There's a photo of a guy burning brush in his backyard and the caption says "Somewhere in Illinois. One of Amtrak’s main selling points is the chance to spy on the nation’s hidden places, the backyards whose possible existence had never occurred to you." It's interesting for me to look at that photo and think "I too have peered into that guy's yard. I don't recall specifically, but I took that train and if I happened to be on the same side... then presumably..."
There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway
111–120 of 468 posts
Re: There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway
#112Earlier 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…
As pure transit, I agree with you.
But that price includes the sleeper and meals. If you view this as the vacation itself, it's not far off the price you'd be paying for hotels and meals.
Re: There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
According to the first paragraph in the article, it costs $1,089.
Does "sleeper car" mean you're getting a bed, or just that you're riding in that car but maybe in a seat? I'm not familiar with train travel, sorry.
You get seats in a cabin that convert into bed(s).
Re: There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
According to the first paragraph in the article, it costs $1,089.
Does "sleeper car" mean you're getting a bed, or just that you're riding in that car but maybe in a seat? I'm not familiar with train travel, sorry.
Coach/economy/steerage means you spend the night in your seat. Sleeper means you get to sleep (in a bed).
Re: There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway
#115New Canadian citizens get a Cultural Access Pass which enables them to a 50% discount on Canadian train travel with VIARail (among a ton of other perks).
https://media.viarail.ca/en/press-releases/2015/10-july-2015...
Re: There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway
#116This 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.
Many people are fine with taking the train in the US when it's remotely competitive in terms of time and price. However, in practice, that mostly means a subset of the Northeast Corridor (the whole thing is about an 8-hour trip vs. a short flight) or a handful of various city pairs that are only a few hundred miles apart. But it's simply not practical for me to take the train from Boston to Chicago, much less San Fra…
Quite. Makes sense to do train from NY-Boston or NY-Washington. Maybe Washington-Boston, but 5 hours is probably about the limit.
I suspect few people in Sweden would recommend traveling Stockholm to Madrid by train
Re: There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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.
After 14 hours of silence you might think twice!
Spending 14 hours alone in silence is the sort of day I fantasize about.
Re: There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway
#118While I am still going to do the empire builder. The theme I generally hear is: "despite it being more expensive, takes longer, it is an amazing trip that I would never take again"
Re: There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does "sleeper car" mean you're getting a bed, or just that you're riding in that car but maybe in a seat? I'm not familiar with train travel, sorry.
Coach/economy/steerage means you spend the night in your seat. Sleeper means you get to sleep (in a bed).
But you get a whole 'room' to yourself for that price or just get bunk in a room with a bunch of other people.
Re: There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
The observation car is a special car you can visit that has better visibility. Nobody is forced to go there.
But some people might want the observe the sights and not have a lot of noise around them, right? Not really sure it's fair to pollute a public space with your music when not everyone might like it, or have the confidence to say when they don't like it. Not very nice to say to people you're going to subject them to music and if they don't like it their only option is to leave. Doesn't really sound right does it?
Maybe, but having to view the scenery from your own seat instead of from the observation car is pretty far removed from “hell.”