A little while back I went on a trip to Washington D.C.with my mother. We went to see some family members whom we hadn't seen in a very long while and, as with all of my other trips, and any trip I venture on, I took my camera.
My preferable way of traveling is by train. Call me old fashion, or just plain romantic,but I love traveling by train. It's so much more comfortable, and leisurely than any other mode of transportation.
C'mon, think back to the last time you traveled: do you remember feeling enough leg room to spread your feet out and stretch your toes without pissing off the person in front of you when your legs hit the underside of their seat? How about standing up? When was the last time that you got the opportunity to wander from plane to plane or bus to bus on any of your travels? And not to mention the view. What do you really see up there? Even the bus only gives you a driver's view of what's going on outside your window.
Now, While I truly enjoy the view of the earth from the sky, there is just nothing like the scene outside your window that lingers along beside you on a train. It's like the country your in has finally gotten a chance to meet you and it doesn't want to miss the opportunity to wave and say hi! This is it's chance and it's going to take it.
There is also no rushing on trains- to some extent.
Although the train may be speeding along, you and your luggage are still going to get to your destination at least ten hours well past your compatriots in the air. But, you don't mind. You've come to fully accept this. It's all part of the train experience, the train mystique.
I saw some great vistas on this trip. They ranged from lakes, oceans, to mountains and valley's. It was definitely a side of this land that I'd never seen before, even when I took this same trip years before. I didn't remember seeing the things I saw this time around. The voyage itself was also very different the first time, as well. For one thing, We had to take a bus from Montreal at some un-Godly hour of the morning to St Albans New York. Once there, my mother and I, and a scattering of other passengers, had to walk through some patches of bushes to a tiny, near minuscule, shack in the middle of nowhere. It was so tiny the only thing that fit inside was a ticket counter and a patch of space on the floor big enough for only, maybe, six people to pace around on.Then, to get on the train we had to step off of the postage stamp platform and walk the five or six feet across a swath of rocks and pebbles to a massive waiting train, on which we had to step up to to get on.
Great adventure for me, not so much fun for my mother with arthritic knees.
But, none of that on this trip. This time the train left from the Montreal Gare Central station, downtown.It was so much easier for my mother this way. Barely any up and down to go through.
Okay, so on the train you have to buy your own food. Have you tasted airline food? Wouldn't you want to buy something better if you had the choice?
Granted, it was a tad expensive, and if you are going on AmTrak you are already spending your American loot but, it was totally worth it, if not for the cold beer then for the walk from your seat to the dining car alone.
To some extent, I've become very spoiled by this way of traveling. Barring the times when I couldn't afford to pay out the high price for a very long and winding train ride in the short time that was allotted to me during my break or vacation, this has always, and will always be my first choice of getting anywhere outside of my city, my province, or my country.
God, help me if I have to go to overseas.
Seriously, they can build a Chunnel from London to Paris but they can't build one across the Atlantic?!
Where's their ambition?!
C'mon, think back to the last time you traveled: do you remember feeling enough leg room to spread your feet out and stretch your toes without pissing off the person in front of you when your legs hit the underside of their seat? How about standing up? When was the last time that you got the opportunity to wander from plane to plane or bus to bus on any of your travels? And not to mention the view. What do you really see up there? Even the bus only gives you a driver's view of what's going on outside your window.
Now, While I truly enjoy the view of the earth from the sky, there is just nothing like the scene outside your window that lingers along beside you on a train. It's like the country your in has finally gotten a chance to meet you and it doesn't want to miss the opportunity to wave and say hi! This is it's chance and it's going to take it.
There is also no rushing on trains- to some extent.
Although the train may be speeding along, you and your luggage are still going to get to your destination at least ten hours well past your compatriots in the air. But, you don't mind. You've come to fully accept this. It's all part of the train experience, the train mystique.
I saw some great vistas on this trip. They ranged from lakes, oceans, to mountains and valley's. It was definitely a side of this land that I'd never seen before, even when I took this same trip years before. I didn't remember seeing the things I saw this time around. The voyage itself was also very different the first time, as well. For one thing, We had to take a bus from Montreal at some un-Godly hour of the morning to St Albans New York. Once there, my mother and I, and a scattering of other passengers, had to walk through some patches of bushes to a tiny, near minuscule, shack in the middle of nowhere. It was so tiny the only thing that fit inside was a ticket counter and a patch of space on the floor big enough for only, maybe, six people to pace around on.Then, to get on the train we had to step off of the postage stamp platform and walk the five or six feet across a swath of rocks and pebbles to a massive waiting train, on which we had to step up to to get on.
Great adventure for me, not so much fun for my mother with arthritic knees.
But, none of that on this trip. This time the train left from the Montreal Gare Central station, downtown.It was so much easier for my mother this way. Barely any up and down to go through.
Okay, so on the train you have to buy your own food. Have you tasted airline food? Wouldn't you want to buy something better if you had the choice?
Granted, it was a tad expensive, and if you are going on AmTrak you are already spending your American loot but, it was totally worth it, if not for the cold beer then for the walk from your seat to the dining car alone.
To some extent, I've become very spoiled by this way of traveling. Barring the times when I couldn't afford to pay out the high price for a very long and winding train ride in the short time that was allotted to me during my break or vacation, this has always, and will always be my first choice of getting anywhere outside of my city, my province, or my country.
God, help me if I have to go to overseas.
Seriously, they can build a Chunnel from London to Paris but they can't build one across the Atlantic?!
Where's their ambition?!
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