Hacker News Reader

Comment by focusedone | Hacker News Reader

We traveled on Amtrak for vacation recently, partially as an experiment because neither of us had traveled by train before.

It was a very good experience and we will absolutely use it again. Probably will for our next vacation.

The cars obviously needed some love, and the routes / schedules are limited to the point that it wouldn't really make sense to use for business travel. It was clearly a situation of 'this is a good thing that could be great with some funding'.

Anyway, as a recreational Amtrak user I'm thrilled to see money go their way.

View on HN

Amtrak can be fun but service can be highly variable.

A few years ago my wife and I took an Amtrak from Oakland to Chicago with a brief stop in Colorado to visit a hot spring. We weren't impressed with the menu on the first leg of the trip so we bought take-out meals in town before boarding. Boy were we lucky we did - the train didn't get restocked properly and ran out of food a day early. Many onboard got to enjoy some intermittent fasting...

Now I tell people to by all means enjoy Amtrak but always make contingency plans.

What makes it a good experience? When I look at Amtrak is more expensive than flying, slower than renting a car and driving for the same money.

Ditto. Enjoy traveling and often looking for the best deal, as we care much more about the destination that getting somewhere in luxury. When close enough driving always seems best, after a certain distance flying is cheaper and of course much faster. Every once in a while look at train options to see how the time and cost compare but in my limited lookups, the train was more expensive and often total time longer. The idea of always sounds relaxing.

I don’t know what’s relaxing about a slow commute, unless the trip is getting in a train. Perhaps I come from a place where the train is a utility and not something “weird” one fetishizes as a vacation. I don’t mean this in any negative way whatsoever and I don’t intend this to sound like I’m gate keeping train usage (but I know it may sound like I that).

All this to say, I want to get on the train to get somewhere, not to “experience the train”. Until the train operates as such, regular passengers are not going to choose it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com