"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 Sadly, even in Europe the train network is not what it should be. I just moved to Porto, Portugal where I can't get a decent train connection to Madrid let alone central Europe. There are some stellar high-speed lines inside Spain but other parts of the country were left out. Connections from Spain to France and beyond are either missing or under-supplied and booked solid. People want more trains but myriad political, business & tech issues are blocking progress. 😢🚄

@futurebird Just posted in another thread but worth a repost:

These people are my heroes! To call attention to the demand for night trains in Portugal, they threw a silent disco pajama party at the Santa Apolonia station in Lisbon.

Click through for video. #nighttrain

https://aterra.info/all-abord-the-night-train-pijama-party-silent-disco-em-santa-apolonia/

All abord the night train! Pijama party - Silent Disco em Santa Apolónia - ATERRA

Cerca de 40 pessoas juntaram-se na sexta feira passada, 2 de dezembro, às 21h25, no Cais 3 da Estação de Santa Apolónia, em Lisboa, para "All abord the night train! Pijama party – Silent Disco em Santa Apolónia"

ATERRA