Trains are awesome - just expensive and mostly for tourists

unhappy dog

@gschenk but it's wet

@Criggie awww, poor doggy

@gschenk there are even ones with self checkin where you can sneak in with the bike and no receptionist to stop you :)

@gschenk I’ve wondered about bailing out with a normal bike as well. If you have a crash, how do you even get a normal bike to the hospital? How do you bring a normal bike home if your legs or arms are injured? Of course for minor injuries or mechanical issues you have more options with busses and trains.

@Criggie Wow... Munich-Brixen, which is 240km across the alps, through 3 countries, takes 03:20h and is ~30€. And it's not even a particularly fast train...

like I said - train for tourism only

The Brixen train is also mostly used by tourists 😁

@Erlkoenig keep in mind those are probably NZ dollars?

right, still more expensive ;-)

@Michael if you are brought to the hospital after a serious accident here the police takes care of getting your bike safe. In some cases they hold the bike at the police station till you are well enough to come and collect it.

Getting yourself and a still rolling bike home can be done by train (and ferry if across water.)

Otherwise UPS or an other transport company.

@Criggie that train line has some of the cheapest accommodation, long term. About 5 hours of sun in the year, rain most days. You even get paid if you take on the care taken role. (Or at least that was in '99)

I was on a train pass and used that train twice.

@Erlkoenig Eurocity or S-Bahn?

@gschenk Railjet 😁

@gschenk The confined cramped position depends on the car and the train. I don't have a particular found memory of the TGV (in 2nd class in a duplex TGV), and I certainly had less room than in the cars I had (when living in Italy we were going back to Belgium twice or trice a year) - but interior space is an important criteria for me when choosing a car.

But of course, I can easily think of cars that were less roomy than the TGV Duplex, especially on the rear seat.

@Rеnаud the main problem is that you can’t stand up and walk around in a car

can’t do push-ups and squats in a car

I usually don't do it in trains as well, but that's a point. But when driving, I don't hesitate to stop at rest areas and walk a bit.

That's undeniable, as long as you don't have to rent it, and even have a permit, it doesn't take much planning to go to most places.

Last time in China we were driven everywhere either but Didi or by relatives. I had zero sense of location in that mega city. By contrast in Tokyo a week before we took trains and the only tram and I developed a sense of the place.

It's a little like being teleported in a car. Its not helped by modern cars where one can't t see anything above traffic level.