Taking Amtrak Instead of Flying

I definitely would like to take a long American train ride at some point, but I think that would kind of be the point of the trip itself. (that and travel transatlantic on a ship)

For shorter trips like Boston-NYC or NYC-Washington DC it's ok, but you kinda showed why it isn't as popular in your post. Same price...only a travel time of days instead of hours.

My trip was much cheaper. plus you can bring on as much booze as you want

Ah, trains.

If you have the time. They will say two days travel time, but that isn't a guarantee. I was stuck in west Virginia for 12 hours because someone jumped infront of the train and we got stuck behind a bunch of freight trains. Amtrak is notorious for being late

I personally like zipping along the country from the ground and getting to stop in Chicago for a few hours. Sleeping might suck, but I've got better things to do than complain about two nights of crappy sleep. It's, like you said, a trip in itself for sure. The people taking trains are in the same situation as you. Because of this, you get to meet some pretty interesting people (when I say interesting,I mean everything from drug dealers to Amish people).

You need some patience for sure.

Two days of my life is always worth the small amount of money I may (or may not) save with a train ticket. You have to have 0 going on in your life to do that for recreation.

i took amtrak from vancouver down to portland a couple years ago, it was like 7 hours but only cost me around 100 bucks round trip i remember. plus there is a bar car you can go grab a couple beers in. it was a great way to see the PNW, but i dunno if i could spend a couple days on a train.

It's a great way to travel anywhere on the Boston-DC corridor. Trains are regular, reasonably comfortable, and when you figure in security, getting into the center of town, etc. it's often faster than flying (if you aren't doing the whole Boston->DC distance).

The trains also have outlets and now internet, so I can usually get stuff done on the ride. Very rarely does that happen on a plane.

I love trains as long as the trip is under 8 hours.

I take a red eye that gets me from the Mississippi to Denver. I get to Denver at 8 in the morning the next day. It's a great way to get out west to ski for a couple days.