In about two hours, I am going to ride Amtrak for the third time in the history of my short life. (Unless, Mom or Dad, you can fill me in on a childhood trip I have missed.) I am actually very excited about it for a number of reasons:
1. I think trains are a swell form of transportation that don’t get enough credit
2. The train is taking me to St. Louis to see the stellar Drake Men’s Basketball team (go Bulldogs!)
3. I am somehow really excited at the prospect of three uninterrupted hours of reading
Until last week, when we took the train to Chicago, the only time I’d ever ridden on one (that I can recall anyway) was in Italy. The boy says it sounds snotty when I say the only time I’ve ridden a train is Italy, so when you read the first sentence of this paragraph be sure you’re imagining me speaking in a conceited, preferably nasally voice here. But it’s true. That’s why I was excited to board the Amtrak train for Chicago last week, and why I’m excited to hop the train today too.
I’m sure many people (the boy included) would roll their eyes at me and say: but they’re slow. They’re dirty. They can be noisy, and filled with people who are less than pleasant. What’s to love?
Well, for one thing, when you’re going to an expensive city like Chicago, a $14 train ticket sounds pretty good compared to the amount of gas it takes to get there, the time you spend in traffic, the amount it costs to park in the city. Then there’s the fact that I was able to work on the train to Chicago, so I didn’t have to take vacation time. And if the roads are bad or you’re tired or you have an unreliable vehicle like the Space Turtle, why wouldn’t you want a worry-free means of travel?
Granted, there are increasingly long delays on many Amtrak routes. And you risk getting stuck in a car with lots of screaming children or obnoxious talkers or any number of less-than-savory characters. But that’s a risk you take on a plane too; and at least on the train you have more freedom to get up and move away from them.
Plus, at least here, to ride the train you don’t have to arrive hours early and deal with all the security B.S. of the airports. Arrive 10 minutes early and you’re fine. No worries. Just hop aboard, sit back, and watch the countryside roll by.
And if you want something more than the five peanuts you get on the plane, you can have that too—if you’re willing to pay for it in the dining or snack cars. But at least it’s an option if you’re hungry! Bring on the king-size peanut M&Ms, thank you.
Train travel has, supposedly, been dying for years now. And it’s true it doesn’t get much credit—at least not in the United States. I hope it doesn’t go the way of the woolly mammoth though. How sad would that be? Train travel is part of our history—not to mention the fact traveling by rail is preferable to traveling by car environmentally speaking (and I hear rail travel uses approximately one-half the energy per passenger mile of planes, at least if the train is full, which it has been when I’ve ridden).
I don’t think I’d rely on trains for all of my travel. But for getting to Midwestern cities with minimal headache and expense? Sign me up.
(Photo: Andy_pants_in_Fred)
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