Interesting what an awful (and deserved) reputation America’s primary bus and rail systems have. Just one more piece of evidence that in too many ways to count the US is not #1.
Buses in Japan (and many other countries AFAIK) are clean, comfortable, and safe to use. Don’t even need to mention the rail system.
Why does the US fail at such basic stuff?
Is the US rail reputation that bad? All my US train experiences have been perfectly cromulent.
I booked a 3 day trip to Mount Rainier NP and it departs from Olympia.
Well, it’s socialism, obviously. Republicans hate and want to kneecap the postal service.
But as melkerson said trains here aren’t that bad.
Seems like a decent reason. My trip to Rainier departed from Seattle, but it’s likely cheaper if you do it your way.
Rainier is nice and all, but compared to the other national parks you have seen and will see, it’s not that great. Admittedly, I’m not much of an outdoorsy person, so maybe my sensibilities are not worth considering.
I’ve heard few people (actually none) in my life speaking enthusiastically about their Amtrak rail travel experiences. Maybe I just haven’t met them though.
My own lone Amtrak experience I found the train to be creaky, dirty, delayed, and with a motley assortment of passengers aboard. A far cry from what I’m used to in Japan.
It’s no Shinkansen, but it’s fine. It’s safe, pretty reliable, clean-ish. I’ve only used it in the Northeast. Maybe it is different in other parts of the country.
I didn’t think Amtrak was that bad until I took trains in Europe.
Amtrak quality really depends on which corridor you’re traveling, NY-DC is the best. I’ve had okayish experiences otherwise. Even at its best Amtrak is a joke compared to Japan. One of my dreams is to go on a long rail trip in Japan and try each station’s bento box.
Euro trains are also pretty great. Japan is probably a notch above. The difference between them and Amtrak is probably less than the difference between Amtrak and the median Greyhound bus experience.
My ride was on the west coast.
Those bento are called eki-ben (station bento). There are many who take long train rides for that purpose alone and otherwise have no destination.
Martin Yan had an episode where he did just that. Looked incredible.
I’ve done several long trips on Amtrak outside the northeast and it’s not all that bad, but it’s not great either. The equipment always seems to be a bit old and worn. If you’re covering any real distance you’re either stuck trying to sleep in a chair or you’re paying $$$$ for a cabin. But by far the biggest problem is that Amtrak doesn’t own most of the track it runs on and freight has priority, so trains are often very, very late.
I think I’ve made this exact post at least twice before.
Yeah well I am sort of just cobbling together stuff to do in between my Cascades and Wyoming trips. I was halfway through figuring out how to visit Rainier myself and it occurred to me to check guided trips. The big advantages are staying inside the park (which otherwise was impossible) and getting to meet and hang out with some people.
It just goes ex Olympia to save time I think. It’s a little annoying getting there, but I was planning to have a quiet day that day anyway.
I watched a youtube of someone do this more recently. It seemed cool if you’re into bento boxes. My personal problem with a bento box is that I’ve never encountered one where I wanted to eat every item. There is always something in there that I don’t particularly care for.
This is definitely a me problem as my palate for Japanese food is quite unrefined.
Hot take: Japanese is, bar none, the most overrated cuisine on the planet.
Yeah, this is not too far from where I’m at. Everyone just tells me I’m an unsophisticated rube.
It’s not that there isn’t Japanese food I don’t really enjoy. There are all sorts of great Japanese dishes. For example, I love good Ramen. But just because it’s good, that doesn’t mean it can’t be overrated.
What is not overrated is the skill of Japanese chefs. There was someone famous who said something along the lines of “Just pick your favorite cuisine made by the best person you can think of. There is some Japanese dude that does it better than that.” While that’s not literally true, it’s pretty close.
So when it comes to elite Japanese food, I’m sure that they are putting out a top quality product. I just don’t love it in proportion to the hype.
What’s the most underrated?
Mexican. Primarily because everyone thinks Mexican food is Taco Bell, and good, authentic Mexican food is hard to find in USA #47. But it’s a top 3 cuisine in my book.