There is something magical about train travel for me. I find boarding and riding trains extremely soothing.
Flying has the exact opposite effect.
It's not entirely rational but that's how it is for me.
Flying has the exact opposite effect.
It's not entirely rational but that's how it is for me.
Were it not for the slow speeds, inconvenient routes, and generally abysmal state of train service in the U.S., I'd never fly again.
(that said, O'Hare ranks #1 in the country for fastest TSA lines, so there's that)
But travel on high speed trains (in Europe and Asia) is definitely a much more pleasant experience.
The Shinkansen has a perfect safety record and has been in operation for 53 years, carrying over 10 billion passengers. This is a train I could sleep on. It's probably safer than being in my house.
Give me a train any day. Plenty of leg space, plenty of room to stretch your legs, better scenery, low noise (!), and no turbulence. Reading a book is not just possible, it is positively comfortable to do so.
1: They did compensate me by offering a bottle of champagne from the first class upon disembarking, only to discover that they couldn't give me that, because I was transferring to another flight, so customs wouldn't have it, so uhm, sorry (they were British). I did get a free meal out of it on Heathrow via a coupon, which is about as much fun as it sounds.
Even getting refund when they cancelled the train is a PITA in Germany.
Pretty easy to see why it's romanticized.
What did I miss?
Earlier this decade I'd take 100 planes a year, but (day) trains only a few times. Trains had a similar feeling.
Now (well pre covid) I take planes maybe 10 times a year and trains 100 times a year, and the feeling reversed.