The Train Instead Of The Plane (Or The Car)
I just got back from a great social science conference -- the Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference (SPSP) -- down in San Diego.
I get carsick -- from my own driving, just across LA -- and thanks, but I don't have a brain tumor or Meniere's or need an Epley to get my otoliths repositioned. I just have a stone age brain that has always done poorly with car, plane, and boat (horrors!) travel.
Dramamine? For me, that's like trying to knock down a building by throwing pebbles at it.
The patch works pretty well, but makes me groggy and sort of stupid for days.
I did find a drug not sold in the USA, Serc, that helps, but not entirely. The cool thing is that I can drive on it. The bad thing is the worry I have in ordering drugs from weird pharmacies in Canada or overseas.
Taking the train (Amtrak, in this case) is another big help. It's also a lot of fun and much more comfortable than driving. And I loved seeing the train stations, out of other eras, on each end. These are from the San Diego train station.
Oh, and the ride along the coast on this train -- the Surfliner -- is supposed to be beautiful, but I slept both ways, almost all the way there and back. And in case you're wondering, it was $37 each way for an unreserved, plush and very nice coach seat with Wifi, which was also a huge bargain over driving down and having to pay for parking for three days.
And I checked two bags -- one of luggage and another of books and textbooks publishers gave me that I brought back -- and had a small carry-on. All wheeled. No problemski!
Cue the government subsidy haters.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at February 1, 2016 9:08 AM
I also take Amtrak, in my case from San Diego to visit LA. It's great for all the reasons you said, plus there's the food and drinks in the cafe car. Moreover, Metro Rail now covers a good part of the region, and for the last mile there's always Uber or Lyft.
Bradley J. Fikes at February 1, 2016 9:17 AM
My wife and I took the train from the Bay Area to Bakersfield. We boarded in Martinez, CA, where we encountered such a motley collection of people that I wanted to call the FBI and tell them I found everybody on their list.
One guy was almost perfectly spherical in shape. He wore homemade suspenders (twine) tied to his belt loops with large key rings attached to his two front belt loops.
The posters on the wall promised us a view straight out of Narrow Margin. The reality was just a bit different. We got a front row view (and smell) of every feed lot, stockyard, junkyard, and chicken farm in Central California. Random Port-o-Lets dotted the roads we traveled beside.
Inside the train, it was actually comfortable. We got a table to ourselves with plugs for our electrical appliances. We could get up and walk around to stretch our legs. There was a kitchenette car serving snacks, not much but still better than the collection of roadkill cafes that dot I-5 (Harris Ranch excepted). We had a few drinks, a tuna salad wrap, and a trip that, despite a large number of stops, was only 1/2 hour longer than driving.
It was interesting seeing the Mexican locomotives on the sidings. With nationalized rail, they were painted in red, green, and white (like the Mexican flag).
Conan the Grammarian at February 1, 2016 9:18 AM
Yes, I think Amtrak should not be subsidized.
Although, I'll entertain arguments to the contrary since government-funded airports make operating an airline essentially a subsidized operation.
Conan the Grammarian at February 1, 2016 9:21 AM
Your post really needs a musical accompaniment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvMS_ykiLiQ
And the irony of your cars v. pirates captcha is duly noted.
Turk at February 1, 2016 9:43 AM
Try ginger snaps for motion sickness
steve in tulsa at February 1, 2016 10:50 AM
I know you dismissed my anecdotal evidence that Buspar (buspirone) had worked on my almost intractable motion sickness,
I wondered why it did work for me, since it is an anti anxiety drug, and I found this study,
I know how you love studies.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/19485406_Buspirone_blocks_motion_sickness_and_xylazine-induced_emesis_in_the_cat
Isab at February 1, 2016 11:57 AM
Amy: "... makes me groggy and sort of stupid for days."
(Am not Amy's big brother. Must not speak. Don't say it! Be firm Precious!)
Bob in Texas at February 1, 2016 12:12 PM
http://www.sea-band.com/why-seaband
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001F731N0?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
I have to take Dramamine to sleep in a wave-less waterbed, I got seasick on HMS Belfast which is a museum ship moored in the River Thames. I found Sea-bands when I worked at a marina in St Claire Shores. They do work.
warhawke223 at February 1, 2016 12:18 PM
Oh, do speak, Bob. PS I love being teased. (Almost wrote "tased," but not so much for that.)
Oh, and Isab, there's questionable evidence for Serc, but N of 1, a friend had luck with it, and I was desperate.
Desperation makes me so much less scientifically prissy.
And maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but I think the problem with Buspar is that it causes drowsiness. Serc -- miraculously -- does not.
I drove two hours in rush-hour traffic from Venice to Sherman Oaks on Wednesday night and only felt somewhat queasy for a half-hour when I got there. Oh, and I had to take Beverly Glen and then some curvy streets when I got lost on the other side. (And, like the adult woman I am, burst into tears.)
Dramamine, for me, is about as effective as a crayon drawing of a pill. Sea bands may work for you, perhaps because they work (via embodied cognition) or perhaps because of the expectancy/placebo effect. For me, they are merely bracelets to not get throw-up on when I hurl.
Amy Alkon at February 1, 2016 12:19 PM
Cue the government subsidy haters.
One should acknowledge and be grateful for the government largess.
As Conan notes, that extends to certain or greater extent to air travel, tho those tend to be the teeny-tiny little rural airports.
Remember, the government has no money of its own, nor does it produce anything other than a mind boggling amount of contradictory regulations.
I R A Darth Aggie at February 1, 2016 12:32 PM
I see that I am fortunate. I haven't had motion sickness since I was a child. Perhaps that provided some resistance?
I R A Darth Aggie at February 1, 2016 12:36 PM
I take the train when I'm in the northeast. Here, I looked into training-it from TX to TN and it was going to be $800+ a person and take 3 days. And that was 6 years ago. We can train from Austin to dallas, but I hear it's an 8 hour trip. Fine where it works, but in flyover country, not so much.
momof4 at February 1, 2016 12:39 PM
Sounds like the express train MomOf4. Sometimes Amtrak has over 24 hour layovers here in Texas. I saw one trip from Houston to Dallas that was going to take 2.5 days. The non-express Greyhound was only 6 hrs. Amtrak should just stop offering routes in flyover country. They are just burning gas shuffling empty cars around for no good reason.
Ben at February 1, 2016 12:49 PM
Amtrak is inefficient everywhere except the crowded urban corridor in the Northeast, where it's basically an extension of city light rail systems.
They have no competition in flyover country and, thus, no incentive to be efficient. Plenty of incentive to be inefficient - every Congressperson wants the train to make plenty of stops in their district and threatens to vote against funding if they don't get their stops.
You can't have an efficient transportation network if you're making the train stop every time the engineer sees two or more people gathered by the side of the tracks. That worked when trains had to stop frequently for water and wood, but not today.
The government has interfered in trains too much over the history of railroading. Unions required a fireman on locomotives way beyond when it was necessary or even useful. Government pricing controls made trucking, shipping, and airlines more profitable and practical, almost driving the railroad industry out of business.
https://wc.wustl.edu/files/wc/imce/increased_gov_intervention_in_railroads.pdf
So, yeah, I'm for reducing rail regulation (and subsidies). Let rail compete openly for freight, passengers, and anything else it thinks it can haul.
Conan the Grammarian at February 1, 2016 2:06 PM
How did you like that crazy windstorm we had yesterday?
I live where it only takes about 15min to drive downtown but when I have Jury Duty (which I just did back in Dec) I, instead, drive down the hill to park at Qualcomm Stadium and take the trolley down to the same Santa Fe depot there. Much nicer than dealing with the traffic and parking for even a short trip.
I remember when the trolley (the current/modern one, that is) was first built, my grandfather took me and we rode from the Santa Fe station (it originally only went that far north) down to the border and back again.. just to ride it.
Miguelitosd at February 1, 2016 4:25 PM
I like taking trains. I just wish it worked better. It would be great for going to my parents expect all the time it takes to get to the station. The parking by the station is kinda expensive and not safe for your vehicle overnight. Public mass transit is just too time consuming (at least 2 hours). Taxi is very expensive (~100), the ride sharing servers aren't reliable this far out.
The other thing can be timing. There a special show I wanted to see. I thought the train would be great. Nope. Only one each way each day. So I would have to catch the train about 2pm on Friday to get in around 7am Saturday. The train back left about 11:30pm so if I wanted to see more than half the show I had to wait to leave Sunday night and get in Monday. $90 for a regular seat, or $800 for a mini-room for 2, OR take a commuter jet down Sat morning, back Sunday morning for $250.
The Former Banker at February 2, 2016 12:11 AM
Yea, I find the train is usually more expensive than driving. But, if traffic backs up you still have to pay attention to what's going on. And, that isn't just nerve-wracking, it is also tiring.
Whereas, if the train is delayed that's okay since I usually have a bottle of water and a good book to read. Arriving late sucks; but it is not as much a bother as driving in heavy/delayed traffic.
charles at February 2, 2016 9:29 AM
Windstorm was crazy the other day!
As for the cost, I saved on parking as well as driving, and driving eats my energy.
Unfortunately, the geniuses who built the subways in LA didn't think it would be a good thing for it to go to the beach. So the train station is not exactly conveniently located or easy to get to. Gregg drove me. At 4:30 a.m.
Amy Alkon at February 2, 2016 5:56 PM
"the geniuses who built the subways in LA didn't think it would be a good thing for it to go to the beach. "
That's like the geniuses in Atlanta who decided that the MARTA train didn't need a stop at or anywhere near Turner Field (where the Atlanta Braves play), despite the fact that one of the main uses of MARTA is for people going to downtown events. The Braves have privately cited that as one of the reasons why they are moving to a new stadium out in the suburbs.
Cousin Dave at February 3, 2016 9:26 AM
Leave a comment