A Luxury Train Journey is Coming to America's Southwest

We took a little bit of a break to get us past the Thanksgiving holiday.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

However, that looked this year, obviously it looked a bit different for most of us, but um hopefully uh you found some type of uh way to make some sort of normalcy out of what has been a less than normal year.

So, anyways, my goal though is I'm coming to you if you're listening to this podcast.

When it is released, it is the first week in December.

And my goal is to have us finish out 2020 on a high note.

And you know, I've always been one who views the glass as half full.

And you know what?

Let's start being a little bit optimistic for 2021.

If you watch the news, of course they're going to paint a picture of doom and gloom.

Let's face it, we've all had enough doom and gloom for one year.

Let's not carry it into another year or beyond.

So, what I'm saying is, my goal for the rest of 2020 is to give you something to look forward to, to inspire you, to give you something that gets you excited.

And, well, I'm doing that through a series of episodes coming up into the new year where I'm gonna cover some awesome vacations, some opportunities of vacationing that you may have not ever done before.

And, well, today we're gonna kick it off big time.

Because if you listen to previous episodes of the podcast, you may have heard an episode that I did with Rocky Mountaineer, a luxury train company that is known for their wonderful trips throughout the Canadian Rockies.

Well, they've introduced a new route coming up starting in 2021, and that's here in America.

That's right, if you've been worried about traveling outside of the country with everything going on, well, no worries.

Now you can have that luxury train experience right here in the good old US of A.

So that's what we're gonna do today.

We're gonna talk with Jeff Caesar with Rocky Mountaineer all about their amazing new opportunity called Rockies to the Red Rocks.

Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the podcast.

I'm here with Rocky Mountaineer and uh more specifically, Jeff Caesar.

Jeff, welcome back to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much, Kevin.

Pleasure to be back, and I got some great exciting news to share with everyone.

So I'm just happy to be here.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02: Well, wonderful, though.

That's awesome.

Well, and that's a thing for anybody listening.

You may recognize Jeff as he has been on the podcast previously talking about Rocky Mountaineer.

And Rocky Mountaineers, I think, more well-known train journeys up through the Canadian Rockies.

But Rocky Mountaineer, they just broke out with some amazing news this past week.

And that was when I immediately got on the call with Jeff and was like, man, we got to do a new podcast episode because I know some people are gonna be excited about this.

I think people are way over 2020, looking forward to 2021 and 2022 and beyond.

And um, so, anyways, I'll let you make the big announcement about what Rocky Mountaineer came out with.

SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Kevin.

So we have just announced that we are now going to be operating in the U.S.

We're having a route taking you from Denver, Colorado, the U.S.

Rockies, which makes perfect sense for the name of our train called Rocky Mountaineer, and taking you westbound one night in Glenwood Springs, and then continuing west over to Moab, which is in the heart of national parks.

You have Bryce Canyon, of course, you have the arches there, you have Zion, the Grand Canyon, the mighty Colorado River, and so much more to experience out there.

So, pretty much taking what we do so well in the Canadian Rockies, bringing our own train cars down south to the U.S.

and operating next year, 2021, from August until October.

That's our first preview season.

I should just mention that for those of you who are like, oh, that's such a little bit of time, in 2022, we're looking at operating from March until November, and then same for 2023 and so forth.

So this is just a preview year.

We were looking at pushing this announcement to 2022, but due to the whole COVID and really the demand, where we feel that a lot of people want to stay more domestic moving forward in the near future.

They would love to do something more luxury, fine dining.

We fit those niches extremely well.

Well, now we are gonna be able to operate in our backyard of the U.S., taking people to the beautiful national parks and to the U.S.

Rockies.

Uh, really amazing experience and expansion.

SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.

That's awesome.

Now, now, one thing that I'm wondering, is this something that was spurred because of the sudden demand for domestic travel, or is this something that you guys had in the works for a while now?

SPEAKER_01: Great question.

Now, this has been actually in the works for many years.

We've been on a planning phase for five years.

We've been actually building our inventory of train cars.

We're taking right now around eight train cars down, and that's not going to impact our inventory in Canadian Rockies whatsoever.

So we've been expanding.

We were hoping, like I just said, to have this announcement take place in 2022.

But due to this whole experience, we were able to jump it up a year and be able to have a preview season of at least 40 departures that we have set between August and October of 2021.

So nope, been in the planning.

We just moved it up a year uh to make the most and then really answer the demand that we're seeing for those who want to stay more northern national parks or even domestic and not travel outside the country.

SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.

That's awesome.

Now, for anybody who is familiar with Rocky Mountaineer or maybe has had the opportunity to travel with you guys, how how is this going to compare to what they have experienced before?

SPEAKER_01: Oh, excellent question.

Well, first, you know, the tracks that we're using, no other freight are going to be on these same train tracks.

The only other train that's going to be on there is Amtrak, but I hope you are aware that we are very different from Amtrak.

We're a luxury, fine dining, seamless travel experience where you'll never sleep on board, stay in hotels every night.

Rocky Mountaineer handles everything except airfare.

But we really try to set up a true trip of a lifetime, you know, really delivering that personalized, amazing experience on board the train.

Amtrak speeds are 60 miles an hour.

You're sleeping on board.

With us, our average speeds are 30 miles an hour, never sleep on board.

Uh, and uh we even have some new class of service we're bringing to the mix.

Now, you did ask what's you know your main question.

I want to circle back to that.

We are only able to operate Silverleaf, which we have two classes services.

If you're a fan or familiar with Rocky Maline Air, those are Silverleaf and Gold Leaf.

But due to tunnels on this route that don't allow much uh space for our Gold Leaf cars, we are unable to use our Gold Leaf cars, which are a two-story car.

We're only able to operate our Silverleaf.

But what we've done is we have uh just announced a brand new service class called Silverleaf Plus.

And so what this is, we have lounge cars.

We're currently renovating a new lounge car right now.

It will be finished by the end of this month, December.

Actually, today is November 30th, but yeah, if you're watching this in December, it's the end of December when this lounge car will be available and we'll have pictures out, but it's going to be set on the back or the front of a silverleaf car.

If you choose to upgrade to the Silverleaf Plus, you have this full lounge car to utilize, which will offer a mixologist, a full bar, both more uh space indoors and outside.

We're gonna setting up a whole outdoor veranda space similar to what we have on Goal Leaf, uh giving you a lot more space to go outside, soak in the beautiful sights and scenery as it passes by.

You also have a uh premium alcoholic beverages and additional courses at meals with the Silverleaf Plus.

So for those of you who love the best of the best, we definitely have something that's gonna cater to those types of needs and requests on board our US train.

But we're looking at really the same type of experience from the Canadian Rockies down to the U.S., using our own train, our own train cars, you know, and having the type of uh service on board with these hosts and hostesses that go above and beyond to explain what's outside the window, what's coming up ahead, doing storytelling, telling jokes, keeping you entertained.

It's that type of service that we can definitely provide that it's so exceptional and just well reviewed for many from the past many years.

We've been doing this for 30 years, so it's it's pretty amazing to finally be expanding into further routes.

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.

Absolutely.

That's so so amazing.

Now, for for somebody who, whether they're they're familiar or not with Rocky Mountaineer, what is this trip gonna look like?

From kind of, you know, from point A, you know, all the way to the to Z, what is somebody gonna kind of experience when they are looking at this train journey?

SPEAKER_01: So let's take the route of Westbound, which is I think a very popular way.

We're seeing a lot of bookings come through already for Westbound, which is starting in Denver, uh, Colorado.

You'd fly there, maybe spend a night or two if you've never experienced Denver.

We're going right out of Union Station.

You're gonna leave your luggage in your room, you'll be taking on a truck.

The only thing to bring on the train with you is your camera, camcorder, wallet, cell phone, purse, ID, medication, keep it light and keep it simple.

The truck, once again, will take your luggage, and it'll be waiting for you at your next hotel.

We try to make this as seamless as possible.

You'll board the train at 9 in the morning, you'll have breakfast, you'll have lunch on board as you're continuing heading westbound, arriving at around 5 p.m.

There are so many different canyons and tunnels and vistas and even some dams along the way that we slow down for.

60% of this journey follows the mighty Colorado River, and majority of the sites that we're taking you by are not accessible by car.

So these are exclusive to you know the views from the train, which is really remarkable.

As we get into Glenwood Springs arriving at 5 p.m., this is a very touristy town.

It's got the largest hot springs in the U.S.

that you can experience.

Great, also breweries and such if you're into that.

And you'll spend one night here next day, boarding the train early in the morning, having breakfast on board as you're continuing heading west over to Moab.

Well, once you get to Moab, we will have our uh actually just to circle back to the luggage part.

When you get to Glenwood Springs, we're gonna give you your hotel room key before you even get off the train.

You've already been checked into the hotel.

Head to your room and find your luggage next to your bed the next day when you wake up in order to minimize the calories you're burning.

We want you to leave your luggage exactly how you found it next to your bed, and you will see at the next hotel or destination.

So then, fast forwarding to where I was going, you get to Moab, and here is where there's a lot of different touring options and further nights to experience this beautiful part of the world.

And like I said before, from Bryce, Zion, the Arches National Park, and so much more.

You have two different routes that take you either to Salt Lake City, Utah to fly home, or to Las Vegas.

And we have transfers set up along the way where you'll be stopping in different areas, including the Grand Canyon, as you head over to the large airport of either Salt Lake City or Las Vegas.

But that's in a general sense of how it works going westbound, extremely customizable, really seeing tons of demand right now being booked for the next August through October 2021.

SPEAKER_02: Of course.

Now, now how long is that journey gonna take?

SPEAKER_01: For which journey?

The whole entire thing, like average amount of days on the trip, is that what you're looking at?

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so specifically talking about the actual time on the train, is it just gonna be one night stay?

SPEAKER_01: It is.

It's a one night stay in Glenwood Springs.

It's 9 to 5 the first day and 7 a.m.

to 12 noon on the second day.

If you go eastbound, you're boarding the train around 2 p.m., arriving in Glenwood Springs at around 6:37 p.m.

And then the following day, and also on that route, going in the later afternoon, early evening, you'll have a three-course dinner going eastbound from Moab to Glenwood Springs.

And then from Glenwood Springs to Denver, Colorado, if you were going east, boarding at 9, arriving at 5 p.m.

So that's your time on the train.

And then when it gets to other multiple days, that comes down to how active you want to be, what sites and scenery or national parks you want to experience, or if you want to go visit more different areas of the Colorado area, we can set up different tours and programs there.

Once again, Rocky Mountaineer handles everything except airfare.

And so it makes it a very customizable option for choosing a close-to-home trip of a lifetime with some beautiful sights and scenery in the national parks that are inside our country.

And usually we're looking at packages ranging between six and nine days, is what we're seeing, the majority being booked right now.

SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.

Now, if somebody wanted to, could they do a round trip?

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, of course.

I don't think it's going to be as exciting because you're literally going to be going reverse, not reverse, but going back to where you just were on.

So uh, of course, you can send the other side of the trend and take in the other views on the way back.

We are hoping to expand.

We have actually partnered with Union Pacific, who owns these tracks.

And we're looking at over the next couple years, even adding another two-day or three-day route.

So it's a full loop, similar to what we offer up in the Canadian Rockies, allowing a round trip or we call those circle journeys.

So this is something where we've just started, and I'm so excited it came finally because literally it's been a carrot that's been dangling in front of me for so many years now.

And now that we've pulled the trigger, we are seeing so much demand.

I believe, since we're privately owned, we're going to be continuing to expand over the many years to come, adding more new routes, especially with our new partnership with Union Pacific.

So guarantee to see some new experiences over the near future.

And this is just the beginning.

SPEAKER_02: Oh, absolutely.

I can tell you, just working in the travel industry.

I mean, ever since this news was released, I mean, it's just been a buzz.

Everyone's talking about it, everyone's so excited, and everyone's going, what in the world has taken so long?

You know?

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know, I know.

And you know, when I joined Rocky Mountaineer six plus years ago, they were talking about expanding into the US and doing exactly what I'm talking about now.

And it took us, you know, a good amount of time, six plus years, to get to where we are.

And it's just, it's, it's really incredible how um, you know, we're finally here and we are seeing the demand we thought we would.

We probably believe that this was going to sell out by the end of January.

The best thing about us, and if you don't mind me just kind of sharing the reason why we're seeing so much demand, is we've changed our terms conditions to be the most flexible, the most risk-free ever.

So if you wanted to lock in a reservation, it takes 25 US dollars up front to lock in the date that you want to go.

We currently are working at having nine different itineraries, if you call them like shells, shells of itinerary that you can add nights to or take nights away or change hotels.

We only work with hotels that are three stars and above.

You definitely want to reach out to Kevin because he's gonna have all of this great tools and resources to share with you, including a great new video that just came out showcasing the uh launch of this new route.

So be sure to definitely touch base with Kevin.

But back to the terms and conditions.

$25, risk-free.

Your next deposit is due and on January 31st.

And that deposit of January 31st is completely 100% refundable up to 60 days after making that booking, that deposit.

The whole risk is really low risk, high reward.

It allows you to lock in the dates, the hotels while the inventory is still available, and uh and you're set.

And God forbid things get worse.

Let's say you go back to March of next year, and you know what?

I'm just not feeling like this is the time.

I want to go in 2022.

And remember, we are going to be having a full season in 2022 and onwards, going from March until November.

So a lot more uh times to choose to when to travel.

Next year it's only August through October.

But we will allow free, two free date changes, which you can choose up till 2023 in case you change your mind, or even later in 2021, and another time that works best for you.

And even a name change if that's something you want to do later on, uh, closer to when you depart, if that's needed to be.

All these new flexibilities are risk-free, so it's a low-risk high reward opportunity, and it just takes$25 to lock in your space.

That's 100% refundable.

And Rocky Mountain Year has never been refundable before.

So this is also a very big, new, exciting announcement to share.

SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.

I love it.

Love the advancements.

Now, talking about changes and everything, are you guys what have you guys put in place with this new route as far as things ever since you know COVID-19 hit?

Are the like I guess I'm I'm wondering when people are on the train cars, what can they expect?

Are they are they packed in next to one another?

Is there plenty of you know social distancing?

What what kind of is that gonna look like?

SPEAKER_01: Great question, Kevin.

So I know pandemic is on the minds of everyone we're all facing it, and it's stressful, uncertain, challenging times that we're all in.

So please understand that Rocky Mountaineer is going to follow strict guidelines, whatever the CDC and the WHO recommend at the time of operating.

For our Canadian Rockies, our our operations do not begin until end of April, and they go until October of 2021.

For the U.S., it's August.

So we are going to definitely be following whatever the guidelines are.

We are planning to check everyone's temperatures.

We may actually have a rapid COVID test to provide every single guest before they join the train, showing that they're negative or, worst case scenario, positive.

So we're looking at having those types of tests.

We have air filtration systems on board all of our train cars that kill 99.99% of all floating particles, like bacteria, germs, all that nasty stuff.

So we'll be keeping the train clean both morning, noon, and night.

We'll be wearing PPE, personal protective equipment along the whole entire way.

And if you aren't unable to social distance, then we are going to make sure you are wearing PPE, a face mask or a face shield, something like that.

Now, if it comes down to when we're operating and the CDC and WHO recommends social distancing, we are going to try to use social distancing.

We're going to spread you out amongst the train cars.

We're looking at filling the train cars between 38 and 40% capacity to maintain social distancing on board.

But all of this is really going to be really focused when we get closer to the time of travel.

Because, you know, for the US, talking about the U.S.

Rockies, that's August.

That's a that's really a long time away.

And I do believe things are going to become much more normalized.

I mean, just speaking, good news about the U.S.

Canadian border with our our Canadian product we have.

Now they're offering these rapid COVID tests in multiple airports in Canada.

Before that, it was a mandatory 14-day quarantine.

Now, if you travel into, say, for example, Calgary, where they're doing these tests and it shows negative, you no longer have to quarantine.

Many other countries, including our own in the US and France, London, China, others, are doing this rapid COVID testing.

That is what many government officials believe will be the answer to opening for tourism, is making these rapid COVID tests available to all guests who are traveling both in and out of the countries and domestic traveling for the immediate near future.

Also, the government of Canada has explained that with the announcement of these two to three vaccines coming at the end of this year, beginning of next, if we are able to implement them and get them out to those who need them the most, then they will most likely open the border by January, February of next year.

So keeping fingers crossed, staying optimistic, but really hearing a lot of good news from our government party and next, next above us, if you will, the country above us in Canada, as well as just the CDC and WHO, you know, recommending certain guidelines to follow that we will follow strictly to make sure that safety and health are the utmost importance for every single guest that comes on board.

SPEAKER_02: All I can think is I'm hearing you talk about these and all this.

I'm thinking, how awesome is it for us to finally be talking about some good news, some exciting news, some moves forward instead of everything just being on hold and and not knowing what's happening.

We're actually making progress.

We're hopeful, we're excited, we're getting things on the books again for vacations.

And I'm just, it's so exciting.

SPEAKER_01: It is, right?

I mean, it's finally we have good news to share.

And uh I think everyone who's heard it so far is just, you know, really excited for this new uh opportunity to see these national parks in a very luxury, fine-dining way, and also maintaining safety, of course, the whole time.

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, absolutely.

Now, now working with you guys.

So when when they are not on the actual train journey, do you guys work with the people to set up any type of tours or anything for them to get to experience the destination off the train?

SPEAKER_01: Yes, of course we do.

Now, you could, if you, for example, Kevin, you may be a pro, an expert in this part of the country, and you may have some good connections with some tour operators and such.

And so, you know, you can really customize everything and do what makes sense for your clients, or you can also go through Rocky Mountain Air because we will handle every single part of the journey, including the transfers to and from the airports, multiple hotel accommodations outside of the train, tours to all different national parks and everything.

All of our tours in the U.S.

will be escorted, guided tours.

You can also, if you don't want to be with a bunch of people you don't know, like on a motor coach, you can have a private transfer, a sedan, an SUV, a limo, a smaller bus.

Whatever makes sense for you.

You just gotta tell Kevin what you want and he'll put it together for you.

It's that pretty much simple.

And uh we can really cater to most requests.

We are still developing this.

I know we're still starting to add some new packages, some new tours.

This is the first preview year, I bet you anything come 2022.

We're gonna have twice as much to offer as we do for 2021.

But we already have several amazing packages, great guided tours.

And just to mention, also, if those of you who want to limit the congestion, the crowds, the traffic, we also offer rental car opportunities.

So you can uh rent a car through Rocky Mountaineer, and we will set all that up for you.

The car will be waiting for you at the train station.

And you can load your car up, the luggage will be at the train station upon your arrival, and then off you go.

You can be able to experience things at your own accord, do things how you like, and eventually head to the airport when you're ready to go home.

But um, renting cars is easy to do through Rocky Mountaineer.

And we will encourage you to download an app on your phone.

So it's like having a tour guide in your car so you're not missing any of the sights and scenery along your whole entire drive.

And if you don't want to hear it, you can just turn it off.

So really uh really ideal, I think, when it comes to the customization opportunities on and off the train.

SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.

That's awesome.

And I think, you know, I think I think exactly what what you're sitting there talking about.

I think it speaks highly to for somebody who's not traveled with a company like Rocky Mountaineer, is this sense of luxury, it's truly personalized and customized.

And I think that's the name of the game is it's not not you just coming to me and telling me, okay, you know, you want to do this train journey.

And okay, here's the set itinerary.

Everything is cookie cutter.

It's truly this personalized vacation experience.

And you know what?

I mean, after the year we've had, I mean, my goodness, talk about the trip of a lifetime that you can make it to be exactly what you want it to be.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and the budget that works best for you.

That's another little part there, just the know that you know you can easily tell Kevin what you want to spend, and he'll do his best to definitely work with that budget.

But we work from three-star properties to five diamond resorts.

So you can easily customize the hotels or add nights, takeaway nights, add tours, takeaway tours to work with your budget to give you a true trip of a lifetime.

And I know we're all looking and itching to get out of our homes and travel and see the world.

And you know what?

What better place to start than our own backyard in the U.S.

Rockies and the beautiful national parks out in the West?

I mean, that's uh, I think something that we many of us who've lived here in the country may not have experienced or did at one point would love to return and do it again.

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, absolutely.

Now, no, I did want to ask you, I know one of the big attractions for your Canadian Rockies train journeys are the wildlife that you see.

Now, obviously, this can be, I would imagine, a little bit different.

Can you kind of give people a little bit idea of what type of wildlife they might see out the uh windows of the train cars?

SPEAKER_01: Of course.

And I have to say, Kevin, you you have some great questions.

I love it.

Because it's things that I want to mention that I'm forgetting to.

So when it comes to the opportunities, especially many of the canyons that we go by, you're gonna be hopefully looking to see some bighorn sheep.

We'll have some bear sightings, different bears than up north, but still there'll be bears, mountain lions, coyotes, deer, marmots, and of course birds.

But definitely some really unique wildlife to be seen along these tracks as well, especially at the times that we're operating.

They say that actually going towards closer towards the wintertime is when many of the bears and the uh mountain lions are starting to forge a bit more to build up for that hibernation to you know to make it through the winter times and everything, so they're out and just eating a lot more.

So definitely exciting experiences to take advantage of from the train trecks that we're operating on.

SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.

I love the varied wildlife.

And and I'm sitting there thinking again, that kind of goes back to what you were talking about earlier, is you know, these trains, they aren't flying by.

It's not like you're gonna see the see the bear in a blur.

And you know, and I thought, and again, you're talking about the wildlife that you know it does.

It just makes that meaningfulness of of the train not going so fast so much more important because you're gonna really get to see these animals.

SPEAKER_01: Exactly, exactly.

I mean, it's it's really difficult on an Amtrak train going 60 to 75 miles an hour to get a good picture of an animal that you see that's not blurry.

So, with us, once again, 30 is our average speed, 30 miles an hour.

And we'll slow it down to every single viewpoint, any vista, any canyon, anything that's worth stopping and slowing down for to less than five miles an hour.

So we are crawling.

And once again, the biggest new uh I say that well, not biggest, but one of the big advantages that we have is that there's no other trains on the tracks except for Amtrak, which is going to be far ahead of us.

And it's just freight that we usually have to worry about up in the in the north.

There's no freight whatsoever, so no delays.

We're able to do this at our own speed, which is, I think, really, really incredible.

And if you guys, if anyone has like issues with like car sickness, motion sickness, things like that, our suspensions on our train cars are over 10 million each.

I'm telling you, I've traveled with people who have vertigo.

They've never had any vertigo episodes on board of people who've been motion sickness or feel like, you know, oh, I need a place to get outside to breathe fresh air because I'm worried I'm not gonna be able to handle the motion.

They never have it because, you know, notice we're going very slow.

Our suspensions are incredible on the train cars, and uh, you're able to eat, drink, walk around, go to the outdoor veranda space anytime.

It's uh it's a whole different level of experience, and you barely feel like you're even moving.

It's really, really cool.

SPEAKER_02: So that is such an important point that you just brought up.

That that uh I think you again, you know, even myself and talking to you is we all get this kind of you know thing made up in our mind of what we're envisioning going on a train.

And you know what, what you just said, it does take it make you kind of stop and realize wait, this is not this isn't Amtrak, this isn't what I'm sitting through at in town, the the the cargo train bustling by, you know, it's a much, much different experience.

SPEAKER_01: Totally, totally agree.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's wonderful.

That's wonderful.

Now, now what for somebody again who who isn't familiar with Rocky Mountaineer, I'm gonna assume the accommodations on board are just the same as your uh train cars in in Canada.

But when they're on the train, what can they expect as far as what train cars are going to look like?

Are they sitting in big, nice, like plush chairs, or are they more like bench style seating?

SPEAKER_01: Could you imagine bench style seating for a luxury train?

No, not even good.

Our seats are built in Switzerland.

They have capabilities to fully recline.

You have a uh foot rest that comes up to uh if you want your feet elevated, you have charging capabilities at your seat, LED lighting.

Of course, I already talked about the hosts and hostesses on board who are offering exceptional service and personalized, you know, really catering to everyone's needs and wants and desires along board the train.

You have huge windows that also go up over the side, and you have a dome.

It's not a full dome window, but the the curvature of the car where it turns is all glass as well.

So the rooftop is roof, if you will, with with uh lights and everything.

But then the curvature where that car starts to turn to arch into the ceiling, that's all glass.

So it's a partial glass dome train car, single story.

You have an outdoor veranda space on every single car that holds around six to eight people uh outside anytime you like.

You have a full kitchen on board with chefs once again catering to you, cooking made-to-order food a few feet away.

You're looking at around one to two appetizer options, two to three entree options, and a dessert option for breakfast, lunch, and also dinner if you're going the eastbound route from Moab to Glenwood Springs.

And uh on top of that, of course, you have your Silverleaf Plus, which is uh a whole different higher level with that lounge car offering a lot more space to move around, the mixologists on board making incredible signature drinks, more premium alcohol on there, and of course, an additional selections of meals at mealtime if you're on the Silverleaf Plus.

But I mean, this this train is really it's it's quite unique.

It's it's not like your Alaska Railroad, it's not your Amtrak.

It's it's definitely set up in such a great way.

In fact, once again, reach out to Kevin if you'd like to see some great videos or pictures of these different train cars or what it's like on board.

And we'll be sharing uh definitely uh lots of great different tools and resources with Kevin so that you're able to once again, you know, really look at the different hotels, make a trip of your own, working with your budget and do what makes sense for you and put something together that's just going to be a trip of a lifetime for the near season when everyone wants to travel in 2021 close to home.

But on board, it's our train cars.

We're not trying to use someone else's train cars, we're bringing them down right from the Canadian Rockies.

SPEAKER_02: Fantastic, fantastic.

Well, man, I know this has kind of been a uh a quick hitting uh podcast episode, but you know, the the main point of it was, you know, just wanting to get this out to everybody for everybody to know that, you know, there's so many opportunities coming up, especially everybody's just over being home.

The demand is insane for travel.

And, you know, like I said, I just got word of this and I was like, oh my gosh, we've got to get it out there.

People got to know about it.

And, you know, I encourage anybody, contact your favorite travel agent.

If you don't have a favorite, I'll be your favorite.

You contact me at Better Days Travel and um be sure to take care of you.

But I mean, uh, Jeff, is there anything else that you think you would like to share about this awesome opportunity?

SPEAKER_01: I mean, the only other thing is I just want to push everyone to if you don't, if you aren't working with a travel professional, Kevin is your guy.

He is so knowledgeable and resourceful.

He literally will listen to exactly what you want when you want.

And I I really believe he is uh, for one, he's a preferred partner of ours.

I wouldn't be doing these podcasts if he wasn't as good as he is and on all he does, but he really goes above and beyond out of his way to deliver a true trip of a lifetime for all of you.

So please do reach out to him.

He's got great tools and resources that I'm sharing with him today on this brand new route.

And of course, we also operate in the Canadian Rocky, so another big route that is definitely seeing great demand over the near future.

I can't thank you all enough for your time and just wishing you all a very happy holidays and stay healthy and safe these days during the pandemic.

SPEAKER_02: So thank you.

Well, awesome.

Well, Jeff, thank you, Rocky Mountaineer.

Thank you.

Thank you for giving this awesome uh new light to uh 2021 and beyond.

We're all ready for it.

And everybody out there, you know, let's think about it.

Rocky Mountaineer, let's go for it.

Let's make 2021 the year that 2020 was supposed to have been.

So that's so true.

Awesome.

Jeff, thank you so much, everybody listening.

Hope you have an awesome day.

And uh thanks for listening.

Bye.

SPEAKER_00: And that's the lowdown on life and travel.

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And until next time, just keep living and enjoying life like it was meant to be.