Go by train!

It's not transportation, it's an experience

You can do it too!

Traveling by train is a unique experience. Especially for those of us from the western hemisphere. Outside of the dozen or so Amtrak lines, a few Canadian ones, Mexico’s new Tren Maya, and a smattering of train routes across South America (Chile’s looks pretty cool!) there’s not really a whole lot of passenger rail transportation on this side of the world. And that’s a shame because it’s a great way to travel! Mostly because it turns what is otherwise a humdrum activity as part of a vacation into something more: a unique experience.

A few weeks ago, Alexa and I rode the train from Da Nang in Vietnam all the way to Ho Chi Minh City in the south. And it was probably the best and most unique thing we could have done. You can watch it here to get an idea of what this kind of experiences is like:

Or head over to the GeoLex Substack, whichever! Regardless, the point stands: it was well worth it to just see and live a little bit more of Vietnam.

Now, of course, we could have taken a plane and gone through the usual experience of arriving at the airport 2 hours before, finding a rock-hard seat to wait near the gate, jostling with other passengers as everyone crowds the boarding lines, squeezing into our airplane seats, and sitting there listening, reading or watching something for the one and a half hour trip. It’s efficient, but it’s not memorable. That exact same experience exists in almost the exact same manner whether you fly from Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City, or Los Angeles to San Francisco, or London to Frankfurt, or Cape Town to Johannesburg, and so on. For as magical as the actual act of flying is, we’ve managed to make it rather dull. You’ll take off, there will be some turbulence, you’ll see big puffy clouds, you’ll land, and repeat ad nauseum.

Taking the train though is not the same. Aside from being on rails, the actual experience is quite different from place to place. I’ve ridden long distance trains now in Asia, North America and Europe (and soon New Zealand!) and I can tell you that each one comes with its own vibe. The entire experience from boarding to riding is different. Every place and country seems to put their own little spin on it. This might sound like a hassle, and sometimes it is, but it’s still well worth the effort. You’ll see things you normally wouldn’t as trains often go through some of the most beautiful areas. You’ll eat things you might not other wise eat as trains typically carry more local food options. And you’ll meet and interact with people you might never come across as locals use trains for their daily transportation needs.

There is one big drawback of course. The train will almost never be as fast as a plane. So if you need to get somewhere quick, it can be a dealbreaker. Our trip from Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City took about 20 hours, compared to the 4-ish it would take on a plane (inclusive of getting to the airport early). But we knew we were going to do this as part of our travel, so we just planned for that time. This allowed us to get a glimpse of Vietnamese culture that we otherwise never would have, and we got some spectacular views out of it.

So here’s my final pitch: the next time you travel abroad somewhere and you’re planning multiple stops to multiple cities, before you book a flight, check to see if you can take a train instead! It will probably take a bit longer, but you’ll see (and remember) so much more about the journey.