It's the closest I've ever known to stress-free transportation unless you include limousines.
> here are all these people around you, who you can't just ignore completely
Why can't you? You can't fart in public cause that's bad education, but take a book or a laptop, a PMP and a pair of earbuds and you're off. You can also sleep, many do here in the early trains.
> It's like being at a party where you know no one, and parties are hard enough to deal with even if you know everyone at them.
Uh no it's not, at a party you're supposed to talk to people and socialize. In a train you're supposed to do your own stuff and not bother other travelers.
> if there were enough room for a decent-sized laptop between you and the seat in front
There is. In France there are even the center/4 places tables with even more room. And that's 2nd class.
> you'd still have to put everything away
Put what away? Lift your laptop using one hand and get out.
> whenever the people away from the aisle wanted out
In France's TGV, there's one window seat and one aisle seat. Period. And if you use reservations and are early enough you can pick your seat. I pretty much always get window seat on the upper deck.
> Also, when you're driving, there's always the possibility of stopping at something that interests you, or taking a different route.
You're in a train to go from point A to point B, not to visit Manitoulin Island. And the different route complaint is nonsensical.
> and while you might choose to put yourself in a traveling jail for 12 hours
There is no planned US route even remotely reaching 12h. In a current-generation HST, 12h would be more than 2000 miles in a single trip. That's simply not part of the operational range.
> I took a train when I moved from Alabama to the DC metro area last year
Care = none. We're talking high-speed rail here, not 60 years old trainsets on shit lines.
> and Amtrak, the train I took, is subsidized
So are airports and highways.