travel more by train

Just took the California Zephyr from Emeryville, CA to Chicago. It was great to look out the window and watch the world go by. I think I’ve finally got the hang of train travel this time.

Just took Amtrak’s Adirondack line from Montreal to NYC. It follows right along Lake Champlain for a lot of the trip so it had great scenery. I spent most of the ride in the lounge car looking out the window.

Road trips sound great, but with the cost of gas these days they’re no longer the cheap way to travel—going by train keep you on the ground, give you more opportunities and stop at random places along the way. No idea how it costs compared to flying though, but eventually I’d like to explore the train option more.

Oddly enough it seems for European travel the myriad of budget airlines that make short hops seems like it’s making the traditional train travel less appealing.

Apart from being a “green” way to travel, it’s so much more comfortable than flying and you can keep your eyes on the scenery, and not the road :)

I travelled on the TGV for the first time last year and loved it – book early enough, and the tickets are very affordable.

This year, I would love to take the Jacobite from Fort William to Mallaig – it’s meant to be amazing.

I travelled to Tibet via the Qinghai-Tibet railway. It passes through some of the most beautiful parts of Qinghai and Tibet and features the world’s highest altitude rail tunnel and mountain pass. Also, at night, the train passes through areas with sparse population so that it’s possible to see lots of stars in the night sky.

I travel quite a lot by train. It takes me six hours to go home to my parents and I didn’t count how many hours I’ve already spent in a train, but I guess if you add them all, it should be about one week…
But I like travelling by train. It’s comfortable, you can do what you want (sleep, read a book, go to the restaurant) and it’s less expensive than owning a car.

Here are some train trips I’d like to take:
California Zephyr (Chicago to San Francisco)
Adirondack Line (New York to Montreal)
Trans-Mongolian (Beijing to Moscow, via Ulan Bator)
Tibetan Line (Beijing to Lhasa)
North Yorkshire Moors Railway (North York Moors National Park)