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This article is noticably more creative in its writing than the average nytimes article. Maybe a long train ride does a writer good (and anyone else who needs to think outside the box).
https://www.arts.gov/audio/writing-rails-amtrak-residency-wr...
They aren't organized (I just dumped them), and Gallery2 is showing its age, but if you'd like to see a bunch of photos from on-board the train, here you go: https://nuxx.net/gallery/v/travel/sf_via_amtrak_nov_2009/all...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, but Sweden is small. In the US, people routinely drive distances where you would be flying or using the train. The mountains make things a bit different, but I think in general it's true.
The argument would be that you don't need to travel where you can't take the train. If you have a job that requires it, quit.
This is just the work side of things. What about family? A loved one is sick, or dies. Should I not travel to be with them, to help, to grieve with my family? Should I ask for a teleconference into the funeral?
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…
> It's worth it, really How much does it cost?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's worth it, really How much does it cost?
An absolute fortune. I've looked into this, and it isn't economical in any way, shape, or form. Flying across the continent is MUCH cheaper, and with your number of vacation days usually being limited, gives you a lot more time at your destination. The only reason to do this is because you really want to spend your vacation time sitting in a train watching rural American scenery go by in states like Montana. It's sor…
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…
> But get a sleeper compartment, don't sit with the cattle. Cattle?
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…
> But get a sleeper compartment, don't sit with the cattle. Cattle?
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…
After MacWorld we did a little sightseeing, then took the Coast Starlight to Portland, where we changed to the Empire Builder back to Chicago.
Except what actually happened was that an avalanche in the Cascades held us up until a work train called "Snowball" showed up to clear the tracks. It had a massive snowblower, a plow, a flat car, a crane car, and a couple of coaches full of workers and equipment.
We then missed our connection, so they loaded us on double-decker buses that raced to catch up with the Empire Builder. It was very memorable.
This article shows how culturally different Sweden and U.S. are. In Sweden it has become taboo to use the plane for any travel destination where you can go by train, to the level where we see the complete opposite headlines here ("There is no reason to fly when you can take the train"). You need to have a very good reason to fly at all or the pitchforks will get you. I've personally completely stopped flying.
To be fair, NY → LA is over 4,000 KM. Would you fly to say, Bulgaria? Southern Italy?
I once took the train from the Detroit area (BMM -- Birmingham) to San Francisco, roughly... 9.5 years ago. I went alone, had a sleeper cabin to myself, and loved it. I really want to do it again, this time maybe stopping off places on the way. What I particularly enjoyed was the route west seemed timed to pass through the Rockies and Sierra Nevada during daylight. Basically, I went to sleep around Omaha, woke in Col…