[gwmss15]

When you travel on a long distance trip between two major cities what form of travel do you use for the trip.

E.g New York to Miami or New York to LA and many other locations.

Myself I would always go for a 1st class sleeper car on the train for these trips. If I could not get that 2nd class seat.

I prefer rail travel due to greater comfort and better food plus its private and you can see the passing landscape.

What is your preference for this kind of travel regardless of purpose for the actual trip?

Why do you prefer that mode of travel?

Would you consider rail over other modes despite time differences?

[cbxer55]

When we used to live in CA., we drove to OK once a year, usually around Christmas and New Years. Did that for many years. Now we live here, so no trips necessary.
We rode our motorcycles to AR last year and the year before.
It will be a cold day in hell before I fly again. And since I suspect you get searched prior to boarding a train, that will never happen. I am not leaving my gun at home to ride a train. Private car equals privacy.

[Jotapay]

Nowadays, anything but flying. You will have to knock me out to make me get on a plane again in this country.

[mos6507]

I'd like to use the train but I don't have the time for it. Someone posted something a while back saying the CO2 output of a train isn't that much better than a plane. A plane burns a lot of fuel but it gets to its destination a lot faster and is packed with people more often than the old Amtrak specials.

I took an Amtrak once from Los Angeles to Boston over a long thankgiving holiday and it was a really fun trip while passing through the southwest.

I'm hoping airships make a comeback since at least they'd be able to make a more direct path from point A to point B. There is so much square area you could probably run a zeppelin purely off of thin-film solar panels on its skin. They are also working on airships that have more of an airplane shape and can be flown more like a jetliner.

I think people will continue to pay the premium required to fly just because nobody has any freaking spare time to wait for slow moving trains, ships, or zeppelins. The pace of life is just too fast compared to what it once was.

[Jotapay]

Per unit of weight being hauled, a train should be much more efficient from an energy and pollution standpoint than air travel.

[Somebody]

I enjoy travelling by rail the most, depending on the level of comfort offered. Some journeys get boring after a while.

Air is much faster however, and is what I normally use for longer trips like up to QLD etc.

[smallpoxgirl]

Anything within three hours I prefer to drive. Beyond that I fly. Only exception to that is that I drive out to South Dakota every summer. Once I get there I camp for a week or more, so it'd just be too much of a pain to try to fly with camping gear. I just can't imagine having the free time to travel on a train. I flew 59 times last year. If I spent one extra day on the train each time that would have been two months out of my year.

[frankthetank]

I fly tomorrow I really LIKE flying, but hate airports and waiting and delays and screaming kids.

Flying in a private jet would be the ultimate. My nephew fly from KLSE to Nassau in the Bahamas on private jet last spring and said it was awesome.

I'd go by train if Amtrak could actually build something that could actually go 150mph or more so you could actually get somewhere faster then an automobile.

SPG-Watch out for me next time you head to SD. We are planning a trip out there this summer. I've been through the entire state, and drove through the Black Hills and really liked it. I'm now planning a trip back.

[lawnchair]

I see you're from Thailand. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the perversities and lack of certain options in the US system.

Obviously, some of it is size and scale. New York to LA is over 4000 kilometers. That's Bangkok to Islamabad, Seoul, or pretty much anywhere in China, India, or Indonesia. (Also Lisbon, Portugal to Moscow). Any surface-based trip is going to be at least four days.

Our national train operator doesn't cover much. Kansas City (2 million or so) and Denver (2.5 million or so) are 900km apart. In theory, a nice overnight train ride. Each has, basically, *one* intercity train a day. And those two cities aren't on the same line. Actually getting between them on trains would involve at least 30 hours. There are metropolitan areas of roughly 2 million people (Las Vegas, Nashville) that have no trains whatsoever. Outside of the US coasts, the train system is barely more than a tourist draw.

Trains are also much more expensive than flying, most of the time. Sleeping service is even more expensive (it really is a tourist thing, only). There is no mid-level sleeping option (bunk style).

We also have a lack of 'nice' buses. I've ridden some quite-luxurious buses in Mexico. But, for whatever reason, they just don't exist in the US. There is only the most basic bus. Which, being the cheapest option, are the transport of choice for the mentally ill, recently-released-from-jail, and drug-addicted. Really, all it would take is a bus, slightly nicer, that cost 10% more than the most basic. The people that *had* to take the cheapest bus would. But, people who didn't have to take a bus at all might choose to take a slightly more elite one.

Besides that, even on the low-quality buses, there are many towns in the US of 50,000 or more people that don't have any intercity bus service at all.

[Narz]

I voted Long Distance Train: Sleeper carriage.. Unfortunately, I've never taken one in the United States because they are price prohibitive for the average America.

[frankthetank]

After waiting in lines yesterday at KFLL i doubt i ever get back in an airplane again. Its a bunch of crap. They book those planes so full you can't hardly breath. We got stuck in the last row with no window and i stared at the floor for most of the trip (3 hrs). They also seem to fly really slow these days. My brother flew in a A320 a week ago and he seemed to think (from GPS readings) that they were flying that thing like an old lady. I concur. I think its a way to save fuel and prolong the misery of those flying. If i can't drive to my destination, i'm either walking or biking, because i'm done with the airlines.

I don't live near a major airport, so i have to drive either to KMSP or KMKE or even KMSN... So i add another 2 or 3 hrs on my flight. Eat my ass airlines...eat my ass!

[Roy]

Car for me and my family.

Air travel is stressful, violates my rights, and just plain irritates the crap out of me...

I suppose that for those who's time is more valuable that flying makes sense.

I value my time but dislike subjecting myself to waits, searches, delays, and the overall hectic nature of a multi-stop air trip.

[frankthetank]

The airport security made us remove our 17 month old son's shoes. F$cking pricks. Soon flying will be just a vehicle of the wealthy and connected.

[lper100km]

Long distance is a relative term. Here’s my guess for the next fifty years with transitional modes of land transport.

2010: long distance = >5,000 miles (air)
2015: long distance = >2,000 miles (air, rail, bus, auto)
2020: long distance = >500 miles (rail, bus, auto)
2030: long distance = >100 miles (rail, bus, bicycle)
2040: long distance = >50 miles (rail, horse)
2060: long distance = >20 miles (horse, walk)

Tongue in cheek, but not by much!

[Ferretlover]

I prefer that others travel to see me!

[gwmss15]

It is interesting that Most people view the bus as a poor mans choice but in asia it is the mode of choice for the middle class due to greater comfort and speed.

Rail is the best if you get a sleeper either a cabin style or open corridor style. Here the sleepers cost the same as the VIP buses.

Trains in Thailand at least are a viable long distance transport option with most major destinations having 7 to 12 return trains a day. also the maxium price for a 1st class sleeper is USD$50 one way.

I can understand not liking air travel due to the crap at the airports. ie Must check in 2 hours before, clear immigration, wait for flight, endless delays and you cant bring what you want ie drinks.

[frankthetank]

The stewardess on the plane was talking to another stewardess and saying that she has had to fly from Florida to California and back WITHOUT ever getting off the plane! Also said they don't get paid until the outside door closes or something like that. They never get breaks for lunch and on and on. Sounded like a really shitty job. Might as well drive into oncoming traffic then work in that field.

I live right next to the Amtrak line and it runs from here to Seattle. Be neat to do sometime, but i think it takes a couple of days to get there. We should be dumping 100's of billions into rail and not into banks.

I think they want to build high speed rail between Chicago and Minneapolis and it would go somewhere through this area.

China has some extensive rail routes. Check out the Tibet Railway. It rises to over 16,000ft at one point. Impressive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qinghai-Tibet_Railway

[AgentR]

Last time I traveled truly long distance, I flew, so that was my vote. That flight was also preceded by "special" security review. Which was followed by me deciding that the airlines can do without my money for the rest of my life. If I can't get there by car in a reasonable amount of time; I'm not going. PERIOD.

(We don't have trains at all, and buses are marginal at best..)

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('frankthetank', 'A')lso said they don't get paid until the outside door closes or something like that.