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There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway

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Re: There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway

#51

Post by volkl48 »

nickjj wrote: post #15
afarrell wrote: post #6

Note that the author took a sleeper car. In terms of price, this is a bit of a luxury. As someone who has taken the Lateshore Limited service all the way from Chicago to Boston in just a regular seat, I would strongly advise you NOT to do that. It is just miserable.

Yeah that's a big difference. The regular seats are a much different story. I've never done it but I read about how it's basically 3 days of sitting shoulder to shoulder with someone and there's no showers. Can't imagine what that would be like in a car filled with 50+ people. I did take the Amtrak from CT To Boston once and it wasn't too bad, but that was a few hour trip. Much different than a few days.

My understanding is that most people are not actually traveling coast to coast, but on shorter segments of the overall route. I don't think you're likely to be next to the someone for 3 days.

Re: There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway

#52

Post by ghaff »

Kiro wrote: post #41
elbasti wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, NY → LA is over 4,000 KM. Would you fly to say, Bulgaria? Southern Italy?

Yes, there's a big movement promoting night trains in Europe right now. I see "night train maps" in my feed all the time. Additionally one of the fastest growing Instagram accounts is one shaming influencers who are flying instead of taking the train.

And I work with lots of people in Europe who routinely fly all the time. I'm not sure how big a "movement" it is to take trains when it doesn't make sense in terms of time and money to do so. Not to put too fine a point on it, who cares what someone with an Instagram account says?

Re: There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway

#53

Post by ineedasername »

Kiro wrote: post #41
elbasti wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, NY → LA is over 4,000 KM. Would you fly to say, Bulgaria? Southern Italy?

Yes, there's a big movement promoting night trains in Europe right now. I see "night train maps" in my feed all the time. Additionally one of the fastest growing Instagram accounts is one shaming influencers who are flying instead of taking the train.

You might, but you talk of a movement. If it's in the "movement" stage, then it is very much not an ingrained part of the culture yet, which was your original claim. Ditto for the instagram account. That speaks to something that may be grass roots, but not cultural. Further, this mindset speaks towards an ingrained bias of privilege that many/most people probably can't actually afford. Even assuming the rail cost for a 4,000 to 6,000 km trip is comparable to flight, the ability to take upwards of 3-4 days of your time to leisurely make a trip requires you to have that much leisure time at your disposal.

Re: There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway

#54

Post by jackschultz »

Last year my sister had a week off and took the Empire Builder across the country out west. Lots of talk about how the sleeper car is worth it and I remembered she didn't, so I asked her her take and this is the response:

"I traveled alone on the Empire Builder from Milwaukee to Portland, Oregon (two nights/almost 48 hours) in June 2018. I wanted to get a sleeper car but waited too long to book so my only option was a regular seat. I knew I’d be unhappy if I went straight through two nights with no bed and no shower, so I made a stop in Whitefish, Montana for 24 hours. In the end it couldn’t have worked out better. I loved Whitefish and was happy to spend some time exploring the beautiful scenery I’d seen whizzing by. The sights around Glacier National Park were literally breathtaking.

As far as the train itself, I spent most of time in the observation car, and as a solo traveler I was happy to find everyone was very friendly. I’m only 5’2” and luckily didn’t have a seatmate so I could pretty much lay all the way down at night. A lot of people brought pillows and blankets, but I was ok without. Ear plugs and an eye mask were the key to getting any sleep. There were delays here and there which didn’t bother me because I had a very loose schedule anyway.

I don’t have enough good things to say about my trip! I’m looking for an excuse to take another long-haul train."

People have their own stories, so hopefully this gives another perspective.

Re: There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway

#55

Post by lucozade »

chillydawg wrote: post #25
nerdbaggy wrote: post #4

There are many great reasons to take a train across the U.S. When I was on sabbatical I took life at a slower pace. And riding the train was just an amazing beautiful slow experience. Sometimes we just go through life to fast, and a nice slow train does the body well

We should all remember that souls only travel at the speed of a camel, too.

I'm guessing you've never been on a galloping camel.

This is not a comforting observation...

Re: There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway

#56

Post by ams6110 »

Took Amtrak from Chicago to Las Vegas once. Worst travel experience of my life. Hit a car, had a breakdown in the mountains, and they lost my checked luggage. Over 24 hours late. Never again.

If you are ever tempted, just fly. It's cheaper, much faster, and you can spend the time and money you saved on something interesting.

Re: There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway

#57

Post by cooperadymas »

The most difficult part about rail travel seems to be booking it. I've looked multiple times at using Amtrak for both travel and for rail tourism, and I've never been able to fully understand what to book and how to book it. Maybe I'm being dense about it but it always feels unnecessarily complicated and confusing.

Re: There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway

#58

Post by galago »

chrisseaton wrote: post #31
CWuestefeld wrote: post #18

My wife and I did this several years back, New York to Chicago to San Francisco, and it really was a wonderful experience. But get a sleeper compartment, don't sit with the cattle. It's worth it, really. And that's even though we spent little time in our compartment almost the whole trip we were up in the observation car watching the American landscape roll by. One highlight of the trip was when storms over Helper, U…

> While waiting, there was a guy with a guitar in the observation car, and we had a nice sing-along. That bit sounds like hell to me but I'm glad you had fun! In the UK we have special carriages where you're not allowed to make a noise so you can avoid that kind of thing.

Amtrak has quiet cars, at least in the Northeast. I often take Boston-NYC and there seem to be a lot of business travelers. People who are riding in a train across Utah are probably in it for the experience.

Re: There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway

#59

Post by Townley »

Years ago, I took an Amtrak NY > Chicago > Seattle > SF > LA > Texas > New Orleans, stopping in each for a few days. I brought programming textbooks and some novels, and just read/thought all day long. At night I'd either eat in the dining car (expensive) or from a supply I'd picked up in the previous city. I'd get a sleeper car when it was cheap (eg Chicago > Seattle) and sleep in my seat during more expensive legs of the trip.

You meet people from every part of US culture (North Dakota oil field workers, Portland hippies, LA actors...) all unified by not being in a rush and a dislike of flying. On trips outside the NE corridor, the train attaches an observation car which becomes an incredible place to talk the night away with fellow passengers.

You have to be flexible, in sound physical shape, and have a month and $2k to part with (or you can just take on a few Wordpress theme contracts and call it even) but it's a truly wonderful experience for a certain person at a certain stage in their life.

Re: There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway

#60

Post by duxup »

CWuestefeld wrote: post #18

My wife and I did this several years back, New York to Chicago to San Francisco, and it really was a wonderful experience. But get a sleeper compartment, don't sit with the cattle. It's worth it, really. And that's even though we spent little time in our compartment almost the whole trip we were up in the observation car watching the American landscape roll by. One highlight of the trip was when storms over Helper, U…

That reminds me of the song America, it's about a bus ride, but similar idea about the journey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo2ZsAOlvEM

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