Train travel escapes to realm of the rich

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© St. Petersburg Times
published February 12, 2002

I sat expectantly in my travel agent's office, poised to take a step I had been talking about for months . . . buying tickets for a train trip from Florida to Colorado.

I knew it would take four days, and I knew it would cost more than flying, but I was doing it both because I love trains and because, despite my disbelief, the folks who run things actually did find a way to make flying a bigger hassle than it was before.

And it really didn't look like the airlines, economic moaning and groaning aside, have been doing much more to get my business than they were before Sept. 11.

I am not afraid to fly; I simply don't want to spend any more of my vacation time than absolutely necessary being poked, prodded, searched and forced to stand in line for rescheduling on an seemingly endless series of canceled flights.

"Okay," my travel agent said, handing me a crisply printed itinerary with just what I wanted, first-class sleeper accommodations all the way, "here it is . . . it will cost you approximately $4,000."

Hmmmmmm.

Okay, that's not exactly what I said, but this is still a family newspaper.

I felt bad for her. She had obviously done a great bit of work, and I had asked for even more, like where was the nearest place you could rent a car when you were in La Junta, Colo. Nobody knew for sure, but I think it was Kansas City.

But four grand is worth a pause for review.

Let me see. For $4,000 I could pretty nearly charter a plane for that trip, at least the last time I checked, and I know for a fact that I could fly two people, first class to the same destination and have an extra $1,000 or so to play with when I got there.

For much less comfortble accommodations I could make the trip for $2,000; still well over the first-class air fare for one person.

Oh, yes, before I kick off another round of speculation about why I am making the trip alone (my New Year's Eve column had people convinced I had called off my impending marriage) it is because my wife-to-be just started a new job and will not have enough vacation days for our/my annual Colorado jaunt.

I once took a trip for two in absolutely first-class accommodations for two clear across Canada for less than Amtrak wants from me for this trip for one.

And, as I recall, during my last trip on Amtrak the service in some areas was a little less than stellar. One conductor spoke to me as if I was a moron when I asked him if we had reached a certain town. (Regardless of whether he thought I was a moron, it's his job to hide that realization.) And when I showed up five minutes early for breakfast one morning, I was treated like I was trying to crash a White House function.

With all that, $4,000 for a ticket. I would gladly have paid $1,500, or maybe even $2,000 for the first-class cabinette, but $4,000? Face it, guys, it ain't the Orient Express. In fact you can take the Orient Express, a superb luxury train, from London to Venice, for 3,025 British pounds per person. That's about $4,280 U.S. That means I can take travel in absolute luxury from London to Venice for only $280 more than I can go in much less comfort from Florida to Colorado.

And Amtrak wonders (or maybe doesn't care) why it's going broke.

I still love trains and plan to repeat the trip across Canada (yes, with my future wife) in a couple of years, but for now I'm just going to have to . . . whew! I almost said "bite the bullet," the kind of phraseology that leads to cavity searches in today's airports . . . and fly.

I can make the trip by air, in one-fourth the time for one-tenth the money.

For better or worse, it's still the best way to travel for those of us who aren't rich.

But beginning the day I win the lottery.

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