Riding the rails.

Being afraid to fly, I often take the train. Though lately I have flown several times on Jet Blue well fortified with Atavin. As a train traveler, I enjoy the experience of having a roomette and the pleasure of seeing the passing scenery in private, usually having meals in the roomette rather than sharing a table with strangers in the dining car. Booking the train used to be easy. But Amtrak like everyone else has made improvements on the Internet, which means it is more complicated than ever to book a train and, it would seem, far more expensive. Where you once had a choice of 1 reserved coach seat, a roomette, or a room, now you have a choice of 1 reserved coach seat for one price, 1 reserved coach seat for more than $150 more without any explanation of why, and a roomette. If you want a room, you have to search for it on their complex new system and it will, more than likely, cost over $1,000 for about 26 hours use. Of course Amtrak says taking the train has very little to do with fear of flying. So it must be people are willing to pay much more for a train than a plane, though it takes nine times as long, is far more expensive, has some very sour employees, and almost no safety precautions. Unless I get over my fear of flying, I will continue to take the train, but I recognize that our rail system is one of the worst in the world and one of the costliest. I wonder if we'll ever get a good, fast, and affordable train system. Acela is pretty nice, but like so many American systems, it's only for the wealthy.