I've ridden a passenger train one time and the experience was so bad that I've vowed to avoid it at all costs in the future. A freight train that was running ahead of our train broke down so we were stuck on the train, not moving for about 10 hours. What should have been a 13 hour overnight trip took me 22 hours from Orlando to Raleigh. I had a sandwich, some trail mix and two bottles of water and no two books. No blankets, no music andndnd had to keep phone turned off to preserve the battery.

The worst part was that none of the train staff even volunteered information to us. Someone had to start asking questions before we were told what had happened. And they didn't even offer any of us water!

Never again. At least when you drive yourself you can react to bad situations like traffic jams and make choices about how to proceed.