Train travel — it’s an efficient form of travel that really should revived in this country. Air travel, as we know it today, doesn’t make much sense, if closely examined (although I’d like to see zero-emission planes and airship-based travel). But I digress — Allison Rogers, an optimal living trailblazer, has been commuting up and down the East Coast by rail for a while now. On Earth Day she took the overnight Amtrak train from Boston to DC. At Union Station, she changed from pajamas to work clothes, and went straight into work at the Capitol!
I see Allison is prepared for napping with her own pillow.
A nice view of the Rhode Island Capitol from the train!
Here are some books on train travel:
All Aboard!: The Complete North American Train Travel Guide
Such trains are really cool. Last year I travelled overnight from Freiburg (Germany) to Amsterdam (Netherlands). Its almost the most relaxing way of travelling I ever did. And you almost don´t lose any time, because you have to sleep anyway.
I’ve been traveling by train since I was in college (about 5 years ago). I discovered that it was much cheaper to get last minute train tickets than last minute plane tickets. Granted, I’ve only used the Amtrak Silver Star route (up and down the East Coast) since most of my destinations are on that line. I LOVE it.
1) You don’t spend more time on a train than you do traveling by air (if you take into account all the delays, layovers, and the hours you have to arrive at the airport in advance of your flight).
2) Your checked luggage arrives with you. Really.
3) You can bring practically anything on the train. At one time, a gentleman brought external speakers for his laptop and set it up at the end of a car and we all sat around on the floor watching a Bond movie and eating popcorn that someone brought with them to share. The popcorn was popped for us by the snack car’s microwaves. And one woman was sipping on tea that she made using an electric tea infuser (the hot coil of metal that you dunk into your cup).
4) The seats are comparable to an international business class (plane) size. But the legroom is about three times what you get on a plane. And the seats fold flatter than a plane if you have an overnight train trip.
5) Power outlets. In older train cars there is one AC outlet per two seats. In newer cars, there are two AC outlets per two seats. Need to recharge your laptop? No problem on a train.
6) Cell service. Granted the folks around you in the train may not want to hear about your latest romantic exploits, there is nothing to stop you from calling your galpals and gabbing the entire ride. You will have cell service the entire trip.
But be warned, I’ve been on some extremely chilly trains. If you are a cold natured individual (like myself), pack a blanket or other warm clothing. Or discover that you can stuff paper towels into the little crevices that the sub-zero (*C) air comes out of. << Learned that from a conductor.
If I judge by Allison’ s cute smile, this train travel is very comfortable and relaxing. I wonder, how would have US public transport system looked like, if the governemnt would have invested $3 trillion into it, insteda of the war in Iraq.
p.s.
and prices of oil would have also been around $50, though, or even lower, because of much lower US consumption, due to new state of the art public transport, based on renewable energy sources (oh, how I am dreaming)
“There is no energy crisis food crisis or environmental crisis.
There is a crisis of ignorance”
– Buckminster Fuller MID 70’S
Friends of the Planet,
To celebrate Earth day we are releasing a special episode with
ideas that can help us reverse climate change:
A Myth about Matter
Jim Fournier is founder and President of the Biomass Energy & Carbon,
a Colorado based R&D company commercializing biomass gasification and
developing a revolutionary new “carbon negative” bio-fuels technology
that can remove CO2 from the air by generating sustainable energy and
a high-carbon fertilizer from biomass. http://www.biomassec.com
In this episode we look at his work and vision of where we stand and
what we need to do to bootstrap the system into being…
http://www.iclips.net/pmt.php
Happy Earth Day 2008!!!
I have also been checking out train travel. I have a couple of choices if I travel north and south. But since Katrina hit (and just to show how pathetic our government is at rebuilding our infrastructure.) there is no east/west train service through the lower 48 due to bridge damage in and around New Orleans.
I would like to know about that women that is in the picture. Is she single WOW. She is beautiful.
Tell her I will be in on dragon con .org on sept, 2008 Take care
We are moving to SD and in planning to return east for visits I checked out train travel. There is not ONE train station in the entire state! We have a long way to go to restore train travel in this country. And the government is not supportive at all. Sad.