On January my wife and I did a RT between Montreal and New York on the Adirondack. Why? Well, I avoid air whenever I can, especially to and in the US. The security and customs together can take a couple hours. I won’t drive in January. It is dirt cheap (two RT for seniors cost under $250). I would take the bus instead (8 hours instead of 12) but the thought of getting off the bus at the border, getting the luggage out from under the bus, waiting outside to even get into the customs shed and then rechecking the bags, is just too daunting. The train waits at the border, but the customs lackeys get on the train. We do this trip every winter. I just settle in with a good book and relax.
In five days we will be going to the west coast to Seattle and then to Vancouver and then home. We will fly to Vancouver, check bags at the train station, spend the afternoon in Vancouver (including a meal at our favorite Indian restaurant) and then take the afternoon train to Seattle. Nine days later we get back on the train to Vancouver and a week later on the plane back home.
Going to Toronto, I would never drive. The train is faster and there are no hassles. Flying is not that much faster—and much more aggravating. Including the pleasures of Pearson Airport. But I haven’t gone to Toronto in years.
Left on July 4th - Boston, MA to Albany, NY, (via Florida, MA, thru the Hossac Tunnel)
changed trains,
to Toronto, stayed overnight,
Toronto to Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton & Jasper
by auto to Banff, Columbia Icefields & return to Jasper
changed trains
rail to Prince George, BC
changed trains
by rail (Budd cars) down Fraser River Valley to Vancouver
stayed overnight
rail to Seattle
by auto to Portland, stayed overnight
by auto to San Francisco, via Crater Lake
stopping at Willits, CA
rail-Skunk train Willits to Fort Bragg & dipped toe in Pacific Ocean for first & last time
stayed overnight in S.F.
rail (Cal. Zephyr) to Chicago
stayed overnight
flew to Boston
9000 miles in 16 days
1968
Only intracity subways since then
Hope to take the train from Boston to Portland, ME later this summer or fall.
I take the commuter train every day. But, the last time I took a train which wasn’t for a commute was a day trip on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad in New Mexico and Colorado in '03.
I go back and forth between Ottawa and Montreal a couple of times a year. I usually drive. But once every couple of years or so, I take the train. It’s very civilized, affordable and fast. Last time I took the train to Montreal was August last year.
I pretty regularly go from Moncton, New Brunswick to Halifax, Nova Scotia and back by train. Last did it less than two weeks ago, in fact. Even though Moncton is 2.5 hours from my hometown, it’s worth it to not take the bus. Sometimes my mom has to work in Moncton anyway and doesn’t mind driving me.
Never. Amtrak just isn’t an option in my area. It’s at least 90 miles to either of the nearest Amtrak stations. Both of the stations are served exactly once a day in each direction, to Chicago at both stations, and New York/Boston (the train splits) at one and Washington, DC at the other. Meanwhile, I’m only about 25 miles from the nearest commercial airport, which has much more frequent service to many more destinations, often at an equal or lesser price. I could also drive (or take a bus) to Chicago, Washington, Boston, or New York, and get there much sooner.
However, I did travel on a few trains that were intercity trains in the UK. IMO, though, I didn’t travel far enough on them to qualify my trips as “intercity.”
Never. When I’m going somewhere far away, I almost always am going to do something outdoorsy, so I need a car to get out of the city and into the sticks anyway. Other times, I am going just to get there, do what I need to do, and get back on a tight schedule, and I haven’t ever had such a trip when going by train was a feasible option due to schedule/cost/travel time/location of stations/etc. Just as an example of a trip one might take, it takes 3 hours to fly from Sacramento to Seattle including security, 13 hours to drive, and 21 hours on Amtrak. I just can’t imagine doing it unless plane fares and gas were twice as expensive as it is now and the train were almost free. The plane is very fast and only about $50 more than the train for a round trip; the car is still faster than the train and is less claustrophobic, allowing stops along the way and detours for scenery or birding, and I like driving.
I answered 1 - 5 years ago, but that was in the UK. I have not used rail for significant distances in my 15 years in the US. I looked into it once, but discovered it would take 14 hours to go from Atlanta to Washington D.C. - an average speed of 45 mph. Absurd.
My trip in the UK (hardly a shining light of high-speed rail by European standards) averaged about 100 mph.
By the definition given, I think a trip I took a couple of months ago counts. We went by train from Brisbane Airport to Surfers Paradise (and then return a few days later).
If not, then it would be two years ago from London to Bristol. The next day’s Bristol to Wokingham (via Reading) trip was technically commuting, since I was working that day in Wokingham before taking a car service to Heathrow for my flight home.
I take at least 2 Amtrak trips per year up and down the eastern seaboard, and have for the last 7 years or so. Started when I was in college in Baltimore and it was so much easier to get to the train station than the airport for trips to NY State to visit family. I also took trips from B’more to New Jersey and to NYC - I found it the most practical and comfortable way to take those trips, way more pleasant than driving through exurban hell.
Now I go between Springfield, MA and Baltimore a few times a year, I just sit back and enjoy the ride. No airsickness, road rage or airport security and all told it’s about an 8 hour trip. Getting from my house to one of the airports, through security, 90 minutes in the air, then from BWI into Baltimore city takes a minimum of 6, and I gladly spend the extra 2 hours and maybe $10 more for the ticket (compared to dirt-cheep Southwest fares) to get the vast comfort increase. And no way on earth am I driving that distance alone, putting wear and tear on my car and then needing to find parking in the city. Yay train!!
Later this summer I’m taking a longer trip, from Mass to Minnesota. I did it last summer and loved it. Basically a day and a half on either end of a two week vacation devoted to travel, and for me that’s a big plus. It’s a chunk of time where I have no responsibilities, no pressure, no one bugging me. I can decompress and switch from work mode to family vacation mode, getting in a bunch of reading, knitting and DVD watching. I can’t wait. That trip comes up costing about the same as plane fare, though a bit less than nonstop fares and that doesn’t take into account the airport hassle-factor. The train station is closer to my house than the airport by about an hour, and also more accessible to my end destination in MN, and that’s worth $$$ as well as peace of mind. I got to have a roomette on one leg of the trip last year, and found it super comfortable. I was able to split the cost with my companion, which I thought was a great deal for the provided amenities - two comfy beds, privacy, free food and wine! This year I can’t justify the expense (triple the ticket price) for just me, but hopefully next time.
I did take a plane trip in the spring, but that was to the southwest and on very short notice. I had a hard enough time wrangling the days off from work that I did, but if I had been able to take an extra few days I would have gone all the way there on the train, no question.
I feel I should add that I get severe motion sickness on airplanes and as a passenger in cars, so that is a huge factor in my perception of the relative merits of the different travel methods. I’d rather spend 4 or 6 hours on a train in comfort than one hour fighting nausea on a plane. It usually takes half a day to recover from a plane or long car ride anyhow, so it ends up a wash time-wise.
Within the past two years, Portland to Seattle for a few days. Before that it was probably ten years, San Francisco to near Yosemite. Prior to that, I’d have to go back to about 1980 and a three-day slog from Seattle to Minneapolis.
Guilin to Nanning in May (overnight on a hard seat), and Beijing to Guilin (hard sleeper) earlier that month. Plus a dozen other times in mainland China and a few in Taiwan over the past year. Buses in China aren’t that cheap, so the train was often the economical option. Hard seats are uncomfortable for long trips, but sometimes I feel like saving money and it’s always an experience. Hard sleepers are great, $62 for traveling over 1300 miles and very comfortable.
My last Amtrak trip was in December 2007. A day trip from Absecon, NJ to Washington DC for $99 round trip. It was surprisingly quick (about 3.5 hours each way), since it’s nearly 1.5 hours from Absecon to Philly on NJ Transit, and I needed to transfer trains there. If the Atlantic City rail line counts, then I’ve taken that in the past year.
Next train ride will probably be in Thailand later this summer, unless they are significantly more expensive than buses. Trains in Vietnam were more expensive and less convenient than buses, so I didn’t ride any there last month.
Actually, trains tend to be a little cheaper than buses, at least for the sit-up seats. But even a sleeper, especially the second-class ones, for overnight hauls are not all that expensive. The big problem is that Thailand’s train system is not as extensive as it could be, and many locations are accessible by bus only.
Here is the State Railway of Thailand’s English-language website. I just learned they finally got around to doing it in English while looking for some train info for myself. Unfortunately, it seems only the homepage is in English, and all the timetables and such are still in Thai.
Last trip was from Hangzhou to Shanghai about 2 years ago.
Prior to that I’ve done:
[ul]
[li]Istanbul to Thessaloniki to Athens and back[/li][li]Cairo to Aswan and back[/li][li]Newark airport to Albany when weather didn’t permit flying in[/li][li]Albany to NYC and back[/li][li]a long time ago I did Albany to somewhere near Paris Island in South Carolina and back[/li][/ul]
I think that’s it. I’d really like to see Canada by train, as well as the Trans-Siberian Railway.