In just over two weeks, I will be picked up by a friend in their car and leaving Vermont with my bicycle, trailer and gear. I'll be dropped off in NYC- Penn Station to jump aboard an Amtrak bound for Miami FL. I'll be stopping to visit friends just north of Orlando first though. Once I reach the "end of the line" in Miami, I'll be biking two days to one of the Keys where I've been offered a place to stay as I write my book. My plan is to stay there for three months and then jump on another train from Miami to Los Angeles, CA where I'll then ride my bike north along the coast to San Francisco where I've been offered another place to stay.

That's the fun part. Now the hard part.
How do I get my camping gear and clothing on and off the train?
I'd like to use the trailer rather than panniers simply because I have it and it will allow me to take more along.
Would I be better off switching to panniers though? I'm starting to consider it as I do need to check the trailer as baggage meaning that it will have to be boxed up, which is easy, but then trying to carry the gear that's supposed to be in it will be difficult. Panniers on the other hand, could just go as carry on bags.

Have you traveled by train to a location and then biked from there a long distance?
How did you manage your gear?

I have kayaked long distance (two months on the water) but its actually easier to pack gear in a kayak than on a bike without a trailer.

I cannot image wanting to haul a trailer when traveling by trains. Especially with jumping on and off trains as in your plan. If that line accepts RORO then your trailer will still need to be boxed. If it does not offer RORO then both trailer and bike will need to be boxed. A major PTA.

My advice is try and get yourself down to two panniers. Then you can carry them on. You might even consider leaving the camping gear at home, bite the bullet and pay for motel or try to find warmshowers or couch surfing hosts. Carry the bags on.

You could also get yourself a large duffel and stash the bags in that to make it easier to carry on.

In your shoes, and based on your rough description of the plan, I ship the bulk of my needs directly to the house in the keys, via UPS. That won't be costly and will allow you to travel light carrying only what's needed between Orlando and the Keys.

That will give you a nicer ride, and simplify the logistics. You repeat the same process to travel from the Keys to California when the time comes.

This sound like a good plan. You are really travelling with a bike, not by bike, and making it more convenient would make it more enjoyable.

Amtrak bike boxes are large. My wife and I use the train regularly to get to the start of tours, and returning home. The Amtrak station is only 35 miles from our house so it is easy to start our tours from home.

This is the system we use for both train and air travel. Our bikes are boxed and the empty panniers go in the boxes as extra padding. The camping gear is carried in a waterproof "rack pack". The other clothes and gear are carried in a large lightweight duffle bag. This means carrying only 2 bags and a handlebar bag; much better than 4 panniers, rack pack and bar bag , as is the case for me.

The yellow duffle and rack pack are mine, and the red rackpack and black duffle are my wife's. This is enough gear for a 3-month tour including camping gear. It makes getting on and off trains easier.

Don't forget a pedal wrench needed to remove the pedals for boxing.


Amtrak bike boxes. Just loosen the stem and position the bars parallel to the front wheel, take off the pedals, and roll your bike in.


Amtrak bus going from Seattle, WA to Vancouver, BC. Bikes are loaded in the bus's bay, and gear will follow.

To be clear, because I'm not sure my earlier post was.

I mean shipping only the bulk of my baggage to the home in the keys ---- But not the bike, and and enough stiff for the Orlando/Miami/keys legs of the trip, where I gather you want to ride the bike.

Not having 3 months of supplies, or even 3 weeks, will lighten the load and make the riding infinitely more pleasurable.

find a mailboxes'r'us near the rail station in la that will accept a
package for extended time. mail your trailer and camping gear
and most of your cycling stuff.

mail the clothing you'll need for florida to your friend.

just take the bike and what you need for two days of riding
on the train to florida.

Actually, you were clear; my second sentence was just poorly written. It should have read, " Most of of your travel is by train, and making it more convenient would make it more enjoyable."

Either way, hopefully we've given the OP some ideas to play with. When planning long term travel, I like to open up all the options, then conider them in the context of my objective and see what makes the most sense.

Of course, the devil is always in the details.

I'm flying into San Francisco in a month and riding to Santa Barbara with my coupled travel bike. I'll take my bike in one suitcase and gear in another, then ship the suitcases, one inside the other with tools, etc., to my destination. Return to SFO by rental car. My understanding from speaking with someone at Postal Annex is that I do not need to box the suitcases, which will save weight and extra steps and cost.

Waterdawg,

I meant to wish you good luck on your book—Good Luck!

Thanks all.

Yes, Panniers sound much easier, I just hate to spend the money on those when I already have the trailer, but its sounding more and more like the trailer is better once I have a home base rather than towing it for camping.

Anyone tow a trailer for camping vs panniers?

So I checked with Amtrak.

I have Wheel On service so I don't break down my bike, it will hang on the rack.
I also found out that because I am paying for Wheel On service, I still have all my luggage options open.

2 Checked Bags measuring no more than 75" in total (L+W+H) with a weight limit of 50 lbs ea
2 Carry on Bags measuring 28x22x14 and a weight limit of 50 lbs ea
2 Personal Bags measuring 14x11x7 and a weight limit of 25 lbs ea.

This means that I can check the trailer, my camping gear and clothing, bike etc.
So my only issue is gettings everything to the train. They did say that I can request baggage assistance (and I did) but I'm still on the fence about the trailer.

I am sure now that I can quickly box it up once I am at the checked baggage station and unbox it once I am off.
This means that I could skip paying for panniers. So the real question I need to figure out is:

Am I better off pulling a trailer when I do start camping off the bike or just use the panniers and pack the gear into it?

If they have RORO, why on earth do you want to hassle with packing a trailer?

I am not clear on when you are taking the bike and when you are not, but I do not need to be.

I have not ridden that train, but from the comments by others I assume you are using a train that requires a bike box. As noted, they are huge. But make sure you can get your pedals off the bike before you get to the train station, sometimes they are on pretty tight. A friend of mine borrowed some pedals from me, he had a bike shop install them. I was unable to get them off they were on so tight.

I also assume you always will be getting on and off at a station that handles luggage. If you have checked luggage, that is a must. Some Amtrak stations do not handle luggage.

The Amtrak luggage criteria for volume is much more lenient than airlines, check the dimensions on their website. But they can be quite firm on the 50 pound limit for checked luggage. See first photo, the bag with the red ends was mesh, that was my carry on, it was much larger than would have been allowed as a carryon on an airline. And the bag with the blue ends under it was a mesh bag that would greatly exceed an airline dimension criteria, that was checked and the bike box was my second checked item. During my 892 mile tour, those two mesh bags were buried in the bottoms of my panniers where I almost forgot I had them.

The second photo shows how big that bike box is. You leave the wheels on the bike when you pack it.

Third photo was just before I got on the train to come home, this time I also had a shopping bag as an second carryon bag in addition to the one with the red ends. Check the Amtrak website for luggage criteria.

You said it is easier to load a kayak, but I think it about the same, last photo.

Thanks for the info. I'm taking the bike (ride on - no bike box needed) to Miami FL and then riding two days through the Keys. In the Spring, I'm taking the train from Miami to LA and then biking north to SF.

Love the kayak shot. Mine was a bit more utilitarian. Here I am on Valcour Island, NY working my way through Lake Champlain headed for the Hudson River.

I don't understand this thread. If you were to take a trailer, box it and check it. The attendants, not you, handle checked bags. Then put all the other stuff into a the bag that you will use with the trailer. I just used walk-on service on the Vemonter back in September. With two rear panniers on, the bike didn't fit around the tight corners of the car's vestibule, so I had to remove them to get the bike on (The other two panniers, sleeping bag, helmet and shoes were in a chap, old duffel bag.) Having one bag, like a trailer bag, would have been easier.

Now that I think about it, if you are not going to have any help inside Penn Station, you are probably better off going with panniers. Penn Station is a very crowded place. And by all means enter at 31st & 8th Ave. If you go in the main entrance at 7th Ave. you will have stairs and relatively long, crowded walk to get to the boarding area.

Bring a disposable duffel bag. When you arrive at the checked baggage area, put stuff you don't need for the train trip in that and check it. Carry on two panniers containing stuff you might during the train trip. That's what I did for my two trips across the country to a start tours.

One last thought...With your logistical issues, you might look into boarding at Newark, NJ. Your driver would have an easier (and less expensive) time parking and give you a hand inside the station.

What I have done is carry a folded up duffle bag. I also often have another, light, backpack for carrying stuff off the bike or for times when I might want to overload myself for a short time. Getting on the train involved stuffing two panniers into the duffle and unpacking the other two into the duffle or the backpack. I think I've scaled my gear down a bit since then, so it wouldn't be as much of a chore to find room for everything. When I did it, I had to box the bike, so that and the duffle were my two, checked bags. In your case, the trailer could be your second, checked bag. But, having carried my gear both ways, I prefer downsizing until I can fit everything in a couple of panniers.

And, as has been said, always make sure that you're going into and out of stations that handle baggage. Otherwise you have to make sure everything can be carried on, which, I think, would mean no trailer. I've gotten away with carrying my duffle full of gear on, but it was technically too big, so I wouldn't count on that.

Fairly often, yes. I use my two panniers as carry ons. That's all the gear I carry for a cross country trip. I only use the roll on, roll off service. In February I'll be taking Amtrak from Portland, Oregon to San Diego to start the Southern Tier. I've used in the past to get home from tours (from Chicago via Green Bay and from San Diego twice).

If I have to box my bike I have Performance Bike ship it (between $50 & $75 including packing etc) and then fly.

Too late to change the ticket now, but good to know about NJ next time, if there is a next time out of NY.

This trip down to Miami will be a test to see how I do. The big trip will be from Miami to LA and will involve three different trains. Trying to avoid buying more stuff so I'm going to stick with the trailer for this trip and see if it works out. Plan is to put all my gear in the trailer, and get it all to baggage check in, then box up the trailer after unloading.

I've got 40 lbs of gear in three dry bags before getting to my clothing and food. I should be able to get my clothing and food into two bags as that's what I had when kayaking.

The duffle bag idea is perfect as I can then check the trailer and one duffle bag and my clothing and electronics can come with me as carry on.

just an update on this.

I've now taken the train to Miami and back to NYC with my bike. I used two small duffle bags. 1- camping gear 1- clothes. I boxed up my trailer and checked that. The bike was Roll On service so no need to box it up.

I'm now in Gloucester, MA and heading to San Francisco next, but I could not take the train to Boston or from Boston to CA with the Roll On bike as they don't offer that service in Boston yet so I have to catch a ride back to NY and take the train out of there again.

I'm hoping the Roll On Service catches on. As of now, you are treated very special with Roll On. I've been allowed to pre-board each time which gives me a great choice of seating