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I'm going to be taking my first ever trip to another continent, I've been unemployed for two months, so its going to be a nice long trip. Thinking about the environment, costs of airfair ($1500 tickets, sheesh!), time it will take to the destination, etc. 100 years ago, everyone traveled by train or boat if you were going long distance. What would boat travel look like today if there was such a thing as passanger boats that travel like the large shipping container ships do. I imagine taking a train to SF or LA then a boat to visit Australia, or taking a train to NY then a boat to France or Morocco. How long of a boat ride would that be? What kind of environmental impact would that be vs airplane travel? I'm imagining something like the Titanic, a big boat, not some tiny 5 person sail boat. A few months ago I watched the 70's movie "Murder on the Orient Express" and these rich fucks in the movie talk about taking the train from India through Turkey, and just seeing the sights.
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Jan 10, 2023 06:19
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 01:19 |
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If you want to save money, just look for a sale on plane tickets. I flew to NYC from Europe and back for like $300 last May. But if you want a ship, you can do an Atlantic crossing on Queen Mary: https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/find-a-cruise/M310A/M310A?categoryCode=BI_I&cruiseCode=M310A&rateCode=KU2&typeCode=BI It's also possible to get aa ride on a cargo ship, it's cheaper than that but still I doubt that you'd save money over flying considering the time you'll spend there and the food/drinks you'd have to buy. Ships are pretty terrible in terms of overall pollution thanks to the lovely fuel, but you being on board won't make a difference.
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Jan 21, 2023 02:26
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Ships still take days, if not weeks, to get places. It's something that might be worth doing once for the experience, but it's not a practical way to get anywhere, unless it's somewhere with few or no other choices. (mostly remote islands: St Helena used to have no other choice before they expanded the airport, and I think the Pitcairn Islands still don't) And mobby is correct that you will not actually save money taking a cargo ship berth. I had thought that they'd be cheap too, but prices are pretty steep. Trains are ok, but depend a ton on where you are. Here in the US, the Amtrak from LA to SF is pretty good, similarly trains along the corridor from DC up to Boston are pretty reliable and quick. It gets questionable once you get out into the middle of the USA though. I mean, you can cross it by train for sure, but it will take you a few days. I just plugged LA to NY into the fare finder and while it's only $250, it's also 70 hours of train. And if you wanted to get a sleeper car instead of sitting in the same seat you'd get on a plane but for 10x as long, then that'll be $1500 instead, at which point you're spending more money and more time. Train results will vary hugely in other countries. I haven't been to a ton of Europe but I hear it's a good option there and my two train-riding experiences (UK/Czechia) have more or less borne that out. They're great in Japan and Taiwan, questionable but workable in India (though when I was there you could only book in advance once you're in the country as it required a local phone number), and in Australia they're undercut by buses over short distances and the long distances will give you the same problems as cross-country US trains. e: the other region I've been to was South America, and didn't seem to really have a lot of intercity rail. Peru has a sort of novelty-train that goes from Cusco to Machu Picchu but you can't like fly in to Lima and tour the country by rail. Chile apparently has rails but a lot of the tourist stuff is way, way out from the population centers. Santiago to Valparaiso was nice, though. Akratic Method fucked around with this message at 22:28 on Jan 26, 2023 |
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Jan 26, 2023 22:22
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Trains are poo poo in Europe if you're looking to save money from when I lived there. Nicer to ride than US trains, not some lifesaver. A trip I did a lot was Toulouse-Barça by train, then Barça-Paris by plane, then Paris-Toulouse by plane. Still cheaper to buy a flight direct from Barça to Paris than a train ticket from Toulouse to Barça back then, and checking, still cheaper now. 276 United States dollars for one adult to go from Toulouse to Barcelona in February by train, 52 dollars to go from Barcelona to Paris on a lovely Vueling flight in the same day. European trains are only worth it if you're on a pass or doing local transit, not for some one country solo expedition. And that train is for bare minimum bullshit. You get to see the Pyrenées briefly and get detrained for a separate train at Figueroa where spanish train station employees who do not speak english will yell at you if you queue up wrong, then plant you in a shittier spanish train to complete the journey. e: sorry it's Figueras in nowhere, Catalonia, not Figueroa in nowhere, Galicia. But for real if your goal is luxurious train vacation pick a touristy train with scenic views, not a transit train across hours and miles. Edgar Allen Ho fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Feb 3, 2023 |
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Jan 29, 2023 02:03
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For Europe buses are going to be the cheapest way to get around. Barcelona to Toulouse is $16 with Flixbus. Trains can be ok too for shorter trips around 1-2 hours but it depends. As I remember, Torino to Geonoa was like 8-10 eurobucks for example.
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Jan 29, 2023 13:11
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For info on train travel, seat61.com is an excellent resource
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Feb 3, 2023 22:40
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International buses like Flixbus in Europe are extremely cheap, but also absolutely terrible comfort-wise. I've done the Berlin-Amsterdam trip (9 hours) multiple times, but as soon as i had the money for a train ticket (79ish euro) i took the train (6,5 hour) and it's just so much better. Quiet, smooth, fast, and no driver who literally tailgates cars at 1 car lenght distance before switching lanes to overtake. Complaining to the bus company didn't help, encountered the same driver multiple times. In France, flights that have a parallel high speed rail route that takes less than 3 hours, have been or will be outlawed. A direct train is often pretty reliable. If you take train after train after train, sooner or later you'll be on a delayed train and your whole schedule gets messed up. Figure out in advance where you can find information on what other train or other route to take to your destination. If you have all the time in the world, figure out which train lines run along the banks of rivers. I was supposed to take an ICE but because of an autumn storm and widespread destruction, the only train going in my direction was a local service through the ruhr area i think. Although it took a lot more time, the views were beautiful. Germany has now introduced a 49 euro for 1 month subscription. It allows you unlimited travel on local and regional low speed trains. So while you cannot get the intercity from Hannover to Berlin for instance, you could get onto the local trains that will eventually get you there with many stops. River cruises in Europe exist, but i have never looked into the cost and where they actually go.
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Feb 5, 2023 23:02
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Huh I thought flixbus was really good when I used it. Clean, clear announcements (even repeated in English), seats were about as good as you'll find on a coach, and the app showed very clearly exactly where on the street it would stop. Train is train, but it's also expensive!
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Feb 6, 2023 00:23
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Flixbus uses local contractors, so your quality will vary. The cabins of the dutch subcontractors' coaches were clean enough, but multiple times i thanked the sweet lord above that i don't have to use a toilet while sitting, because the toilets always were way way nastier than any train toilet i've encountered. The seat width and pitch was really bad. Definitely more cramped than plane seats, let alone train seats. I'd say they are fine up to 250km or so, but after that i'm thoroughly beat when hopping out of the bus, while after such a train ride i'm feeling totally fine. LimaBiker fucked around with this message at 08:47 on Feb 6, 2023 |
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Feb 6, 2023 08:44
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 01:19 |
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I love, love traveling in trains. They require you to enjoy sitting with your thoughts for long periods without going stir crazy, so if that sounds appealing to you go for it! Imo train traveling is usually way more chill way of traveling than flying, plus you actually get to see the landscapes change etc. If you reserve tickets beforehand, they aren't super expensive (depends on the country ofc). We did a big trip with my partner from Sept 2019 to Feb 2020 (very lucky timing), and we wanted to travel mainly by land wherever possible, just because we both enjoy it. Here's the legs we did by land. If you want to know more about some of them, ask! Also of note: I have a Finnish passport, which means i get minimally hassled at any border crossing. Other nationalities' experiences may vary. Helsinki (Finland) - St. Petersburg (Russia) - Moscow - Ekaterinburg - Krasnoyarsk - Irkutsk. Train. Sucks that this will be undoable for indefinite time, since going through Russia by train is a classic for a reason. Chill, easy to travel, interesting people. Irkutsk - Ulaanbataar (Mongolia). Train. Pretty, touristy. Border cops were very serious and into their jobs. Ulaanbataar - Beijing (China). Train. Pretty, touristy. Beijing - Shanghai - Nanning. Train. Trains in China are superfast and luxurious. Beijing train station is very airport-y (meaning: security, you can't just step into a train like in Russia and Mongolia), which was a bit stressful. Nanning - Hanoi (Vietnam). Train. The border crossing is during night which is a bit annoying, but manageable. Hanoi - Da Nang - Ho Chi Minh City. Train. Trains in Vietnam are... serviceable, slow as hell and the views are great. Our night train from Da Nang to HCMC was full of cockroaches which was not my favourite. Ho Chi Minh - Phnom Penh (Cambodia). Bus and river boat. Pretty e-z, you just haul yourself to the border by bus and pay someone to take you by a river boat to the crossing and over to Cambodia. 5/5 zero hassle. Phnom Penh - Bangkok (Thailand). Bus. Serviceable, border crossing was a bit of hassle because our bus almost forgot us at the border station. Bangkok - border of Malaysia - Penang - Malacca - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). Train. A lovely night train through Thailand. Only train where the sleeping berths were aligned alongside the train carriage, not sideways! Malaysian trains are efficient and nice. Kuala Lumpur - Singapore. Bus. Bog standard bus experience. Tokyo (Japan) - Kyoto - Nara - Osaka etc. Train. Japanese trains are cool and good, take them wherever you can. Mexico City - Oaxaca - Tuxtla Gutierrez (Mexico). Bus. First overnight bus was from Oaxaca to Tuxtla Gutierrez. It was at the bus depot in 4am on Christmas day. That was dumb. I was a bit nervous about traveling in night bus in Mexico since this was our first time in the country and neither of us speaks Spanish, but all went ok. Lima - Paracas - Ica - Cusco (Peru). Bus. South American long haul buses have several ranges of luxury, the highest being full cama. Full cama means you will have plush pleather seat that lays flat, a pillow, a blanket and, drinks and snacks. They are super worth it and genuinely surprisingly nice way to travel. Our bus from Ica to Cusco took some 30 hours but felt completely safe and nice the whole time. Bathroom was clean, views awesome, would travel again. Peru Hop also organizes bus tours with ready itineraries in Peru if you don't want to buy single tickets, but honestly it was not a problem going to local companies (and we don't speak Spanish). Cusco - Macchu Picchu. Train. It's a cool couple hours long tourist train, but expensive for what it is. Cusco - Arequipa - Arica (Chile). Bus and taxi. From the border of Peru you can take a taxi with randos to border and over to Chile. Easy, if you can deal with a bit of uncertainty. Puerto Montt - San Carlos de Bariloche (Argentina). Bus. Cool views over mountains. Bariloche - Viedma. Train. Someone in Viedma asked what the hell we were doing there, because there is nothing there. We wanted to take the night train from Bariloche to Viedma so that's what. It was pretty nice train, the views were great. Bariloche is a nice place, Viedma truly has nothing to see. Viedma - Buenos Aires. Bus. Only bus that broke down! Buenos Aires - Montevideo (Uruguay). Ferry. It's like 2 hours and pretty nice. Curitiba (Brazil). Stopped in Curitiba for (you guessed it) train. It's rated 'one of the most beautiful train routes in the world' by someone and it was fine. Fine. There was a very enthusiastic.. hype man? Tour guide? on board that drove my partner nuts. Zurich (Switzerland) - Liechtenstein - Basel (Germany) - Hamburg - Copenhagen (Denmark) - Malmö (Sweden) - Umeå - Kemi (Finland) - Helsinki. Train. We were supposed to go to Italy but for... reasons... we flew to Zurich and took a mad train dash through Europe back to Helsinki. Trains in Europe are generally pretty chill and easy to operate. Switzerland and Austria have nice views, Germany is flat, Northern Sweden and Finland are cool. Seat61 is a great resource, and we used Rome2Rio a lot. With trains and buses you have to be able to chill and not sweat it if you are a couple of hours late, but it can be a fantastic experience and you meet a lot of interesting people. EDIT. Also we really wanted to take a cargo ship from Brazil to South Africa, but sadly there weren't any taking passengers when we were going (January). There's quite little options for that anymore, but it seems like a cool experience. Price was around 100€/a day, including your own cabin and full food service. Afaik they take a very limited number of tourists on board. We also wanted to take the TAZARA train between Tanzania and Zambia, but we didn't have time nor money for it. Apparently it can be days late from schedule, which would have been an experience. Doll House Ghost fucked around with this message at 16:05 on Feb 6, 2023 |
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Feb 6, 2023 13:57
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