11.09.2005 | riding the rails

Took the train down to Savannah last weekend; all the way from Alexandria Virginia. There's something to be said for train travel, especially these days, when because of airline bankruptcies and tightened security, airline travel has become much more tedious and unfriendly.

Spending a lot of time in a half-full Amtrak passenger car is an antidote to the cattle-car scrum that most airports, and flights, have become. Start with the security measures, administered by barely-conscious minimum wagers, in response to the (real) threat posed, virtually without exception, by Middle Eastern males between the ages of 18 and 45. Nevermind that, Granny, take off your shoes -- you could be a terrorist.

This politically correct nonsense has added at least one hour to the real-world time for any flight, with essentially zero effect on actual security. On Amtrak, so far, sanity prevails. You show your ticket, you board the train. All you need to do is show up one minute before scheduled departure. One. Minute. Oh, and if you check your bags (we did), that takes exactly one minute. It did, however, take us four or so minutes to reclaim them.

But the actual trip takes oh so much longer, you say? Well, it is longer. But we happen to live five minutes from Alexandria's Amtrak station. And our destination was 15 minutes from the Savannah station. It did take us 11 hours going down, and 10 on the return, due to some delays en-route. When the actual door-to-door times for flying and riding the rails are compared, Amtrak probably takes about four hours more than flying.

Here's the secret for success, however: it isn't just about the door-to-door time. It's about comfort and convenience along the way. It's about feeling like a human being, and not just a piece of meat being squeezed into a seat with 200 of your new best friends on a flying sardine tin. And, no, I'm not overweight, but I am over five feet tall, and airline seats just are not comfortable. Amtrak seats are much more so.

On the train you can read, eat, sleep, walk about -- all whenever you want, not when the captain turns off the fasten seat belt sign. On Amtrak, there are no seatbelts. And for those few station stops that last more than two minutes, you can get out and greet the sun.

Price? Our business class seats (more room; free beverages) were less than coach airfare. All in all, unless you're so important that those four or so hours mean life or death, going by rail is the way to go.

And for once I wasn't on the wrong side of the tracks.