5 Reasons
You Should Travel by Train
Ride the rails and reduce your
carbon emissions.
The train, as a method of travel, has a lot stacked against
it. It takes substantially longer than a plane ride. Locomotives wobble like
gelatin on a trampoline. Plus, some passenger train companies have gotten a
needlessly bad rap. Trains, however, are better for the environment than planes
or driving alone. Here are five reason to ride the rails.
The environment.
Riding a
train is considerably better than riding a plane as far as the environment is
concerned. It is also a form of mass transportation. A group of people
traveling together significantly lowers their overall carbon footprint. If
every person on the train was driving their own car, it would be bad news for
the climate.
The scenery.
I traveled by train
from Omaha, Nebraska to Bakersfield, California. The trip took three days. In
that time, we passed through the Rocky Mountains, Salt Lake City, Reno and
Sacramento. The trains would stop at quiet Midwestern towns in the middle of
the night and pick up families with mussed-haired, blanket-carrying children in
tow. I saw wildlife-deer, wolves, and eagles -from the observation car. We went
through caves that had been bored into the mountainside. We followed the
Colorado River out of Grand Junction, Colorado. People waved at us as they
fished.
The people.
When you travel by
train over a long distance, you get to know your fellow passengers. The trains
have a dining tradition. If you go the dining car during meal time, you have to
eat with strangers. I met a nice couple from Denver and the woman who grew the
first square tomato.
Relaxation.
When you are on a
train, you can't go anywhere. You can't do anything. You can't check your
emails. You can't get any bills. No one wants you to help them move or give
them a ride. My phone barely worked. All I could do was drink coffee, read
books and sleep. It was heaven.
Price.
The train is substantially cheaper
than a plane ticket. If you eat on the train every day, it may offset some of
that savings, but if you pack some lunches—you have to do the dining car at
least once—the train is a bargain.
If you would like to know more about Travel by
Train leave a comment at the bottom.
No comments:
Post a Comment