# Taking a train instead of plane.



## nick.mccann (May 3, 2009)

I'm thinking of taking a mini-vacation in December if I can afford it. I've heard taking a train can be a fun and interesting adventure. Anyone have experience with trains? Good idea or bad?

I'm debating on going to Boston or New York City because I've never been. I wanted to visit my family's farm in Ohio to go hunting but round-trip tickets will be about 400 for that and tickets to Boston or New York are only around 240 round-trip. Looking on Hotels.com it seems hotels are a little bit cheaper in Boston than New York, so I'd probably go there.


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## WouldaShoulda (Aug 5, 2009)

Amtrak from DC to NY and between is convenient.

However, it is niether cheap nor picturesque!!

I've never done an overnight trip on a train.


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## El_Abogado (Apr 21, 2009)

Love taking the train between DC and NYC and Boston for work. Sometimes it's more expensive than flying and it certainly takes longer, but it is much more civilized. 

If you take the train, you might want to consider stopping in NYC for the day or even a night or two. Shouldn't add to the cost of the trip much.


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## JerseyJohn (Oct 26, 2007)

We just came back from a train trip from Washington, DC to Chicago. We enjoyed it. If you're coming from central FL (e.g., Orlando or Jacksonville), I'd strongly advise getting a sleeper. It's about 17-19 hours to DC (you'll have to change trains at either DC or NYC). You need to check Amtrak prices carefully, especially the sleeper charges - they make no sense. One train will cost $125 extra (each way), which includes meals, for a sleeper, and another will want $350 for the same thing. Their pricing is crazier than the airlines! If you can vary your schedule by a day or two either way, it may make hundreds of dollars of difference. If you're going by yourself, you can get a "roomette". If you're going with someone else, you may want to look at a bedroom. Sometimes it's only $50 or $100 more, and sometimes it's four times the price :confused2:. A roomette will sleep two if $$$ are tight, but the top bunk is pretty tight (only about 2' of head room), so you can't suffer from claustrophobia. If you book a sleeper from DC home, you're entitled to use their first class waiting room for your return trip (I don't think they have one in FL).

From DC northward, you take the NE regional, which runs from DC to Boston via NYC. It runs pretty much every hour.


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## JDC (Dec 2, 2006)

Nick, I recommend it for people who haven't traveled by train for a while (or ever). No long check-in lines, body cavity checks etc, you just get on and go. I think Amtrak still has diner and spectator cars on their longer routes, which are great places for striking up conversations with other travelers. A previous poster used the right word: all in all the experience is much more civilized compared to air travel these days.


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## jean-paul sartorial (Jul 28, 2010)

IMO, Amtrak is a huge rip-off. The speed of driving with the price tag (or more) of a plane ticket.

When I go from DC to NY I take one of those private bus. Huge, plush, seats and wifi plus sometimes they'll show a movie. Takes about 4 1/2 to 5 hours, with a brief stop over at a rest stop so you can get some food. Drops you off right in midtown, a few blocks from Times Square.

When you consider the parking, getting to the gate and boarding plus the time in the airport after you land, plus getting a taxi and going from the airport to the city, it really doesn't take much longer on the bus than to fly. 

I would take the bus over the airplane if they were the same cost. But the bus is only $40-$50 round trip.


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## WouldaShoulda (Aug 5, 2009)

I took the Greyhound from Philly to Pittsburgh once, when I was young...

Buy the 20th time the refrain from "America" by S&G went through my head, I was over the adventure!! 

"Let us be lovers we'll marry our fortunes together"
"I've got some real estate here in my bag"
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies
And we walked off to look for America

"Kathy," I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
"Michigan seems like a dream to me now"
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've gone to look for America

Laughing on the bus
Playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said "Be careful his bowtie is really a camera"

"Toss me a cigarette, I think there's one in my raincoat"
"We smoked the last one an hour ago"
So I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field

"Kathy, I'm lost," I said, though I knew she was sleeping
I'm empty and aching and I don't know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They've all gone to look for America
All gone to look for America
All gone to look for America


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## JDC (Dec 2, 2006)

jean-paul sartorial said:


> IMO, Amtrak is a huge rip-off. The speed of driving with the price tag (or more) of a plane ticket.


The cost comparison depends, e.g. to get from where we live in California to Las Vegas or Palm Springs involves two (sometimes three) flights, 4-6 hours of waiting for planes and typically costs $600-800 per person. Instead we can pick up the Coast Starlight a few miles from our house and pay around $120 for that same round trip ticket.

Yes it's slow, but speed isn't the point on a train. Type A's may wish to fly and spare themselves the irritation.


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## JerseyJohn (Oct 26, 2007)

There's no question that beyond a certain distance, flying is faster than the train, but not necessarily cheaper. From NYC to DC, it's a toss-up: 3 hours on the train for $49 vs. an hour and a quarter on the plane plus upwards of an hour for the BS at the airport (if it isn't raining) for $150. This doesn't count the fact that the train seats are more like the 1st class seats on the plane, and you can walk around, get coffee in the club car and use the restroom (on the plane, last I flew to DC, you weren't allowed to leave your seat after the plane took off, for security reasons - I don't know if they still enforce that silliness), plus the train drops you off in the center of the city, not a half hour out of town. Where the train gets less practical is when there isn't a direct route. For example, if you want to go from Boston to New Orleans, you have to go to NYC or Chicago and change trains after a layover. And the trip is over 24 hours.

From, say, Orlando to NYC, the train definitely requires a more leisurely attitude. The train leaves in the afternoon and arrives the next morning. You sleep in your room on a full-length bed and eat dinner and breakfast in the dining car. Adding in the cost of the room, it's closer to the (economy) plane fare. But it's a heck of a lot more comfortable and less stressful, unless you're in a hurry.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

WouldaShoulda said:


> and Mrs. Wagner pies


Ahhhhh, so THAT's what he sings there...I could never work that bit out. But it's often the way when names of things unknown outside a culture are mentioned in songs. TV and film subtitle writers have the same problem.


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

If you are going to do it, arrange your travel plans, so as to include experiencing a sleeping berth and the dining car...otherwise, take a bus. Also, be prepared to catch up on your sleep. the repetitive noise of the wheels on the track and the gentle rocking of the train, puts some of us right to sleep. Driving does not (thankfully!), flying does not...OMG, it just struck me, my wife claims trains as her most pleasant way to travel!


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## Enron (Feb 16, 2010)

In a past life I worked for the Federal Railroad Administration and have taken Amtrak to DC a few times. I much prefer the experience of flying. Amtrak stations and trains are a bit on the nasty side.


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## WouldaShoulda (Aug 5, 2009)

Earl of Ormonde said:


> Ahhhhh, so THAT's what he sings there...I could never work that bit out. But it's often the way when names of things unknown outside a culture are mentioned in songs. TV and film subtitle writers have the same problem.


That's funny, I have never given it a thought before.

If he had said Little Debbie, Tastykake or Moon Pies I'd be more familiar with the reference.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

I used to take Amtrak in the past to see an old friend of mine,It's a wonderful experience but the train ride is quite long.


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## dwebber18 (Jun 5, 2008)

The last time I took Amtrak was in 8th grade for our DC trip. I lived in Orlando at the time so we hopped on in Sanford and rode it to DC. Me, my dad, and a friend of mine went via train and everyone else took the bus. Yes it takes the same amount of time, but its a much more comfortable way to travel especially with all the gadgets we have now. Now that I'm 25, I can't really imagine taking a train. Its similar in price to a plane and takes as long as driving. I have limited vacation time and can't really spend a day traveling each way, when I can spend a few hours flying. However, if you've got the time and the price is good; train travel is something everyone should do at least once. Its nice to get up and walk around and go eat and stuff, but it will wear you down like a long trip in a car because after the first few trips through each car it can get quite boring so bring entertainment with you.


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## David V (Sep 19, 2005)

When you take a vacation by train the vacation starts at boarding. By plane, not till your out of of the airport done with the 30 mile trip into town and in your hotel room.


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## DocVenture (Sep 30, 2010)

I used to commute every other week between DC and NY and after experimenting with buses, Amtrak and flying, flying won. At least on that route, Amtrak generally cost more than flying and suffering through Penn Station deducted from the real pleasures train travel offered. The Delta Shuttle has its own terminal at LaGuardia where check-in is a breeze and the whole flight takes between 40 and 50 minutes.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

I think it's cheaper to go by Amtrak,I believe it's $100 round trip but I'm not so sure on that one,I'll have to go check.


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## JerseyJohn (Oct 26, 2007)

Howard said:


> I think it's cheaper to go by Amtrak,I believe it's $100 round trip but I'm not so sure on that one,I'll have to go check.


I thought so, too; and it was for most of the spring and summer. I made the trip in May and September and it was $96 RT from Metropark, NJ, the first stop out of NYC. But apparently that "sale" has ended and the price is back up to $160 or so.


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## CRMW (Nov 7, 2009)

For comuting or any sort of regular trips flying wins out for me, however it is nice every once in a while to take the train with a sleeper.


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## MikeDT (Aug 22, 2009)

Appears to me that taking the train in the USA and the UK can actually be more expensive than flying. However here in China things are very different. For example flying from Beijing to Changsha costs around 1200 RMB, but taking the overnight sleeper train costs only 110 RMB with bed included. I have to admit Chinese trains are actually very good, certainly much better than the UK.


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## StevenRocks (May 24, 2005)

I live near the southern terminus of Amtrak's Northeast Regional service, so train travel is very cheap and easy if I plan ahead. The experience is leisurely (especially compared to fighting traffic and all the crap at the airport) and it's more spacious than a tour bus or Greyhound.


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## jean-paul sartorial (Jul 28, 2010)

Once you get past Union Station in DC, Amtrak is not too bad going up the East Coast.

However, in Virginia the train shares the rail with CSX trains that are in heavy use, and there are also a ton of stops. It's taken me more than 4 hours just to get from Richmond to DC on Amtrak.

Also, just as a note the buses I am talking about from DC to NYC are not the typical Greyhound. They are private buses, generally less than a year or two old, with huge plush seats and more comfortable than Amtrak or first class.


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## ctt (Dec 24, 2008)

Which bus lines are you referring to jean-paul? Are you describing bus lines like Mega, Bolt, and similar companies or something a step up from those?


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## jean-paul sartorial (Jul 28, 2010)

Pretty much Bolt, just more like a first-class Bolt I guess.

There's so many people going from DC-to-NY that the market is highly competitive. And many of them are people like politician or lobbyist wives/mistresses/kids or uber-rich GWU students. So as a result, there are smaller companies that run exclusively or almost exclusively DC-NY and back that try to cater to them. It's not like they are serving champagne and caviar, but the buses tend to be a tad nicer, newer, and cleaner. Better drivers, more reliable service. On Bolt they might show a movie on the trip and it's probably something unexciting (and old, but on the private lines will they actually have a menu of movies that you can stream. Better snacks and warmer, softer towels. Stuff like that.

You probably wouldn't pay that much more for that extra bit of personal service since it's only a four hour bus ride. But because of the crowded market, it's no more expensive and often cheaper than Bolt or Mega. I think most people are still quite happy to take Bolt, but they usually try to get one of the smaller, private buses if possible.


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## StevenRocks (May 24, 2005)

Those sound like excellent buses you guys have in Richmond. In greater Roanoke, we have a bus line that does a regular weekend day trip to NYC for $99.00 round trip. It's not a luxurious bus, but it is comfortable and reliable. I've been on any number of trips with them to get my "big city" fix. They're only convenient for leisure travel, though. Taking the train from Lynchburg is just as nice and offers a little more flexibility for a cost that's not substantially more.

I'eve also taken a Bolt bus from DC to NYC. Exceptionally cheap prices for a comfortable ride. But in my case, I could be well on my way to my destination by the time I drive to DC from here in Middle-Of-Nowhere.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

JerseyJohn said:


> I thought so, too; and it was for most of the spring and summer. I made the trip in May and September and it was $96 RT from Metropark, NJ, the first stop out of NYC. But apparently that "sale" has ended and the price is back up to $160 or so.


160 dollars? better to take Greyhound instead.


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## Chouan (Nov 11, 2009)

Train from London to Paris is both quicker and cheaper. Two and a half hours journey time by train, but city centre to city centre, with 40 minutes check in time. Central london to Paris by air, is an hour flying time, but 40 minutes (at least) to get to the airport, an hour+ for check in, then the delay getting through customs at Charles de Gaulle, and then at least 40 minutes from the airport to the city centre. Eurostar is really comfortable as well, and no baggage restriction.


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## Kingstonian (Dec 23, 2007)

Chouan said:


> Train from London to Paris is both quicker and cheaper. Two and a half hours journey time by train, but city centre to city centre, with 40 minutes check in time. Central london to Paris by air, is an hour flying time, but 40 minutes (at least) to get to the airport, an hour+ for check in, then the delay getting through customs at Charles de Gaulle, and then at least 40 minutes from the airport to the city centre. Eurostar is really comfortable as well, and no baggage restriction.


True. London to the Alps even more so. No three hour transfers from Geneva airport.


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