<p>I LOVE Grand Central…and Metro North trains are much less expensive than Amtrak and Bridgeport is closer and easier for us to get to than New Haven. Of course, Hartford is even closer.</p>
<p>VeryHappy…hmm…not sure there will be planes flying to Paris:) My BIL is stuck there now. If she had someone to take a trip with, that would be one thing…but she really doesn’t. She wants to take this train trip…and just relax. </p>
<p>We’ll see.</p>
<p>Maybe you could get her a Kindle or iPad to go along with it so she doesn’t need to carry a pile of heavy books with her.</p>
<p>2 X the cost, 6 X the time and 10 X the misery. And that is dependent upon everything going as scheduled. Don’t let the supposed romance fool’ya. There are very good reasons that very few people do this, bathing is also one.</p>
<p>A short hop on the train is fine - but that is a hella long trip. Yikes.</p>
<p>When I was just out of High School I spent the summer in California and returned home by train via Vancouver to Montreal. It is a long ride, but you can see some beautiful sights. I vividly recall passing under a rainbow in the glass roofed observation car.
I also vivdly recall having a bad case of poison oak which left me uncomfortable and mostly sleepless.
A one way trip could be a peaceful, interesting journey, a round trip may be interminable.
If your daughter is of a contempletive nature, it’s a nice oppurtunity to slow down and smell the roses,(or the creosote laden sleepers under the rails.).</p>
<p>Just an update…DD really WANTS to do this trip. We’re looking for the best route and trying to figure out anything else she might need. She’s thinking the train to Chicago…and then to Albany (about an hour and a half from here) might be good. We’ll see.</p>
<p>I have thought about doing train between NJ and mid-west…but I would want the sleeper car for night time. Ah, to be young and able sleep anywhere.</p>
<p>thumper, the stop in Albany might be a good idea. If it hasn’t changed in recent years, the train from Chicago to NY/Boston stops for a while in Albany anyway, where it splits into two trains–one to NY, one to Boston.</p>
<p>The overnight stop in Chicago that someone suggested could be nice also, depending on her schedule. Good way to get a shower. If she could get over to the Museum district, it could be great.</p>
<p>toblin: 10X the misery?? More misery than airplanes? I could tell you a few stories about air travel. No train ride I have ever taken compares to some of the misery I have encountered with air travel. (Airline goes out of business while I’m on vacation–cost, $1400 for replacement tickets. 2 yr-old daughter’s hand crushed in a conveyor belt at security station–that is misery. My train adventures have become amusing anecdotes. Not true for some of my air travel.)</p>