By the Wanz
HAPPY LAST MONDAY OF JUNE!!!!!! (Because I abuse caps and exclamation points.)
Hope everyone’s summer’s starting off splendidly. Gay Pride was this weekend in Seattle and there were a lot of colorful, prideful people on the streets, in the buses, on floats, it was phenomenal. And there were some interesting tweets from Life In Transit – SO, if you don’t already, follow us on Twitter @LifeInTransitTJ AND/OR check us out on Facebook. Seriously, if you aren’t connected to these, then you’ve only seen a tip of the “Life in Transit”-berg experience!
Shameless plug aside, today we are going to talk about the TRAIN!! This blog is dedicated to my good friend Katie who has taken the Train with me to and fro a ton of times, so I hope you appreciate this!!
The trains I’m talking about are really those from AmTrak (sorry Caltrain and Sounder… both of you are cool, but are no AmTrak). For those of you who don’t know the difference, Caltrain and the Sounder are commuter trains that primarily function for those of us who do the daily commute into a larger city (i.e.: San Francisco or Seattle). I’m talking about taking the train versus driving or flying to a state usually.
Initially I was just gonna rave about the awesomeness of the train, and as I writing those, I kept thinking of cons, and I was like “How can I cleverly incorporate these into the intro…?” And I couldn’t. Yup. Mystery unveiled. I’m just going to straightforwardly do another compare and contrast of the-kickass-and-the-suckass-ness of the train.
#1 Pricing!
- Pro: Assuming you aren’t going super-duper far, pricing for a train ride is more cost affordable than flying or driving! (Examples: Seattle to Portland or DC to New York).
- Con: Mind you, if you’re taking the train from… say, Seattle to San Francisco… or Los Angeles, or a longer trip (i.e.: going someplace “super-duper far”), you’ll notice that pricing is actually pretty similar to a plane ride and way longer than a car ride…
#2 Traffic
- Pro: Instead of dealing with crappy traffic along the freeway, you’ll be taking the fast track! This actually makes some train trips just as fast of driving (i.e.: Seattle to Portland).
- Con: Unfortunately, train traffic does exist. This can cause your train to be late, to be stopped on your traffic for like 20 minutes, or even motor issues (I remember a certain trip that was supposed to take 3 hours that took closer to 6 because we had to wake for an extra caboose). Le sigh.
#3 Leg Space
- Pro: You can stretch out and get quite cozy on the train! Way more so than on a plane or in certain car situations!
- Con: This is true, barring the scenario of having two people seated across from you and facing you. Yup. Some trains have two seats right in front of you, facing you, space invadering you, and let me tell you the leg situation gets uncomfortable. And also awkward. (Much like the structure of this paragraph.)
#4 The Scenery
- Pro: You can fully appreciate the naturey or urbanic scenery in full (without fear of rear-ending someone). There’s an almost undeniable beauty in what you can see on a train ride…
- Con: Key word there was almost. Of course, if it’s in middle of the night and you can’t see anything, then that kinda kills it. Or if the weather is super shitty and you can’t see much. Or if you don’t give a rat’s ass about “scenery” then you’d be boooooored…
#5 Reading / Movie Watching / Dickin Around on the Internet
- Pro: You have some wonderful pastimes! Things you shouldn’t be—uh, I mean, cannot do while driving!
- Con: Of course, if you still get motion sickness, I can see how these wouldn’t be grand options…
#6 Naps
- Pro: It’s like magic! Boom, fall asleep; boom, reawaken at my station. Magic.
- Con: This doesn’t work as well when you’re like—Boom, fall asleep; boom, reawaken after your station stop and then you’re shit out of luck cause you’re a city or two away from where you should be…
#7 Drinking!
- Pro: Uh, again, you should not be doing this while driving, but guess what, it’s legal to do on AmTrak!! Woo!! This definitely helps warm you up for whatever fun times await at your upcoming destination.
- Con: The shit’s way overpriced.
- Another Pro aka Con Solution: Smuggle your own beer on board. Who’s gonna question it? Nobody. If anything, everyone’ll be like “Damn, they’re smart.”
- Another Con: There is none. (Unless it’s illegal to do the Con Solution.) Anyways… next!
#8 Travel with a Friend
- Pro: I mean, you can travel with friends via a car, however one of you is focused on the road, and the other one is navigating… or napping… or playing DJ. Train trips level the playing field, such that you can enjoy the trip equally and happily.
- Con: Hopefully nothing occurred during the trip that would cause you and said friend to get in a tiff. If said tiff did occur, the train ride home may be slightly uncomfortable for you. But fortunately…
#9 Avoiding People
- Pro: But fortunately avoiding people is super easy on a train! Even if it’s someone you came with. Unlike airplanes and cars, you can get up, and move around to a social area and hide from the people you’re traveling with!
- Con: There aren’t really any cons here… FREEDOM.
#10 Those Traveling in the Same Direction
- Pro: You know all those annoying drivers on the road? BOOM! Instantly gone (unless there’s a car stopped in front of the train tracks). Those shitty drivers are no longer your problem! But guess who is…
- Con: Other passengers. For the most part, they are avoidable (see #9) however, if you have people in your car who are just loud, annoying, or space invadery (see #3) they’re you’re shit out of luck. Just pray that they aren’t on your return trip. :D
