7 ms·

Even Amtrak's coach class is a hundred times more comfortable than flying coach. I'd sooner spend ten hours in a train than two hours on a plane and try to do

Even Amtrak's coach class is a hundred times more comfortable than flying coach. I'd sooner spend ten hours in a train than two hours on a plane and try to do so whenever I have a chance (which is not nearly as often as I'd like.) Not getting molested by the TSA is a huge bonus.

dheera 6y ago
Yes this, and also, it's such a pleasure to just cook food at home or visit the supermarket and meander over to the train station and eat it on the journey. No restrictions on liquids/gels, and you aren't restricted to expensive crappy airport fast food. Restrooms on Amtrak don't make you deaf. No stupid food carts blocking the way to the restroom. Even on parts of the world that have food service on trains, the carts don't block people from walking past them. You can walk the entire length of the train whenever you feel like for exercise. Turbulence is not a thing on trains, and there's much more space to get from the window seat to the aisle without needing to crawl over a stranger's lap. Also, there's scenery almost the whole way.
mcv 6y ago
Somehow I'm completely unable to sleep in a plane. Even when it's a 10-hour trip to the other side of the world. Train is by far the most comfortable way to travel. Maybe ship too; I don't have a lot of experience with that for long trips.
- tacostakohashi 6y ago
  How are you flying to the other side of the world in 10 hours? Obviously not on a passenger airline, do you own some kind of supersonic aircraft?
  - kingofpandora 6y ago
    You win the I-take-every-statement-literally award for the day! Congrats!
    - rfrey 6y ago
      I just checked, and there’s no such award.
      - kingofpandora 6y ago
        And you get an Uplevelled-the-joke medal.
- Symbiote 6y ago
  I've slept on the Harwich-Hook of Holland ferry a few times. It is very comfortable, and much quieter than a sleeper train -- it was like being in a slowly rocking "cabin hotel", where you don't have a window and the room is tiny. (You can get a room with a window, but for an overnight trip it seemed a bit pointless.) I find it difficult to sleep on sleeper trains, and usually arrive tired at the destination. Where there is the option I will use a night train out of principle (it's still usually more comfortable than a plane) but, if I have time, a daytime rail journey is much nicer.
  - dash2 6y ago
    That ferry is cool! Last time I was on it, there was a gang of bikers on board, returning from their Eurotrip. Then there's all the lorry drivers drinking lager in the bar. They wake you up at 6 am with a cheesy chime to sell you their overpriced breakfasts, though.
- tormeh 6y ago
  Ear plugs and a sleeping mask is key. Neck rest recommended. Skip sleeping the night before boarding. Works for me anyway.
  - brewdad 6y ago
    Those certainly help but I have yet to find the right neck pillow for me. I am a side-sleeper at home, almost exclusively on my left side FWIW. I'm not willing to pay for a lie-flat seat when it's my money but I would pay dearly for the pillow that will allow me more than 15-30 minute cat naps on a 10 hour redeye flight.
  - seer 6y ago
    Would advise against that. One time our flight got delayed for six hours (ugh) at a lay over - some technical glitch so they were not sure when the plane is going to actually depart. My partner didn’t sleep the night before because of anxiety and she was extremely sleep deprived - would have easily hmissed the flight without me being there with most of my faculties intact. And Aeroflot are not known for their hospitality and understanding to foreign travelers...
    - bb101 6y ago
      Neither are KLM in my experience.
- maccard 6y ago
  Noise cancelling headphones, a small amount of alcohol(1-2 find), (and preferably a lie flat bed) combined with staying up the night before travel (if going west) has a fairly high success rate for me.
  - lovelyviking 6y ago
    >Noise cancelling headphones Any particular you know that in fact do cancel noise and really work?
    - vorpalhex 6y ago
      The big thing is how much noise canceling you're after. A $50 set of Anker Soundcore's will remove engine noise but not a noisy neighbor - I like them for travel because the battery is solid and I won't cry if I lose them. On the other hand, a $400 set of Sony's will basically put you in audio isolation - to the point that some people genuinely don't like them. A friend had me put his pair on in the middle of a busy restaurant at lunch time and I'm not kidding when I say it felt pin drop quiet.
    - selectodude 6y ago
      Bose QC35s have been my flying companion for over four years now. Basically indistinguishable from magic.
    - AndyMcConachie 6y ago
      I use noise cancelling in-ear headphones and on top of that I wear ear muffs intended for operating heavy machinery. I've never found a single pair of noise cancelling headphones that actually cancel all noise, so I layer them.
  - wenc 6y ago
    Out of curiosity, what noise cancelling headphones do you have that lets you sleep through the night on a long haul? My Airpods Pro are great but they only have a battery life of 4-5 hours per charge (20 hours in case, but you have to wake up to charge them). My Bose QC 15 over ear headphones can stay on much longer (> 20 hours of battery life) and have great noise cancellation, but as soon as I lean my head to either of the side headrests on the seat, the noise cancellation "leaks". I've never been able to sleep on a plane with my Bose QCs. The best solution I've found so far have been plain-old ear plugs ($5).
- vorpalhex 6y ago
  Melatonin patches. Just be aware it's going to start shifting your sleep cycle so don't apply it until you're aligned to bedtime at your destination. I recommend wearing an analog watch and aligning to destination time as soon as you get seated on the plane. These are also great for dealing with jet lag. Eye mask, you want the kind that looks like a bra and puts no pressure on your eyes. "Nidra" is the brand I usually get, they're cheap, I replace mine regularly. Noise canceling headphones. I go for cheap sets but get what works for you, something wireless. I have found history podcasts and music both work well for me. I have a neck pillow that basically looks like a cervical collar and is made from memory foam. Works really well for me but was pretty expensive, and it takes up a bunch of space so it's a tradeoff to consider. And wear a zipped sweatshirt on the plane, use it as a blanket - after turning the air vent on max.
- kenneth 6y ago
  Fly business or first, problem solved
handedness 6y ago
While still comparatively light, TSA has been increasing their footprint with Amtrak, as in giving the full pat-down and wands treatment when boarding, and in some cases even when disembarking.
- cguess 6y ago
  Where have you seen this? I've been in and out of Penn Station (NY) and Union Stations (DC, Chicago) a lot over the years right up until COVID and have never encountered any TSA.
  - objectivetruth 6y ago
    Not OP but I've seen them more often than not between Chicago and California over the past decade or so, particularly in Nevada and Nebraska.
  - codethief 6y ago
    Not OP, either, but I've heard of pretty comprehensive security checks in New Orleans. (Though, there it really makes sense.)
qqn 6y ago
Took the train from NY to Settle. Learned to not do it in coach ever again for anything more than a day's worth of traveling. The seats are comfortable (much better than VIA Rail, which I took from Vancouver-Toronto earlier), but the random people getting on a random times, including in the middle of the night, is what got to me (VIA didn't have this so much). Had a very sketchy homeless guy with clearly some mental affliction in front of me talking to himself for about 1.5 days, and two others quietly murmuring on their phones for 5h+, late into midnight or later. I'd also pack my own food because the restaurant car required appointments and the snack kiosk had nothing good or healthy. Both were severely overpriced. It's unfortunate you can't seem to make too many stops along the way. The company will allow for one, I believe, but as you try to add more the tickets get more expensive. The timing of arrival and the small-town location of many of them just make the option not very interesting for general tourism. I did have a few hours in Chicago which was pretty cool, though I didn't see much and was very put off by the "if you're being shot at then throw your duffel bag at the attacker" videos at the main station. But it was also the middle of winter and like 7-9am or so, so that definitely coloured my experience. Great diner experience though. No one does breakfast quite like North Americans. Talking with a nice man from California in the restaurant car when I did go the one time I learned he paid as much as me for one of the private room options, just he'd booked a few weeks in advance. I believe he also had access to a shower, which would have been a game changer for me. I booked the way I did though primarily to test out the "worst" option and compare it to better options as I'd make more trips. This was what I learned so far. I'd like to do more though, because this seems like a great way to travel the country.
- jfim 6y ago
  Yeah there's a shower in some of the sleeper cars. It's pretty funny to use, the drain hole actually just drains on the tracks so you can see the gravel and rails pass by while taking a shower.

dheera 6y ago

Yes this, and also, it's such a pleasure to just cook food at home or visit the supermarket and meander over to the train station and eat it on the journey. No restrictions on liquids/gels, and you aren't restricted to expensive crappy airport fast food. Restrooms on Amtrak don't make you deaf. No stupid food carts blocking the way to the restroom. Even on parts of the world that have food service on trains, the carts don't block people from walking past them. You can walk the entire length of the train whenever you feel like for exercise. Turbulence is not a thing on trains, and there's much more space to get from the window seat to the aisle without needing to crawl over a stranger's lap. Also, there's scenery almost the whole way.

mcv 6y ago

Somehow I'm completely unable to sleep in a plane. Even when it's a 10-hour trip to the other side of the world. Train is by far the most comfortable way to travel. Maybe ship too; I don't have a lot of experience with that for long trips.

tacostakohashi 6y ago
How are you flying to the other side of the world in 10 hours? Obviously not on a passenger airline, do you own some kind of supersonic aircraft?
- kingofpandora 6y ago
  You win the I-take-every-statement-literally award for the day! Congrats!
  - rfrey 6y ago
    I just checked, and there’s no such award.
    - kingofpandora 6y ago
      And you get an Uplevelled-the-joke medal.
Symbiote 6y ago
I've slept on the Harwich-Hook of Holland ferry a few times. It is very comfortable, and much quieter than a sleeper train -- it was like being in a slowly rocking "cabin hotel", where you don't have a window and the room is tiny. (You can get a room with a window, but for an overnight trip it seemed a bit pointless.) I find it difficult to sleep on sleeper trains, and usually arrive tired at the destination. Where there is the option I will use a night train out of principle (it's still usually more comfortable than a plane) but, if I have time, a daytime rail journey is much nicer.
- dash2 6y ago
  That ferry is cool! Last time I was on it, there was a gang of bikers on board, returning from their Eurotrip. Then there's all the lorry drivers drinking lager in the bar. They wake you up at 6 am with a cheesy chime to sell you their overpriced breakfasts, though.
tormeh 6y ago
Ear plugs and a sleeping mask is key. Neck rest recommended. Skip sleeping the night before boarding. Works for me anyway.
- brewdad 6y ago
  Those certainly help but I have yet to find the right neck pillow for me. I am a side-sleeper at home, almost exclusively on my left side FWIW. I'm not willing to pay for a lie-flat seat when it's my money but I would pay dearly for the pillow that will allow me more than 15-30 minute cat naps on a 10 hour redeye flight.
- seer 6y ago
  Would advise against that. One time our flight got delayed for six hours (ugh) at a lay over - some technical glitch so they were not sure when the plane is going to actually depart. My partner didn’t sleep the night before because of anxiety and she was extremely sleep deprived - would have easily hmissed the flight without me being there with most of my faculties intact. And Aeroflot are not known for their hospitality and understanding to foreign travelers...
  - bb101 6y ago
    Neither are KLM in my experience.
maccard 6y ago
Noise cancelling headphones, a small amount of alcohol(1-2 find), (and preferably a lie flat bed) combined with staying up the night before travel (if going west) has a fairly high success rate for me.
- lovelyviking 6y ago
  >Noise cancelling headphones Any particular you know that in fact do cancel noise and really work?
  - vorpalhex 6y ago
    The big thing is how much noise canceling you're after. A $50 set of Anker Soundcore's will remove engine noise but not a noisy neighbor - I like them for travel because the battery is solid and I won't cry if I lose them. On the other hand, a $400 set of Sony's will basically put you in audio isolation - to the point that some people genuinely don't like them. A friend had me put his pair on in the middle of a busy restaurant at lunch time and I'm not kidding when I say it felt pin drop quiet.
  - selectodude 6y ago
    Bose QC35s have been my flying companion for over four years now. Basically indistinguishable from magic.
  - AndyMcConachie 6y ago
    I use noise cancelling in-ear headphones and on top of that I wear ear muffs intended for operating heavy machinery. I've never found a single pair of noise cancelling headphones that actually cancel all noise, so I layer them.
- wenc 6y ago
  Out of curiosity, what noise cancelling headphones do you have that lets you sleep through the night on a long haul? My Airpods Pro are great but they only have a battery life of 4-5 hours per charge (20 hours in case, but you have to wake up to charge them). My Bose QC 15 over ear headphones can stay on much longer (> 20 hours of battery life) and have great noise cancellation, but as soon as I lean my head to either of the side headrests on the seat, the noise cancellation "leaks". I've never been able to sleep on a plane with my Bose QCs. The best solution I've found so far have been plain-old ear plugs ($5).
vorpalhex 6y ago
Melatonin patches. Just be aware it's going to start shifting your sleep cycle so don't apply it until you're aligned to bedtime at your destination. I recommend wearing an analog watch and aligning to destination time as soon as you get seated on the plane. These are also great for dealing with jet lag. Eye mask, you want the kind that looks like a bra and puts no pressure on your eyes. "Nidra" is the brand I usually get, they're cheap, I replace mine regularly. Noise canceling headphones. I go for cheap sets but get what works for you, something wireless. I have found history podcasts and music both work well for me. I have a neck pillow that basically looks like a cervical collar and is made from memory foam. Works really well for me but was pretty expensive, and it takes up a bunch of space so it's a tradeoff to consider. And wear a zipped sweatshirt on the plane, use it as a blanket - after turning the air vent on max.
kenneth 6y ago
Fly business or first, problem solved

handedness 6y ago

While still comparatively light, TSA has been increasing their footprint with Amtrak, as in giving the full pat-down and wands treatment when boarding, and in some cases even when disembarking.

cguess 6y ago
Where have you seen this? I've been in and out of Penn Station (NY) and Union Stations (DC, Chicago) a lot over the years right up until COVID and have never encountered any TSA.
- objectivetruth 6y ago
  Not OP but I've seen them more often than not between Chicago and California over the past decade or so, particularly in Nevada and Nebraska.
- codethief 6y ago
  Not OP, either, but I've heard of pretty comprehensive security checks in New Orleans. (Though, there it really makes sense.)

qqn 6y ago

Took the train from NY to Settle. Learned to not do it in coach ever again for anything more than a day's worth of traveling. The seats are comfortable (much better than VIA Rail, which I took from Vancouver-Toronto earlier), but the random people getting on a random times, including in the middle of the night, is what got to me (VIA didn't have this so much). Had a very sketchy homeless guy with clearly some mental affliction in front of me talking to himself for about 1.5 days, and two others quietly murmuring on their phones for 5h+, late into midnight or later. I'd also pack my own food because the restaurant car required appointments and the snack kiosk had nothing good or healthy. Both were severely overpriced. It's unfortunate you can't seem to make too many stops along the way. The company will allow for one, I believe, but as you try to add more the tickets get more expensive. The timing of arrival and the small-town location of many of them just make the option not very interesting for general tourism. I did have a few hours in Chicago which was pretty cool, though I didn't see much and was very put off by the "if you're being shot at then throw your duffel bag at the attacker" videos at the main station. But it was also the middle of winter and like 7-9am or so, so that definitely coloured my experience. Great diner experience though. No one does breakfast quite like North Americans. Talking with a nice man from California in the restaurant car when I did go the one time I learned he paid as much as me for one of the private room options, just he'd booked a few weeks in advance. I believe he also had access to a shower, which would have been a game changer for me. I booked the way I did though primarily to test out the "worst" option and compare it to better options as I'd make more trips. This was what I learned so far. I'd like to do more though, because this seems like a great way to travel the country.

jfim 6y ago
Yeah there's a shower in some of the sleeper cars. It's pretty funny to use, the drain hole actually just drains on the tracks so you can see the gravel and rails pass by while taking a shower.