Is this the world's most epic rail journey? You be the judge

I'm two bites into my braised beef rib when I lean back and start to chuckle. We're surrounded by the snow-capped Rocky Mountains and weaving through sleepy high-altitude towns in Colorado, and I'm laughing because I've broken just about every travel rule I adhere to.

Where's my luggage? No idea.

Am I taking the fastest route? Definitely not.

And given I'm not driving, why can't I sleep? There's something about the rocking of a car, train or plane that knocks me out, but not on the Rocky Mountaineer. It might have something to do with the food, the view, the service, the viewing deck, the cocktails ... and did I mention the view?

So I lean back and decide to embrace it, even though I've now asked a few times where and how my luggage will already be in the next hotel room before me.

"Don't worry," someone grins. "It's all part of the experience."

And it is. Because the Rocky Mountaineer isn't a train to get you from point A to point B, it's a journey. You travel exclusively in daylight so you don't miss the bald eagle flying by, you stay in hotels along the way instead of sleeping onboard, and the staff make sure you get as much or as little information about the landmarks as you want while the chef prepares your food.

This Rockies to the Red Rocks route is a relatively new option for the Rocky Mountaineer, which started with different legs through the Canadian Rockies in 1990.

The company expanded into the US in 2021 and launched its leg from Denver - described as a place where "urban sophistication meets outdoor adventure" at the foot of the Colorado Rockies - to Moab, an easy-to-miss spot on the map but an Utah town which will blow your mind with its desert beauty.

That contrast is exactly why the Rockies to the Red Rocks works. You start and finish in completely different worlds, and you can pick how you get there depending on your preferences.

Cocktail at 9am? No worries. Want to listen to music or a podcast? Go for it. A nap? Take one whenever you want. Everyone on the train is heading to the same spot, but you choose your own journey. Which is exactly what I do as I sit glued to the giant windows.

The first time you're told to leave your suitcase in the hotel room is a little unnerving. It's a legitimate goodbye, too. You close the hotel door, hand your key to reception and begin the trip on a crisp Denver morning while your luggage is somewhere else.

To create more room for windows, the luggage travels separately to the train. It goes via bus or truck to the next destination and is already in your room by the time you arrive.

The concerns about when, where and how drift away like the autumn leaves on the breeze outside, signifying the looming end of the seasonal route which runs between April and October.

Part of the package includes transfers to and from the train to hotels in Denver, Glenwood Springs and Moab, so it's a 15-minute bus ride through Denver to get to the train at a railyard. With two locomotives at the front, there's enough power to pull the 10 cars behind which can cater for more than 270 passengers at a time.

Travelling by train has never been my first preference and as a rail rookie, I'm part sceptic and part excited even after spending the past 26 hours in and out of airports.

What sets the Rocky Mountaineer apart is the personalised touch. You get to know the chef and the three wait staff/tour guides/historians (yes, they wear all of these hats!) and they get to know you. It helps them understand what you want out of the trip, and it helps you understand how the machine ticks.

It's not long before the first meal arrives (after consultation with chef Joey about your choice) and the Rockies loom large as we exit the sprawling suburbs of Denver. You eat while in your seat, but not like you do on a plane. Your elbows aren't tucked in, you're not fumbling flimsy cutlery and your restaurant-quality food comes beautifully prepared on a plate instead of one of those foil covers (and there's no middle seat, which is a bonus). The big blue napkin goes down first followed by cutlery, a drink and then the scone, waffles and bacon.

On the Canadian tours, there's a specific dining room where all meals are served. The Rocky Mountaineer would have done the same in the US, but the size of the 30-odd tunnels we're about to pass through don't allow for the extra height required to do so.

I'm fine with that. There's plenty of room and the journey moves smoothly between meal-time and look-out-the-window time.

We've just started climbing after leaving the outskirts of Denver, going past the Big Ten Curve where you get your first glimpse of the entire Rocky Mountaineer before starting to creep up the side of Crescent Mountain. It's as we're waiting to go through one of the many tunnels when I meet a group of travellers - Matt, Sherry and Tracy. They're on board as a joint anniversary and birthday present for twins Sherry and Tracy's parents, who are from Tennessee and rarely travel.

The entire family had been holidaying in Glenwood Springs when the train went past and they wondered what it was and where it was going, so they bought tickets six months ago. The sealer was the ending in Moab given Matt and Sherry are on a mission to visit all 65 national parks in the US, and Moab has two. So far they've ticked off more than 30.

Train manager Chris Woods, who has been with the Rocky Mountaineer for 20 years, says the train's clientele is trending younger. "It's easier for people in the US to get to and it's a shorter trip," he says. "We get rail fans or people who have never been on a train. And the big draw is the national parks and being able to get there to see them."

Travel habits have changed since COVID-19. Woods says people are looking at alternative ways to explore, which means investigating options they hadn't considered previously. Train travel falls into that category for some. It draws people on family trips, celebrating anniversaries and birthdays, as well as rail enthusiasts and some people who just don't like planes.

I run into Sherry and Tracy's mum Debbie not long after. "First of all it's just great our kids want to spend time with us," Debbie says with her Tennessee twang. She's 70 (but about to turn 71) and is also celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary with husband Sam. "Isn't this all wonderful? Everything is done for you," Debbie adds. "The views, the relaxing. It's wonderful ... I might get that margarita later."

By now we're high up in the Rockies. You can see more than 200 mountain peaks from Denver - the Mile High City - and most of them have snow. The scenery changes from dry grass and shrubs on the way out of town to trickling streams, aspen trees with the last of their leaves and greenery all around.

The weather has changed, too. It's still the same clear, blue sky above, but the warmth of Denver has given way to mountain freshness. There's something about the cool blast out on the viewing deck that makes you feel calm (and awake) as the train climbs from about 1.6 kilometres above sea level to almost three kilometres. Usually these areas are swarming with skiers in winter and outdoor adventurers in summer, but we're between seasons so it's relatively quiet as we move through Fraser, Winter Park and Tabernash at a slow enough pace to imagine the hectic crowds during the peak ski times.

The service of those driving the train matches those in the passenger carriages. When there's something to see - the tallest mountain peaks, the wildlife, the winding Colorado River or the changing geology - the train slows down. When there's not much going on (which is rarely), they speed up but only to a maximum of 100 kilometres per hour.

Perhaps that's why it's taking me so long to get through this beef rib. I've decided to savour it while the mountains pass by.

One thing I'm really bad at is taking photos. I know what makes a great photo and I can see it, but by the time I grab my phone it's too late. The perfect shot has been blocked by a tree.

I agonise over this for a little while and have my phone out and ready, but then I realise it doesn't really matter because the best view is the next view. It might be different, but it's still gorgeous.

The windows are enormous and they wrap up and over to cover part of the carriage roof. Again, this is different to the Canadian Rocky Mountaineer, which has all-glass ceilings. But there's enough space to allow you to see from the ground to the sky and everything in between, be it the mountains, spectacular canyons, or local creatures.

By the time we arrive in Glenwood Springs just before the sun goes down, I've seen everything from the Rockies to dramatic canyons and some wildlife, too.

The hosts know the best places and trees along the way to spot wildlife. "Bald eagle to the right," staff member Paul says excitedly. The message usually comes from the front of the train to alert the carriages there's deer or eagles flying by, and staff also scan constantly for geological and historical landmarks of interest.

"We get a lot of people who do a round trip," Woods says. "Every time the weather changes, so does the trip.

"In Canada the scenery [on the train] is on top of you. Here it changes much more dramatically and much more quickly. We started on the great plains, we climb the Rockies and now we're following the Colorado River to the high desert of Utah. It feels like you never want to stop looking out the window."

Just before the sun goes down we arrive at Glenwood Springs, where our hotel (included in the package) is right across the street from the station. Sure enough, my bag is inside my room when I get there.

We've arrived with enough time to do a little exploring of the hot springs and streets in this small town of 10,000, which sits not far from the Aspen ski resorts. Frequented by mobsters and US presidents throughout the 1900s, today it's a mix of old-world charm - including hotels that look like they're straight out of the gold rush days - and modern life.

This is the best kind of stopover, I think to myself as I stroll around the town. There's no lugging a bag through unfamiliar streets or battling security lines. And when it's time to board the train the next day at 7am, it's easy. I say goodbye to my luggage in the hotel room, hand in my key and walk across the street to be greeted by smiles again.

"How easy was that," a couple from Dallas says.

The sun starts to rise over the mountains behind us as we move further west, and this is where the real magic of the journey comes in. It's a shorter train ride today in terms of distance (about five hours), but there's so much to see it's hard for your eyes to keep up.

We move into canyons where the rocks turn a shade of red, orange or purple depending where the sun is. The train slows as we pass through Ruby Canyon, where river rafters wave and then turn to do the "Colorado salute" - a tradition dating back some time where you show your buttocks to a passing train.

Guide Lacy points out Native American ladders carved into the rock, which were used to climb from top to bottom in search of food, water and shelter. No ropes, no guide rails. Just steps in the rock. To the right is the Colorado-Utah border marker on a red rock ... and the landscape changes again. It becomes harsher and redder as we see more and more of the desert on the Colorado Plateau. And the last part of the journey to Moab slows to a crawl as we leave the Rockies behind. Not because of what is outside, but rather what is underneath as we switch from the main, smooth track, which regularly ferries Amtrak passengers and cargo across the country, to the clunkity clunk of the line of an older time.

Moab is a small town that experienced a boom in riches in the 1950s after the discovery of uranium. Even still, there were no passenger trains to the town of a little more than 5000 people until the Rocky Mountaineer started its route two years ago. It's hard to believe given the beauty on the town's doorstep - the Moab and the Canyonlands national parks. We see parts of both as the train changes track.

By the time we arrive at the rail siding, which is about 15 minutes outside of Moab, I'm completely relaxed and I wish the journey would continue. Every staff member on the train hints at expansion soon, but nothing has been locked in yet.

The best part is that every passenger does the trip differently. Some nap, others work in between views. You can put in your headphones and be in your own world or you can listen to the stories and history of the land surrounding you. No one judges you. No one questions you. No one is concerned with anything except making sure your journey is the one you want to go on.

So I start to reflect on where I started and where I finished, both physically and mentally.

Was I worried about my luggage? Nope, not at all.

Was it the quickest route? Not even close. It took us close enough to two days with one stopover while cars can do the same trip in about six hours.

Did I sleep? My eyes felt heavy just once on the trip. And 10 minutes in the morning air on the viewing platform quickly changed that.

My travel rules will never be the same.

Getting there: United Airlines flies from Melbourne and Sydney to Denver via San Francisco or Los Angeles. There are two daily flights out of Moab - one to Denver and one to Salt Lake City. See united.com

On the Rocky Mountaineer: The Rockies to the Red Rocks journey starts in either Denver, Colorado, or Moab, Utah, and runs seasonally from mid April to late October. Packages start from $2289 for a two-day rail journey, which includes one night of accommodation. Excursions, flights and accommodation before and after the trip can be added, as well as choosing to start in Denver or Moab, or doing a seven-day round trip. The SilverLeaf Plus category will give you access to two lounge cars as well as your seat.

Explore more: rockymountaineer.com

Read more on Explore:

1 The food is restaurant quality. There's no lining up at the buffet cart of wrestling with plastic sandwich wrappers. It's fine dining while you're on the move.

2 There's plenty of room. The SilverLeaf Plus category on the Rockies to the Red Rocks journey gives you access to three different cars. You can remain in your seat, stand on a viewing deck or move between the two lounge and bar cars.

3 Train legs are a real thing. We all know about sea legs, but you get a bit of a shock at the end of the first day when your body feels like it's still rocking even though you're not on the train any more.

4 You get a history and geology lesson along the way. The hosts know every twist and turn, even which trees Bald eagles frequent.

The writer travelled as a guest of Rocky Mountaineer.

Pictures: Getty Images; supplied.