vaguely toying with making my next vacation a 30-day US Rail Pass on Amtrak

Consider doing a trial run first.

My aunt and uncle took Amtrak from Omaha NE to Truckee CA last year, stayed there with their son for a week, and then took Amtrak back to Omaha. They had a terrible time on both travel legs.

I learned about sussuration from Terry Pratchett. He'd be bummed that he did not have time to create an antihero called Omnipresent Sussuration. There would be a religion and everything.

I've travelled by Amtrak a fair amount. It's not great for being on time, but otherwise I like it fine, and I figure for a trip like this being on time is of very low importance. It'd mostly be about riding the rails for a month and the romance of that. What kind of a terrible time did they have?

They complained that it was very noisy, the food was meager and bad, and the equipment was not well maintained. There was a substantial delay when their train hit a pickup truck at a level crossing, which (although they acknowledged it was not the train's fault) just made them angrier every time they told the story.

I think their expectations were too high to begin with.

The Amtrak route between DC and Denver is beautiful. I will echo -t in re: timing. Sometimes the train is wildly early, as well. But, if you are flexible, it is an unforgettable experience. Folks who travel that way tend to be interesting conversationalists, in my experience.

I guess it is kind of noisy if you aren't expecting that. I do live near train tracks and find the sound of trains going by pretty soothing, mostly, and the noise from inside the train is, if memory serves, not as loud as from nearby outside. I've always been pretty pleased with the dining car food, though I haven't had that in a while and snack car food is kind of meh, so maybe I should take a trip that includes dining to make sure it's still pleasing to me. That shouldn't be hard to arrange.

bop down to Baltimore

Hell yeah!

I read somewhere that planning a vacation is when people are happiest rather than actually being on vacation, so I am leaning into that idea.

Here is me, echoing -t again. I find planes much louder, and given my inner-ear-motion-sickness-gonna-kill me thing, the sound of the train is nothing but soothing.

I don't get sick on trains because there is no vibration, which also means I tend to sleep much better as a result.

I haven't taken a trip in a long time, so I don't know about the food now, but many years ago, it was really good. I also found the Amtrak employees much calmer, and prone to actually enjoying their jobs.

Plus, if you want fresh air, open a window!

And you can wander from car to car which is fun, and there’s often an observation car with big windows you can just hang out in