"Going anywhere for the holidays?"
"Yes, upstate."
"Plane or car?"
"Oh Jesus no! Train."
"How long will that take?"
"9 hours. But my vacation starts when I get on the train, not when I get off the plane. It's much less stressful."
"You know... I can see that..."
Folks, I may have a made a convert today. Let's be real. Driving is work, and flying is torture. A train ride, might seem "long" but did you count all the time you spend getting to the airport, the security checks? The silly rules?
People who think "flying is faster" are falling for airplane propaganda. Take a day to travel. It gives you time to think, you can watch movies on your laptop and read. You can have a nice sit down dinner. Your ears won't pop and your legs won't cramp. No security people will yell at you for having too big shampoo.
The last time I flew was a decade ago. But I've been all the way to Alaska and beyond nonetheless. Travel itself should be part of the "vacation" not what you do when you get there
@futurebird They say everything’s bigger in Texas but geez…
Austin -> Oklahoma City: 12h (incl. 3.5h transfer in Fort Worth)
Austin -> El Paso: 20h
Austin -> New Orleans: 27h (incl. 8.5h transfer in San Antonio)
I know, this is a Texas problem.
@bk1e @futurebird Last I knew Amtrak in Texas had even worse reliability problems than airlines. A disruption in Chicago throws things off all the way to LA. Multiple family members who tried Amtrak from Texas to Cali were offloaded to buses before they got there.
But my info is old. Please tell me things have improved and I'm completely wrong!
And I'm not anti-train. The solution is more trains not fewer - starting with a loop connecting the biggest TX cities.
myrmepropagandist
Brad
Prentiss Riddle 🎛