I've traveled over 4,500 miles on Amtrak trains. My rides have been great and filled with surprises.

After traveling over 4,500 miles on Amtrak, I've learned some surprising things about train travel.

Malia Yoshioka In three months, I've traveled over 4,500 miles on Amtrak trains and come across some surprises.

For example, my routes sometimes coincide with Amtrak's partnership with the National Park Service.

I've also learned that Amtrak trains don't have middle seats.

From taking a bullet train in Japan to backpacking around Europe, I've visited 43 countries so far, and I try to travel by rail whenever possible.

However, when I reviewed the states I've visited in the US over the years, I found that I almost always flew to get from point A to point B, bypassing most of the country in the process.

So, I recently decided to focus on flight-free travel in order to see as many states as I could from the ground.

Amtrak has been the perfect way for me to do that.

In just three months, I've traveled more than 4,500 miles, crossing through two countries and 17 US states, as well as Washington, DC .

Here are a few things that have surprised me most about the rides.

There are no middle seats on Amtrak trains The seats on Amtrak trains are organized in pairs.

Dragos Asaftei/Shutterstock One of the main draws of Amtrak is that passengers will never get stuck with a dreaded middle seat.

Instead, all the seats in coach are organized in pairs.

This is especially great when the route is less crowded and I'm able to have a whole row to myself.