leandro for the four days I’d be in San Francisco and Greg and Sharon to visit with on the way home when I’d have a seven-hour layover in Chicago.

All that was left to do was make a packing list (carry-on only this trip) and get to the airport on time! Which turned out to be easier said than done. On the day of my departure, basically, everything that possibly could go wrong from 4-8:00 a.m. did. We left the house with no extra time built in, only to be blindsided by an un-forecasted snow event. Because it was so early the roads weren’t well plowed making the hour drive a nail-biter. I rushed to TSA to discover a long a long, slow-moving line. As the minutes ticked by and my anxiety level soared, I threw my stuff on the conveyor belt, shoving my license and cell phone into my back pocket to save time, only to have security pull me aside, confiscated my phone, and put me through an entire body search. It was now 7:44 a.m. and the gate was closing at 7:45! Not normally known for speediness, I somehow managed to careen down the corridor, one carry-on thumping painfully against my legs, arriving just as the door was about to slam shut. The gate people immediately impounded my small suitcase and checked it through to San Francisco, despite my protests. Once on the plane, the stewardess put me in a bulkhead seat and took my other bag, leaving me with only my phone and water bottle. Sweaty and disheveled, by this point I was feeling like a total newbie, rather than a seasoned traveler—not a pleasant sensation! Sourly sucking water from my Owala straw, I wondered if this was a foreshadowing of the entire trip I’d been looking forward to since December.

Luck was finally with me though! Kristin and Kelly, the women I’d been seated with, were amazing and we laughed all the way to Charlotte! I disembarked from the plane in much better shape than I’d boarded it. And from that moment on, my trip was even better than I’d hoped or expected.

Saturday in North Beach

Hitting the streets of San Francisco in the early afternoon sunshine, Chinatown was our first destination. After posing by the entrance arch, we stopped to admire our old pal Zoltar (remember the movie Big?) Next up was Fred’s latest discovery, a Chinese tea bar called the Vital Tea Leaf. The father, who usually presided, was on vacation but his son adeptly served us so many tiny cups of steaming tea that we literally floated out of the colorful and tastefully-stocked shop!

Full of informative facts about the health benefits of his authentic teas as well as how they’re grown and harvested, the tea bar was less of a shopping trip and more of an interactive experience. Though I did purchase three teas—Snow Chrysanthemum, Iron Goddess King, and Jasmine Silver Needle for gifts and my own consumption.

As an avid reader and writer, literary stops in San Francisco are a necessity! I’ve been to City Lights Bookstore before but I’m always up for a browsing session and ended up purchasing the latest volume of short stories by Lucia Berlin.

Then we hit up the Beat Museum, totally captivating! Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg are probably the best-known writers of that generation, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Ken Kesey (Sometimes a Great Notion) and his cross-country adventures with the Merry Pranksters, so I found this little museum, crammed with artifacts and historical signage quite compelling. Here I picked up a well-loved paperback book of essays by Tom Wolfe, including Radical Chic &Mau-mauing the Flak Catchers, that I’ve always wanted to read and had a nice long chat with the man working there who was a wealth of information about those colorful times.

Our adventures concluded with a delicious dinner at Tommaso’s (circa 1935) where the atmosphere was lively, the service exemplary, and my chicken piccata both perfectly cooked and attractively served. Since my friends are regulars there, I even got introduced to the charming owner. A great start to exploring the city by the Bay!