Anyone ever been on a train vacation?

[TexasTimCat]

Wife, me, and the kids God Parents drove from shelby county to Chicago, boarded amtrak with the small sleepers, traveled to flagstaff where we picked up rental and did grand canyon, Vegas, hoover dam, Yosemite, great sequoias, Napa, San Francisco, Golden gate bridge, drove up the coast thru redwood forest up to seatle, stopping at a couple of beach towns on the way.

Dropped off rental in Seattle and got back on train headed to east glacier in Montana. Stayed in the lodge there before boarding train back to Chicago for drive home.

The first train leg was pretty awesome, stayed in the observation car a bunch drinking bourbon and enjoying the views.

Second leg not as much fun, kid of a been there done that feeling, the 3rd leg back to Chicago sucked ass, it was get me off this damn train. It was overload I believe. Plus the fact that the dining menu is exactly the same on each if the trains and it did not change at all thru our trip.

 

[SosaUK1987]

Not gonna lie, the high speed rail system in China is pretty cool. Ridden it several times while on business there, including for fairly long hauls. The bullet trains go about 160-200+mph. Never had any delays at all. There are three seating classes, business, first, and, second (from highest to lowest). In business, you get a seat that fully reclines. The first class seats are pretty wide and spacious too.

Anyway, China was able to build it out quickly because, well, the gov't owns all the land. Not having to worry about property rights makes things easier (not saying that's a good thing AT ALL). Also, the system apparently loses billions each year. That being said, it appears to be efficient and otherwise well-run. Beijing to Shanghai in 4 hours, 18 minutes for about $80.

I’m not trusting anything going that fast built in China.