111–120 of 267 posts
train travel is almost always the most expensive option compared to car, bus or plane alternatives. from a sustainability perspective an insanely lobsided state of affairs, the result of a century long of distorted incentives and policies. what could be more pleasant than being able to criss-cross Europe in night trains that are affordable, comfortable and sustainable? makes sense both for business and tourism. you c…
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train travel is almost always the most expensive option compared to car, bus or plane alternatives. from a sustainability perspective an insanely lobsided state of affairs, the result of a century long of distorted incentives and policies. what could be more pleasant than being able to criss-cross Europe in night trains that are affordable, comfortable and sustainable? makes sense both for business and tourism. you c…
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You're right that China has security checks for trains but I don't consider them comparable to flying. The train security checks are much faster. I've rarely had to wait more than 5 minutes in line. You don't have to take off your shoes, don't have to take out laptops and things from your luggage, and drinks and liquids are generally allowed. I've only on a couple occasions been asked by security in China to take a s…
The shoe thing is an American peculiarity. In Europe I never had to take off my shoes, even when I flew to the US. And now some airports (eg LCY) don’t even require taking liquids and laptops out of the luggage.
It didn't happen when flying to domestic destinations in China, so it makes me think the US requested that to happen.
train travel is almost always the most expensive option compared to car, bus or plane alternatives. from a sustainability perspective an insanely lobsided state of affairs, the result of a century long of distorted incentives and policies. what could be more pleasant than being able to criss-cross Europe in night trains that are affordable, comfortable and sustainable? makes sense both for business and tourism. you c…
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Get rid of half of it. Especially the liquid limits, unnecessary pat downs, shoe removal, etc.
The shoes and belts thing is ridiculous, I agree. But there's a legitimate reason for the liquid ban to which I'm not sure there's much of a solution, is there?
* Airport security got much more invasive post-9/11. For decades before that, people flew safely without these tight security measures. So, how much of the intensification is actually preventing another 9/11 versus just making us all feel like the government "did something"? I don't have an answer (genuinely I don't know :), but there are opinions all over the spectrum here.
* Even if we do accept that all the security steps are necessary and there isn't much we can change, we can still find it miserable and dehumanizing.
So, being able to travel by train, where security checks are either noninvasive or not even required, is a breath of fresh air. That's the point the commentor was making. They weren't proposing they could fix airports.
train travel is almost always the most expensive option compared to car, bus or plane alternatives. from a sustainability perspective an insanely lobsided state of affairs, the result of a century long of distorted incentives and policies. what could be more pleasant than being able to criss-cross Europe in night trains that are affordable, comfortable and sustainable? makes sense both for business and tourism. you c…
From the restfulness point of view, not so much. I am not a light sleeper but the train was noisy and jerky and the bed narrow with your body perpendicular to the direction of travel so it kinda sucked. Not really a "hotel on wheels" from that point of view.
There was no security to deal with, however on the train from Budapest to Vienna that I took the day prior was searched by armed police. Perhaps Vienna to Venice is a lesser destination for people the authorities want to screen out.
I don't have climate anxiety and I fly around a ton. On a 3-week euro tour where money wasn't really an object, it's totally worth it for the experience to do the night train. If time or money mattered then this would not have been the way I'd go.
As an aside, I've seen the train at best "break even" on time and experience. The Acella between Boston and NYC, and the Eurostar between Paris and London take longer than flying, even when factoring in the travel to the airport. If you want the uninterrupted train time to read or snooze then maybe it comes out ahead. Price wise the train is way less practical but with the company paying for my travel that's not an issue.
As Americans it's customary for us to genuflect to Europe for it's enlightened train connectivity and there are places where that works very well (eg Paris to Stroudsburg) but for cross-country travel it's not really that great.
NJ routes are unavailable on apps such as Trainline, nor on “regular” Oebb ticket shop.
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The interesting thing is that it that night trains can be quicker if you consider the waking. e.g. Zurich to Berlin - the train leaves at 8pm and gets in at 7am. So it is 2-3 waking hours spent. (Does of course depend on how well you sleep on trains)
Copenhagen to Berlin overnight. You go to bed in the train around midnight and wake up in Berlin around 8 or 9. Nothing can be more convenient.
I created a support ticket on the same day from inside the train. Only generic response. 2 weeks later I created another one. Same deal. About a week ago I contacted the arbitration board and the ÖBB refunded 100% of the ticket purchase price. I didn't except that.
This is really exemplary.
I'm guessing they receive a high volume of support requests and are understaffed.
The reason why we there was no sleeping wagon was apparently that it went defective.
I'm guessing the wagons are old and the cabins are small and it's about time they got replaced. Also this year the sheer volume of travelers was absurd. All the seating cabins were fully booked for over a month in advance. All that were was left were a few sleeping cabins every few days. That's why we booked them. But we couldn't book a 3 people cabin for 200€, (2 seats would've been 120€), because 1 male traveler booked 1 bed in it. So we had to book a 300€ 2 bed cabin.
Well I'm looking forward for the new wagons.