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I got pay walled, but the post still reminds me of the time I traveled from Saigon to Hue, then Hue to Hanoi. Slow, but very fun. Just like in China, my feet stuck out the end of the hard sleeper but I still slept like a rock. And just like China, there was always a crowd near the "samovar"...

Outstanding! They left space for a bicycle path! ;-)

I would be happy with one part of the First Class Car having Lay Flat At an Angle seating. I do not need to be perfectly flat or have a compartment of my own to sleep well. When I flew Polaris Class on United I slept like a baby. If LFAaA seating cost less than a roommate I would definitely use...

My first train trips were with my Dad when he was working as a brakeman and then as a conductor on Burlington Northern freight trains. I think I went on one from Glasgow to Williston, but I remember the Glasgow to Minot trips better because I was older. Riding in the locomotive when he was a...

I did not know Jefferson even existed! I drive that road frequently and never spotted any of their buses. Jefferson is near or in the old Greyhound Terminal in Missoula. 12 minute walk from the nearest Uhaul drop-off. 6 hour trip to Billings, $70. Is my paranoia about putting my car on a trolley...

You are so right about the length of trains, and the amount of people traveling by train, being much larger in the US just a matter of 40 or 50 years ago. I think the last time I was on the Cap Limited and the Crescent, they had 8 or 9 cars each. I have seen photos of the old Empire Builder with...

That an 8 car train is considered a "mini" in India speaks volumes. Even if the US/Amtrak/Brightline doubled or tripled the rolling stock in use in the US, and even if new Brightline-owned tracks were laid, and even if they found a way to get the freight railroads to give Amtrak/Brightline the...

Your experience makes me wonder how many seats had the Coach Attendant sold a second time and did NOT get caught doing it because the people with the original tickets did not get from Rome Termini to Tiburtina? The saying that "It is not a crime if you do not get caught" comes to mind. But...

Sounds like your impression of Italian Rail is the same as mine, Swede. Pretty well organized and pleasant. I left Italy yesterday and the only real problem I had with finding tickets and then the train was the one from Rome Termine to the airport. I finally gave up on the machines since I could...

Arlington Virginia is looking to compete with New York for spending the most money on relatively simple projects. Arlington decided to build a bus stop on a fairly busy boulevard and somehow managed to spend over a million dollars. And the design is open to the west and north with a roof that...

TrenItalia has been a great experience, even if all of my reserved seats have been facing the wrong way... Which kind of indicates the problem may lie with me. Anyway, the train trip from Tropea to Salerno was smooth sailing and fun. Then I tried to ride the 5120 bus from Salerno to Amalfi. I...

Argh... I am facing backwards on the wrong side of the train again. And Business coach 1 is last not first and kind of crowded. So much for the arrow on the seating chart indicating the trains direction of travel. They are just messing with me, now. LOL. Still a nice trip, should be in...

Got this bit of bad news on my way to Tropea. It could have been worse. LOL! 2 minutes late I can live with. I have been traveling with TrenItalia from Bari to Lecce, Lecce to Taranto, then Flixbus from Taranto to Matera and a taxi from Matera to Metaponto. Then it was TrenItalia from...

This isn't simply about capitalism, it is about a form of capitalism that has grown increasingly dominant in the US and to some extent in Europe over the past 30 years. I do not know if it is linked to the end of the Cold War or if this type of corporate group think merely became more...

Everything in Greece is coverered in graffiti. Even new rail cars are tagged within days. They even tagged the Orthodox Church next to my hotel this year. On my last trip churches were still sacrosanct. No graffiti on any of them then.

Stories like this are so sad. People just living their lives and then something goes wrong. It happened in my home state with Amtrak a few years ago. I had looked at taking that line a week earlier but took a bus from Athens to Patras instead.

Oh yeah. There are 3 "train stations" within 100 meters of each other. One elevated and two on ground level. All three of them have a Track 1, which is where my Frecciargento train was going to show up. Track 1 ovest (sp?) was the Alstom Italo and for a minute I just about boarded it by mistake...

Verissimo! LOL! I got to the station early because my espresso place was jamming and I did not want to wade into the mosh pit with my pack on. Watched 5 trains come in and out in 50 or so minutes. 2 were POP commuter trains but there were 3 regional trains to Milan and Rome (I think) that left...

Rats. Website had my seat facing forward on the sea side view of the car but I am sitting backwards on the land side. Oh well. Best laid plans... On edit: Conductor just moved me to a forward facing seat in the shady "sea view" side. Yea!

I do not speak Italian but the Italia Rail website makes it really easy to get exactly the seat you want, and fast, too. I wanted to splurge so I got the first class ticket and I got the seat by itself so I would not have a seat mate. They have 1x2 seating and you can choose your seat for just...