Friday Five

[brigid]

The Friday Five courtesy of thefridayfive:

1) What is your favorite mode of travel? (Car, train, plane, etc).

Oh man, I love trains so much. I have a serious THING for trains. My current temp job involves riding around Metra (long distance commuter) trains and counting passengers who get on/off at stations and it is SO EFFING COOL.

2) Where is the northernmost place you've traveled? The southernmost?

Northernmost is Toronto, southernmost is Florida Melbourne, Australia.

3) What is the last place you visited for the first time?

Nesko (my husband) and I drove to Dallas/Fort Worth during January about five years ago. Other than that I've been to some distant suburbs of Chicago (where I live) recently, but haven't had very long stopovers.

4) Of all the places you've traveled, which is your favorite?

Melbourne, Australia. Absolutely and definitely. I would love to go back. Maine was really nice, too.

5) Where would you most like to travel to next?

I have several places, actually! Within the US I'd like to visit friends in Boston,MA; Philly,PA; San Diego,CA; Seattle,WA; and Eugene, OR. Oh, and Fort Wayne,IN. Other than that, I'd love to return to Oz, visit New Zealand again, and travel through Montenegro which is the country my husband's family is from.

Comments

[shadowspar]

Hear hear -- love trains! You can stretch out and walk about; you're not stuck driving in the car, crammed in like a sardine on a plane, or subject to the schedule and comfort whims of the bus.

I developed a serious crush on the Japanese rail system while I was there on exchange. Over the course of a year, I swear that I could have counted on one hand the number of times a train was more than a minute late. Every little hamlet seems to have a train station, and from there you can get practically anywhere in the country, even if the first leg of your trip will be on a smoke-belching diesel burner from the 1950s. =)

[brigid]

My big dream is for Chicago (and Illinois and the entire midwest and the whole of the USA) to expand their mass transit/train lines because HELLO! TRAINS! THEY ARE SO AWESOME! And not prey to traffic jams the way that cars are.

[shadowspar]

I'd finance the buildout of a North American high speed rail system myself if I could, just so I could use it. Sadly, I seem to be lacking the required grillion dollars, though. ^^;

[brigid]

I know, right?

There was so much opposition in Spain but it's really changed the country for the better. Economy, culture, everything.

[marshtide]

Japanese trains are amazing. And I'm definitely a fan of trains generally too, but on the flip-side, my experience of train delays is quite considerable.

I think that 8 hours was the record, and I eventually got to my destination on a train that also contained everyone else who should have got one of the other trains in that 8 hour gap. This was due to the power lines melting. There was also a year-long run where every journey I made from London to visit my mother was subject to a delay of between half an hour and four hours, for reasons as various as fallen trees, children throwing stones at trains, ice, breakdowns, rogue goats and "someone has stolen the wires". Oh Britain! Every day and in every way you function less and less.

[brigid]

I live in ~~the heartland~~ of the USA which means we have some pretty extreme weather at times. I've had train delays due to rails freezing and cracking due to the cold, and buckling due to the heat. Also: fires from the heat. Hooray! But generally, if the weather is extreme enough to negatively affect trains/train tracks it's also screwing up roads.

[kelaino_kalos]

I posit that Melbourne, Australia is much further south than Florida. :)

[brigid]

Hah! You're totally right.