Try the Train for Travel

I took my first real train ride this weekend. It was pretty nice, a great way to travel.

I only rode about three hours in the morning, and then the same trip back home in the evening. But I think this simple ride gave me a neat glimpse of the United States' train system.

The best part of the trip were the train seats themselves. They are huge! Plus, you get tons of leg room (important for me: 6'3"). I'd say the regular "coach" seats on the train were the size of the nice airliner first class seats. I wonder what the sleeping cars are like.

A cool feature that I noticed is that all the seats have wall 120v wall outlets. Thus, you can plugin your CD player, DVD player, computer, etc. Since train rides can be lengthy, especially across country, that's a really convenient feature.

The most comical thing that happened was when I arrived at the station to leave in the morning. The train was supposed to leave at 7:20 AM, so I checked in at 6:45. The lady at counter said, "Didn't you know, the train's always late." It didn't pull in until 8:35. But it only actually delayed us about an hour, so that's not too bad.

My advice: if you need to go somewhere, give the train a try.