Travel Tales Podcast

Show/Hide Navigation

• Home
• Articles
• Podcasts
• About
• Contact

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

When it comes to memorable travel experiences, people who travel most often tend to be a discerning bunch. If those people happen to be professional travel bloggers on top of it, sometimes it can take even more to impress.

For the second chapter of my 2017 Rocky Mountaineer train experience, I thought I’d get the opinions of established travel experts and my fellow RM Brand Ambassadors aboard North America’s premier scenic train journey.

Back in April, I was lucky enough to ride Rocky Mountaineer for the second time, taking the Journey Through the Clouds route from Vancouver, BC to Jasper, Alberta. On board with me were fellow bloggers/Brand Ambassadors Zippy Sandler, Ava Roxanne Stritt, Susan Lanier-Graham, Nancy D. Brown, Cacinda Maloney and Carol Perehudoff. All were nice enough to sit with me and share their thoughts about Rocky Mountaineer as a travel experience.

To hear the full interviews on the Travel Tales Podcast, go to the Podcasts section here.

As we rolled through the changing scenery, from the coastal mountain range outside Vancouver, through the high desert climates of rural BC, and rising gently up the Canadian Rockies, I sat down to hear from the experts what opinions they had about the RM experience.

The first thing you’ll notice is that the guests are all women! Turns out I was the only male blogger on this particular trip (no complaints from me.) This is not to say that Rocky Mountaineer is a travel experience that skews toward females (if anything, it’s mostly couples), but it just turned out that way this time. I was more than OK with it – we all got along splendidly.

It was my pleasure to meet these women, and to also learn about their various blogs and websites. All are successful in their fields and have loyal followings. When you hear them, you will know why.

First up is a lady with my favorite name of the bunch: Zippy Sandler. Her site is ChampagneLiving.net, which she describes as a site for people who want to live the “champagne” lifestyle for not a lot of money.

Zippy has a lifetime of experience in the hospitality industry, so I wanted her opinion of the Rocky Mountain service:

“The quality and level of service (on Rocky Mountaineer) is absolutely superior,” Zippy says, “I think that’s what sets it apart from other train travel, or even resorts.”

Like most of us who’ve written or simply shared our experiences with Rocky Mountaineer, Zippy realized the biggest misconception people have about the train is that guests sleep on it overnight. They do not! And Zippy is more than OK with that.

“I think that adds to the luxury – being able to stay at these wonderful hotels along the way,” she says, adding that sleeping on a train is not all that it’s cracked up to be. “I don’t want to have to call top bunk!”

For someone constantly on social media, not having wiFi on the train forced Zippy out of her comfort zone.

“I think it’s the ultimate vacation for unplugging…It forces you to relax. It’s a nice way to unplug, really get back to enjoying nature, enjoying what’s around you, and to engage with new people too. It’s a great way to make new friends.”

Next up was Ava Roxanne Stritt of SpaTravelgal.com. Her site focuses on luxury travel, or what she called, “luxury exclusive experiences.” Ava, a true Southern Belle, was on her second Rocky Mountaineer trip, having gone from Vancouver to Banff last year.

Her readers really responded to not only the train part of the trip, but the experiences the rider can have before and after the journey as well, whether it be exploring Vancouver restaurants or fly-fishing in Banff and Lake Louise.

As an expert in spa facilities, Ava had high praise for her time spent in Banff, specifically the outdoor hot tubs. “It was too cold to go swimming, but not too cold to get in a hot tub,” said Ava. “Just watching the steam come up and having the snow-capped mountains around you, I’ve still not forgotten it.”

I asked her what kind of travel experiences her readers most respond to. “One of the luxury benefits they look for is something that’s exclusive,” Ava said. “this is an exclusive way to see the Canadian Rockies.

“You can only see the Canadian Rockies from this angle on the train. You’ll see it the way the bears see it!”

Baby Boomers are a key demographic for Rocky Mountaineer, and one blogger who focuses on the active Boomer is Nancy D. Brown of the appropriately named NancyDBrown.com, a site she says focuses on “luxury and active adventure travel for the Baby Boomer.”

Horseback riding is a specialty of Nancy’s. She described her past experiences riding in Banff as “great,” and recommends guests leave time before or after their train journey for extra activities. In fact, one of her all-time favorite horse riding experiences was outside of Banff, on a journey to a place called the Beehive. “You can go to a tea house, stop and tie your horse up there. It was wonderful.”

“(The horse owners) are very flexible,” said Nancy. “You can do a one-hour ride, you can be led around on a horse…you can go for a half-day, or you can stay overnight and backpack into the Canadian Rocky Mountains.”

Horses aside, Nancy sees the Rocky Mountaineer experience as one of ease:

“Once you get there, they will guide you onto the train, you just pull out your cellphone, take amazing shots, you’re fed well, and at night they just bring you your luggage. It’s just a no-brainer in lovely, lovely country.”

For Susan Lanier-Graham of WanderWithWonder.com, luxury is part of the story, but only if it comes packaged with what she calls “Wow Moments.” What’s a Wow Moment you ask?

“Of course it’s anything that makes you say ‘Wow’” she laughed, but it’s also “those things you find different. Those authentic moments that make people say, ‘I can’t find this in my daily life.’”

Both Susan and I were on board RM for the second time, having taken the trip to Banff in 2015. For someone raised in the Colorado Rockies, Susan still finds Rocky Mountaineer a unique experience unto itself.

“I had taken a lot of train trips,” she said, “but those were all the little Colorado Rocky train trips, and so I didn’t really expect it to be the unique luxury experience that Rocky Mountaineer is all about. So for me this was really a once-in-a-lifetime trip that’s now become a second lifetime experience!”

“Rocky Mountaineer gives you a chance to experience the Canadian Rockies in a way you can’t do unless you’re sitting on this train,” said Susan. “You get a private tour in a way that no one else can give it to you.”

Cacinda Maloney also took her first Rocky Mountaineer trip back in 2015 and her website, PointsAndTravel.com focuses not only on her experiences, but also on culture, soft adventure, and something she likes to call “smart luxury.” She describes the typical Rocky Mountaineer guest as “Upscale. Adventurous, they want to see the world. And they’re a lot of fun.”

When asked what her favorite parts of Rocky Mountaineer were, Cacinda was quick with an answer: “It’s gotta be the dining car.” she said. “That and going outside and taking photographs. But the dining is just fantastic.”

“(Rocky Mountaineer) is a once-in-a-lifetime iconic thing to do on your bucket list, and I know a lot of people don’t like the term ‘bucket list’, but I’m of the genre that says I want a lot of things on my bucket list, and it’s one of them.”

My final interview was with the blogger who has climbed aboard Rocky Mountaineer more than any other, and just might be it’s biggest fan. Carol Perehudoff, the founder and namesake behind the site WanderingCarol.com, describes her brand as “The unpretentious guide to luxury travel. I like to combine luxury and humor, and I think a lot of people do.”

Carol is a Canadian through and through. A Saskatchewan native now residing in Quebec, she says she is “probably Rocky Mountaineer’s biggest fan. I have done three routes now. They are all different in amazing ways.”

“I’ve been trying to figure out why I love the outdoor car so much, which is my absolute favorite,” Carol said. “It’s like a magic carpet. You’re outside, you’re going through temperature changes, climate changes, landscape changes, the scents of pine and then arid desert…you can tell I love it..I love it!”

As for what other features she recommends, Carole is a big fan of GoldLeaf Service. “You’ve got the bi-level dome, you’ve got the outdoor part, you’ve got that amazing dining – you have it in all cars but that dining is superb.”

When asked to wrap up her feelings about the train she’s ridden so often and clearly loves, Carole boiled it down to one word:

“Epic.”

Though I haven’t clocked as many journeys as Carole on the train, after only two rides on Rocky Mountaineer, I’d have to agree with her:

“Epic” says it all.

To find out more about Rocky Mountaineer and to book your once-in-a-lifetime journey, go to RockyMountaineer.com.