Amtrak launching "The Floridian" with daily service between Chicago and Miami...

[ThorneStockton]

Edit: let’s not even bring up the kids factor. If you’re traveling with kids this absolutely isn’t an option at all, and my kids are good travelers. This is basically for retirees and people not in any hurry which basically excludes everybody I know other than my parents.

Everyone has different perspectives of course but I loved taking the train as a kid from eastern Iowa to Chicago with my parents for a weekend. It was fun. We could move around. Easier to eat and drink and just overall more comfortable. Mom didn't have to drive. Didn't have to pay to park. The ride was part of the fun as opposed to just a means of getting there.

 

[ThorneStockton]

1. For the cost of a sleeper car you can probably get first class plane tickets, which aren’t tight.

2. What do you think happens first? Fully autonomous driving where the driver could literally sleep, especially on the highway overnight, or we build mind boggling amounts of high speed rail?

1. By all means, go for it!

2. I'm not all that knowledgeable about either of your proposals, but I would guess the car. We are very much a automobile country/culture.

Hope that helps!

 

[ZachJump]

Just got back from Italy yesterday. Holy shit are we ass backwards from a rail and overall travel perspective. 225 MPH comfortable trains that you can easily book and jump on every 30 minutes with a moment's notice. And don't get me started on what the Rome airport looks like compared to anywhere I've been in the U.S. Their Duty Free is one of the largest high end shopping experiences I've ever seen. Bvlgari, Saks, Ferragamo, Cartier, and many more. Dozens of real restaurants as well. It's like a completely different world of travel over there.

I made the mistake of taking the train once.

3 hour drive took 4 hours on the train, cost four times as much as driving, and I had no car when I got to Amsterdam.

 

[ThorneStockton]

I made the mistake of making the train once.

3 hour drive took 4 hours on the train, cost four times as much as driving, and I had no car when I got to Amsterdam.

Why would you want a car in Amsterdam?

 

[jonesy5960]

I made the mistake of taking the train once.

3 hour drive took 4 hours on the train, cost four times as much as driving, and I had no car when I got to Amsterdam.

So if I had to guess, your train had a problem or wasn't high speed.

 

[ZachJump]

Why would you want a car in Amsterdam?

Saves a ten minute walk to the hotel. Means I can leave when I want. Means I can stop off in Koln on the way home. Means I can have great plans that involves something other than the Red Light District, great plans that never seem to happen.

But really, just freedom the leave when I feel like it, shorter and cheaper ride home...and not having to arrange a ticket, then hangout and wait for the train, then get to Koln, and go hangout for another 30 minutes with my luggage waiting for the connection, while still trying to keep track of friends that would be better off sleeping my backseat

 

[ZachJump]

So if I had to guess, your train had a problem or wasn't high speed.

High speed gets negated by constantly stopping to pick up and let off people.

High speed gets negated by transfers.

 

[ThorneStockton]

Saves a ten minute walk to the hotel. Means I can leave when I want. Means I can stop off in Koln on the way home. Means I can have great plans that involves something other than the Red Light District, great plans that never seem to happen.

But really, just freedom the leave when I feel like it, shorter and cheaper ride home...and not having to arrange a ticket, then hangout and wait for the train, then get to Koln, and go hangout for another 30 minutes with my luggage waiting for the connection, while still trying to keep track of friends that would be better off sleeping my backseat

Ah yes, I hadn't considered the ten minute walk, that can be daunting. But fair point, it seems you use a car more so for arriving and leaving Amsterdam as opposed to utilizing it while there. I also hadn't considered the task of keeping track of friends, that's always tough without an automobile.

 

[ZachJump]

I also hadn't considered the task of keeping track of friends, that's always tough without an automobile.

When they have not stopped drinking for 24 hours...

 

[jonesy5960]

High speed gets negated by constantly stopping to pick up and let off people.

High speed gets negated by transfers.

So what route did you take exactly? I'm beginning to doubt the veracity of your claims.

 

[ThorneStockton]

When they have not stopped drinking for 24 hours...

As a oft vacation drunk myself, another reason I prefer riding the rails. Had many a fun evenings drinking with bunk mates who started out as strangers on overnight trains.


To be clear - to each their own - if you prefer a car, by all means. I was legitimately curious why a visitor would want a car in Amsterdam, which from my - limited perception - was very walkable and bikeable and seemed rather less car friendly. But you certainly have your own tastes and preferences.

 

[Randy Marsh]

High speed gets negated by constantly stopping to pick up and let off people.

High speed gets negated by transfers.

Yep. Have a hard time seeing anything of the sort ever happening hear to any scale. The political reasons are not mentioned enough either. Going high speed even in the northeast between Philly, DC, NYC and Boston would be nice, but the politicians and local governments will throw fits if their towns or cities in between are not on the route or don’t get a stop.

 

[ZachJump]

So what route did you take exactly? I'm beginning to doubt the veracity of your claims.

You start in Kaiserslautern, stop at every other stop between Kaiserslautern and Koln, transfer at Koln to one that is going to Amsterdam....look at the church from the station....can't go up and visit because it's a bit to far for the amount of the time you have, get on the train and go to Amsterdam...still have stops along the way, but at least not as much as Kaiserslautern to Koln.

Hell the time of the train ride, I didn't even include that I would have to leave Kaiserslautern, go Ramstien, pick up some friends, drive back to Kaiserslautern train station....when I could have just gone to Ramstien and left from there.

 

[SF HAWKEYE]

Took Amtrak from Osceola to Chicago this summer for work. I loved it. Took about 7 hours which isn't much longer than by car and was much more enjoyable. What I thought was crazy is they didn't even check my ticket. I could have rode for free. Was shocked at all the menonites on the train.

When I was a kid we took the California Zephyr. That was too long to be in coach. People started getting stinky. Also broke down in the desert and got awful hot in there. Might have been better in a sleeper.

 

[stanzithemanzi12]

Florida Amtrak mostly blows. Illinois DOT provides additional subsidies for their Amtrak service and the product is far superior.

Illinois spends more money than they should so this makes sense.

 

[ISUBryce]

Everyone has different perspectives of course but I loved taking the train as a kid from eastern Iowa to Chicago with my parents for a weekend. It was fun. We could move around. Easier to eat and drink and just overall more comfortable. Mom didn't have to drive. Didn't have to pay to park. The ride was part of the fun as opposed to just a means of getting there.

everybody is entitled to their own preferences, so trust me when I say I don’t begrudge anybody for the ways they like to do things.

When it comes to travel now though, my kids would be simply looking at their phones the whole way regardless of the method of travel.

Also, yeah you don’t have to pay to park, but you also need to find some way to get around, and that sure isn’t free.

 

[ThorneStockton]

Also, yeah you don’t have to pay to park, but you also need to find some way to get around, and that sure isn’t free.

Yes, unfortunately outside of maybe a couple/few dozen cities, we mostly lack the public transportation infrastructure to get around once you're where you want to be. Uber/Lyft has alleviated this to some degree, but there are certainly cities where the norm is drive from parking lot to parking lot.

I've got about 30,000 miles traveled on rails here, and I'll tell people it's not for everyone. It's rarely the fastest or the cheapest, but it can be just right for some people but they just don't know it. The comfort, the scenery, the novelty, the sociability. No need to focus on the road, so many pains of air travel are avoided. But trains have their own issues.

If cost and speed are the only consideration, there's few scenarios where trains in the USA will be the first choice.

 

[QChawks]

only if everyone dresses like this

 

[jasonrann]

Who amongst us wouldn’t love to spend 47 hours on Amtrak?

 

[ISUBryce]

Yes, unfortunately outside of maybe a couple/few dozen cities, we mostly lack the public transportation infrastructure to get around once you're where you want to be. Uber/Lyft has alleviated this to some degree, but there are certainly cities where the norm is drive from parking lot to parking lot.

I've got about 30,000 miles traveled on rails here, and I'll tell people it's not for everyone. It's rarely the fastest or the cheapest, but it can be just right for some people but they just don't know it. The comfort, the scenery, the novelty, the sociability. No need to focus on the road, so many pains of air travel are avoided. But trains have their own issues.

If cost and speed are the only consideration, there's few scenarios where trains in the USA will be the first choice.

You take an Uber to and from somewhere you’ve probably matched the amount you pay in parking.

Cost and speed aren’t the only consideration - but most people in America have only so much money and even less time.

I know there are people who love it. My Michigan to Osceola trip started in NYC and was ending in LA. There were people going the whole way. Sounds insane to me but I’m clearly not the target audience.

 

[ThorneStockton]

You take an Uber to and from somewhere you’ve probably matched the amount you pay in parking.

Cost and speed aren’t the only consideration - but most people in America have only so much money and even less time.

I know there are people who love it. My Michigan to Osceola trip started in NYC and was ending in LA. There were people going the whole way. Sounds insane to me but I’m clearly not the target audience.

I think we're talking past each other at this point. But my comment about avoiding parking was in reference to trips to Chicago, where parking may be $40-70 a night, and a location where you wouldn't want to drive to and park at each destination you go during your visit anyhow. I think there are a bunch of dense destinations where being carless is advantageous both financially and practically, and there's even more destinations where things are spread out and a car is essentially required.

And no one is trying to suggest that most people in America rely only on trains and forego automobiles. And for whatever it's worth, there is no train that starts in NYC and ends in LA. And driving that route sounds insane to me, yet lots of people love the idea of a road trip.

 

[Urohawk]

High speed gets negated by constantly stopping to pick up and let off people.

High speed gets negated by transfers.

Yes, high speed has to be Kansas City to St. Louis, St. Louis to Chicago. Not Davenport, IA to Peoria, Il, to Naperville, Il, to Downtown Chicago.