and it took 24 hours, and it was hell, and i didn't meet anyone really. and there weren't any interesting characters about, no. sorry to smash your dreams. but i think amtrak's the only one really, like there's not any decent competition, and amtrak sucks more than any other way i've ever travelled.

That's my ideal, anyway. Greyhound at a pinch, but trains in America are hardly famed.

And they must have train journeys much longer than 12 hours. I mean, the original railways were just one long railtrack to the Pacific, you must be able to ride on similar, if not the original, routes.

if you have to go with the public transport for the stories, choose greyhound. the bus drivers are complete nutbars, and in most cases scary. you get to meet lots of moody serving staff in the bus stations as well. great fun.

i went from NY to South Carolina - took at least 10 hours from memory - and it was at the height of summer. Not fun, but not terrible. Didn't meet anyone, as it's quite hard to speak to people on coach.

Just get a plane. Serious. Americans are pretty friendly, and you just need to barhop to pick up good stories.

I took a sleeper from Mombasa to Nairobi in the summer. It took about 15 hours though cause it broke down several hours into the journey. The electricity went off and we got lights that didn't work half the time. But the view/dinner/breakfast/French girls was GREAT!
I'm going to do America by public transport when I'm 21. Should be fun.

Around The World in 80 Days? He takes a train across America and it does indeed look awesome times. Downside is that he was running out of time by then, so he had to do the whole of America in one episode, which made all those long, dull boat trips towards the middle of the series that wee bit more annoying. What on earth am i talking about?

Anyway. Yeah. FUN! Apart from not being able to map out your own route and missing a lot of it due to darkness and sleeping. Hmm.

But what I really want to do is tour the US using trains and buses. Like backpacking. I want to go to Seattle and San Fran and Austin and everywhere.

railway but its very student cliche and has since got a bit too dangerous in places.

Under Seige 2?

4 day train journeys through the heart of Mid-Western USA. And only the mild threat of terrorism.

which is reason enough.

I had an invite to go on a an old green school bus a few months ago. I passed.

But it would be cool stopping off in the desert or something

Wonder if its a cheap as here

that did freight-training across the states a couple of years back.That sounded like the fun if not a bit risky way to do things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip1zsUIosoA

Do the Tran-Siberian or the Silk Route or theres always India. America is better done by car.

i've only done just under 3 days straight (no match for ho_fo!) but ya, the restaurant with all the cups and cutlery sliding about on the table! and the smoking room where all the men are gambling that you have to pass through to get upstairs to the viewingdeck! fun fun!
seats are kinda hard to sleep in though..would be nice to be able to afford a bunk!

the long-distance routes are amazing. i went new york -> chicago (24hrs, up the Husdon River Valleu), chicago -> san francisco (60hrs, deserts, cornfields, the ROCKY FUCKING MOUNTAINS, one of the most incredible experiences of my life) and san francisco -> seattle (24hrs, PINE TREES). the trains are really nice, the staff are friendly, i didn't pay for any upgrades to sleeping and it didn't really bother me. there were horrific delays west of the mississippi but that was really the only bad thing.

plus, it's dead cheap if you go out-of-season, they do passes for foreigners - http://tinyurl.com/5fmjl - £200 for a month for the entire country. i must've gone about 5000 miles in that time.

this is a pretty good book on the subject as well: http://tinyurl.com/37wm3s

ill be taking a few next week when me and steve follow fuck buttons and caribou around florida

but, hmmm, contrasting opinions on whether it's a good thing to do in this thread.

places i want to get to: new york to boston, chicago, nashville.

"if you goooooooooooooo,
will you send baaaack,
A letter from americaaaaaa"