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Comment by woile | Hacker News Reader

Maybe it's not convenient for a whole family but more for solo travelers. A car with one traveller is an absolute waste. And instead is more convenient to travel by train

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I went from London to Barcelona and back by train. On the way down, a sleeper from Paris to somewhere like Perpignan, then a morning express from Perpignan to Barcelona, and on the way back, daytime TGV from Barcelona to Paris.

The return leg was far better.

Getting the sleeper train means hanging around in some dingy third-rate terminal waiting for it to leave. I didn't really sleep on the train, because even though they run it slowly, it's still pretty loud and bumpy. I shared a cabin with a well-behaved friend, so i wasn't even mixed in with strangers. Changing trains in rush hour was not fun. In the end, it took me long enough to recover in Barcelona that i could have stayed over in Paris, got a TGV that morning and not been far behind.

Whereas the TGV back was a TGV. Comfortable, nice scenery to look at, decent bar for a train.

If you sleep more heavily than i do, or if there is some real value in being at your destination earlier in the day, a sleeper might be a good choice. But in the age of high-speed rail, i don't think it makes much sense.

I'm curious what was the price for London to Barcelona and what was time on the TGV return leg?

I can't remember the price i'm afraid, and i think the return leg was six hours from Barcelona to Paris. I then spent an evening and a night in Paris before going back to London, because why wouldn't you?

It's not a waste in all ways.

A car gets you where you want at the time you want. Whereas a train gets you close to where you want to go at some time.

So better depends on what's more important to you. If you take a look at ecology, sure, trains are far better than a 1 person in a car. If you look at flexibility, cars are far more better.

Your oversimplified comparaison sounds good but is not true : trains spend (way) less fuel AND are more flexible:

- you can pee anytime

- you can choose different class without changing materials

- you can book as much tickets for your whole family and kid's friends. Everybody will travel together, no separate cars, no additional drivers

- and my favorite : you can enjoy your ride with meditation, work, movie...

edit:formating

You used to be able to meet great people and have a good chat in the smoking carriage. Alas it is no more.

> It's not a waste in all ways.

I think you are talking about convenience while they were talking about ecology.

Also safety could also be a factor. Car travel is more unsafe than trains.

You can also rent a car at your destination, or take cab

I think that oversimplifies it a bit. I traveled to enough places in Europe where either there are no close renting stations or cabs are way to expensive. Think Switzerland.

It's still better to fly.

Depends on how you define better. I don't mind planes but I hate the process of getting off and on a plane. There is no single best mode of transport. There are so many variables involved. Price, time, proximity, personal preferences,..

Trains are as close as you can get to frictionless travel. (Getting to space and back still means traveling through all that atmosphere at insanely high velocities.) That alone determines huge energy, and, by extension, carbon emissions, savings.

When flying accross europe, you spend so much more time in the terminals and going in and out of the airports you need to sometimes double or triple the time of the actual flight to get to your destination. This + the usual extorsion to buy drinks and a meal in and off the plane + potential need for a uber/taxi. It soon becomes less appealing, even more so when you can't get a direct flight.

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