There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway

Re:There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did ... by Kurtz79 on Thursday March 21, 2019 @01:27PM (#19454943)

In Europe there has historically been an "Interrail" ticket, aimed to allow backpackers to travel in EU countries outside of their own with a single, dirt cheap pass, valid for a month or so on each country's rail network (of course, cheapest seating and class).

I did two of them and they are some of the best travel experiences I had in my life.

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Re:There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did ... by jaclaz on Thursday March 21, 2019 @03:10PM (#19456166)

Yep, and it was also a sort of "rite of passage" that every 18 year old took or wished to take.

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Re:There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did ... by ghaff on Thursday March 21, 2019 @03:34PM (#19456380)

I never did it (though I have taken quite a few trains in Europe) but in the 70s or thereabouts spending a summer after graduation or whenever traveling with a "Eurail Pass" (whatever the proper name was) was almost a chiche.

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Re:There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did ... by jaclaz on Thursday March 21, 2019 @04:07PM (#19456687)

I can confirm that it was still a thing in the '80's.

And it still exists (just for the record):

https://www.eurail.com/en/eurail-passes/global-pass

But of course the times have changed.

The huge thing about this was that for most young people at the time the 18 years birthday meant a lot, in most EU countries that was (is) a "threshold" you become to all effects an adult and getting an Eurail ticket was the first "totally independent" travel experience without the family, and you got for an all in all affordable to everyone amount of money "freedom", you met a lot of other young people doing the same, you could try to start a conversations with someone (a "peer") in (actually usually much improvised) other language, you could visit places you had only read about in books, etc.

It was a great experience.

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