Remember back in the good old days, when traveling was about the journey, not about the destination? No? Good. Neither do I. Ever since I was a little kid, reading Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, I've had this romantic notion of traveling by rail, minus the murder and all. When I was traveling through Spain and Portugal a few years ago, I booked an overnight train from Madrid to Lisbon. My friend Lauren and I got a sleeper car, and we arrived in Lisbon at 8 a.m. in the morning. I have to say, it was pretty fantastic. When I woke up, the dew was settling on the windows, and seeing as though I only knew how to order coffee and eggs, that's what I had for breakfast. Traveling through porto vineyards while drinking coffee -- my morning could not have started any better. I think I could have stayed on that train for days, perhaps stopping for lunch at a vineyard. I think what struck me the most is that you couldn't smoke on the trains while you were in Spain, but the moment you crossed into Portugal, you could smoke in between the cars. At 5 a.m., passengers were lined up, waiting for a little bell ding, signaling they were free to light up.
I've always wondered why rail travel hasn't taken off more in the USA. Sure, flying gets you there quicker, but what about the experience? (Small disclaimer: I did once take a train from Philly to Chicago, but I was much younger, and suffered from terrible motion sickness. Needless to say, I did not have a great trip.) I have to wonder if people in the US are too pressured and too busy to take an extra few hours (or days) to get to their destination, but I blame it mostly on the lack of high speed rails in the US. I hope Obama's 8 billion dollar railroad stimulus package can pull that off, but I'm afraid that it would take a massive culture adjustment to change the way we view trains.
Melissa and I were talking the other day about riding the rails. It turns out that among the millions of other things we have in common, we both would like to take a cross-country train trip. We were strongly considering booking a train ticket to Chicago in July for Blog Her. I priced out a trip, and the cost is actually really affordable. An $83 ticket would get us there. Problem is that the trip takes 20 hours, and that's the cost for a seat, not the cost of a sleeper car.
My train ride from Madrid to Lisbon was about half the distance and cost a measly $99 for a sleeper car. The cost of a sleeper car to Chicago? $927. That's just not a cost I could justify. I suppose if you really enjoyed sleeping in a seat, then you'd be all set, but I can't imagine spending 20 hours sitting up trying to use my neck pillow to get some shut eye. Melissa and I would get off the train and be so cranky we wouldn't enjoy ourselves in the least. I suppose we'd have a fight and have to reach some sort of understanding a la The Darjeeling Limited
Maybe the prohibitive price is the reason Americans aren't more enchanted with rail travel. A ride on the infamous Orient Express would cost you $9,000, but the trip is ten times longer, with all meals included.
We want to know. Have you ever taken a train ride longer than a few hours, and if so how was it?
~ Meghan
The longest train ride I ever took was in India. And it was long. Really long. We went from the humid heat to the cold dry mountains in the economy cars where we could buy chai and samosa through the barred window at almost any stop and we shared benches with commuters who'd elbow you outta the way. Awesome.
Posted by: mia | June 02, 2009 at 01:48 AM
I love love love train travel. I lived in Spain for 9 months and traveled all over by train. The longest ride was from Lisbon to San Sebastian... a 16 hour ride. We didn't have the money for a sleeper car and it was a packed train so we were sitting up for 16 hours overnight. That was actually miserable. At one point we tried to buy our way into a sleeper car with about $30 American dollars. The conductor wouldn't go for it.
The prettiest ride I've ever taken was from Paris to St. Moritz, Switzerland. Amazing.
I've always wanted to take the Trans-Siberian... thought that would be a pretty amazing adventure. Another train movie that I loved is "Transsiberian" directed by Brad Anderson, starring Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer. I highly recommend it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800241/
Lastly, I'm very excited for the proposed California High Speed train. Have you seen this? San Diego to Sacramento: http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/ It's a step in the right direction.
-Stephanie
Stephanie
Posted by: Stephanie | June 03, 2009 at 01:33 PM
Oooh, I love this post! I just booked an Amtrak ticket to Blogher. It cost me just $214 roundtrip from Denver to Chicago. Mind you, that's a regular coach seat and it's only an 18 hr. trip. Since I'm without a day job right now, I thought I'd take advantage of my "free time" and ride the rails. Also, it drops me off right downtown so I don't have to pay for pricey airport shuttles.
The longest train trip I ever took was on the Indian Pacific in Australia - THREE DAYS along the Nullarboor Desert from Perth to Adelaide. (http://www.gsr.com.au/our-trains/indian-pacific/the-journey.php)
Although my sleeper coach seat was in a sane, sterile car, I naturally gravitated toward the dingy, party car during the daytime. There were plenty of smokers and a wonderful mix of Aboriginal folks and whites - an essential experience as the rest of Australian society is not so readily mixed.
Though the train road occasionally rode alongside the Great Australian Bite (high cliffs over ocean) we mostly looked out across a massive orange desert. Trees were so few and far between that if someone yelled, "Tree!", we all had to do shots.
I also remember taking the EuroRail when I traveled through Europe in 1990. I recall waking up on a train as it passed through Austria, which appeared exactly as I'd pictured it - clean and idyllic.
Also, thanks to Stephanie for the movie tip and the cheers on California's new speed train! Can't wait for both.
~Heather
Posted by: Heather Clisby | June 18, 2009 at 03:33 PM