Letters@newsweek.com
I would like to reply to your article about the nightmares found while flying.
I read your article, but the story was useless to me. Reading it was more like a sad learning experience. One ,I choose to not participate in.
I no longer fly on airplanes, so I never have to put up with all the stresses your article mentioned. So you might wonder how I had a blast in New York last summer , cruised Bourbon Street at 1:00AM in New Orleans and sledded in New Mexico within the last few months.
Let me tell you: Amtrak.
Taking the long distance trains is the way I go. Many people that do not take the train, think taking the train is for "poor" people. Quite the contrary. My train trips usually cost me much more than flying, but let me tell you why I pay.
Imagine not rushing to your airplane's gate. Imagine being greeted nicely and having a private room to sit in during your journey. Imagine eating at a table with flowers and not on the back of someone. Imagine eating wonderful, just cooked food. Now try and imagine RELAXING.
Taking the train is a great experience. If you are in so much of a hurry to get somewhere for vacation, you are not starting your vacation the best way. My 3 kids and husband love our train vacations. We love spending time TALKING to each other and spending time with each other. My kids read, color, play hand held games, and meet other people on the train. I have met authors, company executives, retired couples seeing North America, singers, exchange students....
If you have to get to that business meeting and back fast, of course there is no other way. Many of the executives I have met on the train tell me they take the train coach class to save their company money and because trains usually stop in the center of town, and they don't have to rent a car . But if you are taking a leisure vacation, why not go in a peaceful, new way? It may be an experience your children never have if the government shuts down Amtrak.
------------------
Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy
In your April 23 article “Seven Ways to Fix Air Travel,” you forgot to mention a basic one: develop high-speed rail, such as Amtrak’s Acela, a mode very competitive with air in the 250- to 500-mile range. Using existing technologies in most of Europe and Japan, high-speed rail has already proved to be quiet, nonpolluting and very energy-efficient.
Donald Shaw — Bloomfield, Conn.