Frou-Frou Choo-Choo
While train travel via Amtrak is pretty miserable over here, Orient-Express (not just the famed route, but the company) is making a go of fancy train travel abroad. The Times of London recently checked out their Eastern & Oriental Express, which runs from Bangkok, through Malaysia to Singapore in super swanky luxury. Compartments have their own showers and toilets, and the food is freshly prepared at every meal in thai-continental fusion style.
It's expensive, though; the four-day journey costs $1, 780 for a one way ticket, assuming you travel with accompanying passenger in a Pullman cabin, the smallest available. Sure, there's afternoon tea, an open-air verandah-style observation car, and a bustling bar car, but it's still quite a bit of scratch.
Besides, if you're really intent on dropping a bundle for train travel, why not do the original Orient Express? For a mere $7, 380 (it includes day trips and two nights in hotels), you'll experience a super-luxe six-day journey between Paris and Istanbul, with stops in Budapest and Bucharest. It's very much in the same vein as the Eastern & Oriental, but there are no private bathrooms on this train, though. For authenticity's sake, perhaps?
It's hard to say when luxury train travel will hit the northeast corridor--the Acela doesn't count--but in the meantime, some extra legroom would be nice. And we wouldn't object to an open-air verandah, either.
[Image via Feuillu/Flickr]
Related Stories:
· The Elegance of the Far East [Times of London]
· Rail World [NY Post]
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