161–170 of 468 posts
What I am really asking is, how reliable is wifi/internet and is it available through the entire journey?
I would not mind a workcation this way, but probably could not afford a satphone’s data plan.
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…
I’ve done Shanghai to Urumqi before in a hard sleeper. I don’t think I really saw much outside (no observation car, monotonous farming fields), but the people on the train were really interesting (eg Pakistani traders using the train to get back home).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Cattle class" is a kinda faux-pejorative term for economy/coach/whatever the cheapest cabin is in some mode of transport.
Faux-pejorative indeed. Cattle are required to be given more space when being transported, than humans are, in Europe. Human class is below cattle class.
If Amtrak would add reliable paid WiFi and upgrade their cars, train would be exceedingly worth it. The next step would be to repair the tracks, which are shared by freight and passenger, which makes the ride worse.
Adding WiFi wouldn’t help. It would probably be a cellular based WiFi service massively shared and no better coverage than you would get with your own data plan.
I really enjoyed driving across the country three times. Anyone do both, and can compare?
I've done short-on-time utilitarian driving trips too (all interstates, etc), and I'd definitely choose the train over that.
It also doesn't constrain your other leg, which can be flown if it fits your needs better. If you're only going one way, I'd recommend going east to west on the train. The train novelty will get you out of the dense Northeast, and then you can settle in after Chicago.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Trains can also be pretty quaint in Europe today now that low cost airlines like Easyjet and Ryanair offer cheap flights to most major cities. I live in Berlin and even domestic trains are far more expensive than domestic flights to medium and large cities.
Ignorant American question. Why is this the case? What are the costs that railroads are having to pay that makes them more expensive?
That said, I did once survive a 24 hour delay on Amtrak between Chicago and Oakland. It was the middle of winter and track was splitting, so the train would move a few miles and then wait a few hours for the crew to replace the broken rail.
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.
Undoubtedly there are cultural differences. However, you are attributing to cultural difference things that are more directly linked to geographical differences that have contributed to limited rail infrastructure and route availability. First & foremost, US rail is minimal in terms of routes offered and significantly more expensive. Compared to planes, it's at least double the cost, and 4x to 5x the cost if you want…
The problem with the US isn't size, it's political will. America simply does not want to have high-quality, high-speed train service.
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…
I’ve done Shanghai to Urumqi before in a hard sleeper. I don’t think I really saw much outside (no observation car, monotonous farming fields), but the people on the train were really interesting (eg Pakistani traders using the train to get back home).
But even so, it was a wonderful experience. The Chinese landscape is nothing short of awesome. And the culture that unfolded was completely unknown to me, so constantly interesting.
One thing that really made me take notice was the wide range of people. On the way to the Shanghai train station, we had walked by a Lamborghini dealership (I don't recall ever having seen even one of these in the USA) - there's a not-insignificant population of filthy rich people in and around Shanghai. But on the train we saw people peasants using an ox to plow a rice paddy of only a fraction of an acre. The degree of inequality was hugely wider than America or any other nation I've seen.
EDIT: the Shanghai airport maglev train was an interesting experience just to say I've gone 300+mph on a train, but otherwise totally boring.