My USA trip 2024 (part 1)

[Devil's Advocate]

I guess the reason larger airports like Heathrow don't do this is the amount of resources it would consume, given the finite space and how busy they are already.

Heathrow is half airport and half shopping mall with limited room for expansion. They make it pretty clear they want everyone to stay in the shopping section as long as possible and only advance toward the gate when more shopping would risk delaying the flight. That is the opposite of what Preclearance would do for them and they already have all the traffick they can handle (and then some).

I tend to dislike long flights in coach class

Same here. My longest nonstop was 16.5 hours but that isn't even top ten these days. Qantas is planning nonstop flights around 20 hours by 2026. I prefer to separate ocean crossings into multiple shorter flights but the market seems to be moving away from that.

Link: https://www.afar.com/magazine/longest-flights-in-the-world

To the unitiated and uninformed, this would to them be a very reasonable question. And an opportunity to educate.

If a border official is playing dumb or passive aggressive it's probably not because they want to be educated on their own country. Say anything that triggers them and your trip is over, possibly without recourse. This goes double for Canadian border agents.

 

[Bob Dylan]

The closer you can get to the Earth the better the trip. In '74 I hitchhiked from Vancouver, B.C. to
Prince Edward Island. I would not trade that experience for any or all flights across the continent.

That's a Looooong trip, even on a Plane,Train or Bus!

I did a similar trip from San Diego to NYC back in the 60s, and it's still one of the Good Travel Memories I have!

 

[Literalman]

Since you asked about customs and immigration elsewhere: the only other country I routinely visit is the Philippines, my wife's native place. You have to go through immigration entering and leaving, and entering you must fill out e-travel before boarding a flight to the Philippines but not more than 72 hours ahead. It's supposed to take 10 minutes, allegedly, but it took me an hour this year. The stupid program kept changing my citizenship from US to Zimbabwe. Two years ago it wanted the date of our arrival, which I tried typing, picking from the program's calendar, or yelling at it. It kept telling me that it had to be a date. I started to think I would not get onto the plane for Manila, but eventually it acknowledged that October something, 2022, was a date. So this year I did e-travel the morning of departure for our first flight (just under the 72-hour limit) and got to suffer through it in the comfort of our home. Once I got to immigration in Manila, though, the clerk called up my e-travel record and I was done in about one minute.

Philippines customs just waves me through, and US customs in Honolulu (where we have stayed overnight the past couple of years to break up the trip) has been quick and easy. Philadelphia, however, where we entered the US a few years ago, had huge lines, and we didn't understand one of the questions (did we bring food with us from the Philippines?) or rather what it covered; we had a few packaged items we bought in a supermarket and carried with us, and a customs helper didn't think the food was restricted (we had to answer the questions at a computer terminal; in Honolulu we spoke with a human).

And another question for you: it seems you were trying to keep your expenses low; didn't last-minute flights after canceling train reservations get expensive?

 

[caravanman]

And another question for you: it seems you were trying to keep your expenses low; didn't last-minute flights after canceling train reservations get expensive?

You are 100% correct about keeping expenses low.

There was enough gap between the train to plane change of plans that it was not too last-minute, so I found plane prices were reasonable.

For example, I booked my longest flight ORD-LAX on 21st August, for the flight on 6th September... That cost was £95.60, about $120. (Only cabin bag).

Funny enough, the hardest check in experience I had was to my busy hotel in Las Vegas, which now has computer terminals to check in.

 

[TaseMeBro]

Thanks for a really good read, in all of it's installments, as well as the pictures. Recognized a few spots I've been, and some I see somewhat regularly.

I have to admit - as someone who defaults to "rent a car" or "take an Uber" - that bus transport definitely made me think "better him than me".

Chicago does have some great architecture, and I have a good picture of my dad standing in front of that same tile at the San Diego station.

Did you have any particularly notable meals you can recall? Mexican in San Diego? Seafood in Boston? Any of the specialties Chicago has claimed?

EDIT: The banner you saw behind the plane, "You are swimming in a crime scene" was an advertisement/production prop for "The Perfect Couple" - a Netflix series.

 

[caravanman]

I have to admit - as someone who defaults to "rent a car" or "take an Uber" - that bus transport definitely made me think "better him than me".

Certainly bus transport is not for everyone, but I quite enjoy the mix of "saving a few $" and also "mixing with other riff raff like myself". To be honest, most folk of my age were brought up on movies with "Greyhound Bus" adventures, so have a nostalgia for an America that no longer exists.

Did you have any particularly notable meals you can recall? Mexican in San Diego? Seafood in Boston? Any of the specialties Chicago has claimed?

Sadly, I am not a "foodie" in the least. I very much enjoy flavours from India, but don't seem to get as much gratification from "delicious" meals as most do.

I mostly look for healthier options, but having said that, I will eat the steak every time if I am in an Amtrak sleeper.

Cheers for the "Crime Scene" info... funny how one can get entirely the wrong impression!

 

[Traveller]

Certainly bus transport is not for everyone, but I quite enjoy the mix of "saving a few $" and also "mixing with other riff raff like myself". To be honest, most folk of my age were brought up on movies with "Greyhound Bus" adventures, so retain a nostalgia for an America that no longer exists.

Completely agree with you, the occassional bus ride keeps you in touch with reality

 

[railiner]

Funny enough, the hardest check in experience I had was to my busy hotel in Las Vegas, which now has computer terminals to check in.

That seems to be the “norm” now everywhere…from fast food restaurants, to medical offices, to hotels. I-pads have all but eliminated the personal touch with clerks. In some cases, that may be a good thing, but for some of us, could be challenging…

 

[railiner]

To be honest, most folk of my age were brought up on movies with "Greyhound Bus" adventures, so have a nostalgia for an America that no longer exists.

Agreed!

 

[cirdan]

Certainly bus transport is not for everyone, but I quite enjoy the mix of "saving a few $" and also "mixing with other riff raff like myself". To be honest, most folk of my age were brought up on movies with "Greyhound Bus" adventures, so have a nostalgia for an America that no longer exists.

I love the type of fraternizing that often occurs on bus trips. Especially on longer trips in exotic places.

I remember one trip where the bus was involved in an almost accident. It all happened very quickly and I'm pretty sure most people on the bus were not even looking out of the window, or indeed had any clue what actually happened. But they were all clamoring over one another to defend our bus driver and blame the other driver.

 

[railiner]

But they were all clamoring over one another to defend our bus driver and blame the other driver.

As a bus driver, I always try to have a good relationship with my passengers. The above illustrates just one of many benefits of such.

 

[caravanman]

I love the type of fraternizing that often occurs on bus trips. Especially on longer trips in exotic places.

I often find this type of social group springs up on the long distance Amtrak trains in coach, if folk are together for a day or two... A village on wheels!