Decisions - Train or Plane?
Everyday nomadic life requires us to make decisions. How do we decide on transportation methods between trains and planes?
TRAVELFEATURED ON HOMEPAGE
12/25/20253 min read
Post 9/11 security on a plane is strict with several identification checks and x-ray machines. Trains stations may have officers and security points, but it’s more about ticket verification vs contraband. Anyone can walk into a train station and board the trains, but if a conductor comes through, you better have your ticket and ID.
Generally, train stations are smaller than airports, but a big city train station might be about same size as an airport with tons of tracks or shops (examples include Florence, Bologna & Prague).
Partly because of the security, it is recommended to arrive 2-3 hours before a flight. In small train stations, you can arrive just 15 minutes before a train departure and large train stations 30 minutes.
If you miss a flight or long-range train, it can be complicated to rebook a seat. If you miss a short-range train without assigned seating, just walk onto the next one in most cities.
The train pricing is relative to distance, longer train rides are more expensive than planes. So, decisions might relate to budget vs comfort.
Train bathrooms are slightly to significantly larger than those on airplanes. Extended train travel may incur dirtier bathroom facilities as people use them repeatedly. Toilet flushing failures may result in facility closure.
Usually everyone has a plane seat for the flight, while some train lines overbook leaving people standing.
Several trains and planes have electronic boards or screens which track the progress on the route.
Overall, trains have more leg room and wider seats than planes. Planes and trains have upgraded perks if you want more comfort or more services. Plane seats and long-distance train seats tend to have a reclining feature. Short-distance train seats do not recline.
Many airplanes have USB ports to recharge phones and small electronics. Newer train cars, though, have full-sized outlet plugs for computers and large electronics.
Many mid- to long-range trains have clustered seats around a table so families can sit together. We even observed a family home-schooling on a 6-hour train.
Trains are easier to evacuate if there is a problem mid-trip.
Trains have better scenery and giant windows for viewing it. You can even take a walk or stretch in sections of a train to get some movement.
Trains are more likely to run behind schedule or even be cancelled due to wildlife, weather and transportation strikes.
Back in 1996, after college in America, I took a 30-day cross-country Amtrack train trip from Seattle to Denver, Denver to Chicago, Chicago to Sacramento, and Sacramento to Seattle with a hop-on-hop-off ticket. It was the beginning of my slow-travel adventures, and it was wonderful! Alone in a coach seat, I read several books, walked to the food car, enjoyed scenery in the lounge car, and even met a high-school classmate by accident. Cell phones were not a-thing and self-entertainment was a skill we all had.
Fast forward to October 2012 when my mom, stepdad, daughter, and I rode Amtrack from Kelso, WA to Sacramento and back for a family gathering. Going down was fine as we slept, ate, and socialized. The return trip was a nightmare! The doors to the car would not close and we spent 12 hours in the cold with exhaust fumes. There was no assistance from the one worker we were able to talk with around midnight.
Fast forward to 2025. Train travel in America is still possible, and Amtrak has a USA rail pass that would allow us to hop-on-hop-off similar to my 1996 adventure. However, we have fallen in love with European train travel. It is our absolute favorite mode of transportation here. Whether we travel by train inside the city or between cities, we find trains quite comfortable as we build them into the journey. If given a relatively similar choice between airplane travel and train travel, we choose trains. Some may ask, what about planes? Why don’t you fly? Here are our thoughts and observations about trains and airplanes.
In review of our 2025 travel, we successfully navigated 7 airplane routes and 10 train routes with more to come in 2026. Safe journeys to all!
Read More about our Decision-Making in Travel
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