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I’d be satisfied with executive-class buses like they have in Mexico. Comfortable seats and useful timetables. I’m a veteran of overnight train service betwee

I’d be satisfied with executive-class buses like they have in Mexico. Comfortable seats and useful timetables. I’m a veteran of overnight train service between Chicago and Pittsburgh. One thing I noticed is that cheap flights are still a huge waste of time. If you fly out Friday night, you spend all evening in airports, risk getting bumped off an overbooked flight, and arrive tired at a hotel you have to pay for as well. On the way back you need an early enough flight that you aren’t dead at work on Monday. On the overnight train you hang with friends near the station, hop on the train and go to sleep, waking up fresh on Saturday morning. You have the whole weekend to do whatever and you hop on the train at the end of Sunday. Monday morning you arrive fresh, probably 20 minutes early for work.

mmjaa 7y ago
I've taken similar train rides as you describe, albeit all over Europe. Trains are a delightful way to travel - and as well, get some good work done. Some of my happiest code was written while castles and rivers and villages scrolled by on the window .. In my opinion the 'long slow travel .. while sleeping/working' method of getting around is far more preferable to the 'jet age tin-can' mode, no matter how far and fast. I'd happily take a train anywhere in the world, were such a thing feasible ..
- nlh 7y ago
  I agree with your sentiment entirely! One thing to point out - the ‘long slow travel while working’ mode is still possible even with tin cans. To wit: I just had one of my most focused, productive (and enjoyable!) coding sessions of my life on a Zurich -> SFO flight. It was a day flight, 12 hours long. I was lucky enough to have a bulkhead seat in economy and conditions were perfect - it was dark (enough), I had absolute focus, unlimited coffee that got refilled automatically ;) snacks, meals, zero phone calls/distractions, and good-enough WiFi. I’ve never felt 12 hours vanish so quickly (and code appear so fluidly ;)
  - mmjaa 7y ago
    Nice! Yeah .. I've found as I've aged, I really need scenery somewhere, scrolling by in the background, if I try to travel-work. I guess I get claustrophobic without it ..

mmjaa 7y ago

I've taken similar train rides as you describe, albeit all over Europe. Trains are a delightful way to travel - and as well, get some good work done. Some of my happiest code was written while castles and rivers and villages scrolled by on the window .. In my opinion the 'long slow travel .. while sleeping/working' method of getting around is far more preferable to the 'jet age tin-can' mode, no matter how far and fast. I'd happily take a train anywhere in the world, were such a thing feasible ..

nlh 7y ago
I agree with your sentiment entirely! One thing to point out - the ‘long slow travel while working’ mode is still possible even with tin cans. To wit: I just had one of my most focused, productive (and enjoyable!) coding sessions of my life on a Zurich -> SFO flight. It was a day flight, 12 hours long. I was lucky enough to have a bulkhead seat in economy and conditions were perfect - it was dark (enough), I had absolute focus, unlimited coffee that got refilled automatically ;) snacks, meals, zero phone calls/distractions, and good-enough WiFi. I’ve never felt 12 hours vanish so quickly (and code appear so fluidly ;)
- mmjaa 7y ago
  Nice! Yeah .. I've found as I've aged, I really need scenery somewhere, scrolling by in the background, if I try to travel-work. I guess I get claustrophobic without it ..