Does riding train through state equal having been to state?

shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
G

Guest

Guest
I am curious if you've ridden the train through a state, does that qualify you as having been there?
 
Every person's own idea of "counting" such things is different.

For me, if I've ridden several hours through a state, I'll count it as having been there, although it feels slightly empty when saying so and I really should get back as soon as possible and touch some real ground. (Currently, IN is the only state that fits this criteria for me.)

Others, though, count anything (even airport layovers in the state), while others are strict about needing to overnight in a state to count it.

So, the answer is: it varies. Come up with your own system and stick to it!
 
Whatever turns you on!!

I have always set foot on the ground in a state to say I was in that state.

Same goes for a country.
 
NICE thread!

I guess it's whatever serves you. I sort of lean towards "yes, I have" if I've gotten a significant enough eyeful of a state to have taken it in.

If asleep through the entire state, then it gets a bit more "provisional" to me, just as I would consider an actual plane changing layover to be very provisional.

Trains tend to give a better view of life in a certain area than a plane or even an interstate removed from civilization as it passes through. I'd consider myself having gotten a better view of Alabama if I'd ridden the Crescent through it across several hours and not stepped off than I would if I'd have clipped a corner of it driving through it for 35 minutes going from Waynesboro TN to Tupelo MS and stepped out briefly to touch the soil.

But that's just me - I guess as others have said, its in the beholder.
 
I always say that I have been to Ireland and Japan although I have never left the airport in those countries. In fact I have spent about 20 hours in Japan all at Narita airport. I also like to count Italy even though I only spent two hours on the ground there and I never got off the plane.
 
For me its no, but I really like to get into the places that I go. I have flown into Albany, NY and gone all the way across town to the train station and then on the return of that trip I came in to Albany on the peter pan bus, spent the night and got on the train in the morning. After all of that I still will not say that I have "been" to Albany. I have changed modes of transportation, but I didn't see any of the city.
 
I count it. I claim to have been to 47 states and some of them were like that, passing through. If you make the definition more strict, there is no one agreed upon way to do that.
 
I count it as "being to a state". I consider that I've been to 47 states - all except Wyoming, South Dakota and Alaska. The reason I have not been there is because Amtrak doesn't go there - so why should I? :lol: (Somehow, I ended up in Hawaii! :p )

I've probably spent more time in Montana and North Dakota (which I've passed thru on the EB only) than I have in Kentucky and West Virginia (which I've driven thru)! And I probably saw more character of the states too. (And maybe more characters too! :lol: )
 
Count it. I do. However, as one poster said "..........To each his own.........." I don't count airports. But with a train, at least when I'm riding, I hit the platform a lot. So to me it counts. To me not the same as an airport, unless you actually leave the terminal............ I'm lucky, my dad was a prof, so we traveled a LOT as kids in the summer. Been to all 50, only wish I could do the same for my kids....................
 
For me, my feet have to touch the ground. Just looking out the window does not count (plane or train). I'm even inclined to exclude airport layovers, unless I exit the airport. I've changed planes in Auckland. That, to me, does not count as being in New Zealand. For Amtrak, if I get off the train, even just for a minute, then put that locale in the "visited" column. Otherwise, no.

So, my recent SWC trip: CA-yes; AZ-no; NM-yes; CO-yes; KS-no; MO-yes.

That's my rule. I'm tough on myself.
 
If you're on a train, bus or car and ride through the state, I'd count that as being there. Same with being in an airport or even in a plane on the ground. I once got rerouted from Orlando to Chicago via Dallas, and I counted the walk through DFW as being in Texas.
 
I have a feet wet vs feet dry view. For me if I didn't touch the land of said I did not visit (feet wet), if I get off at one of the smoke stops or something, I did (feet dry)
 
if i pass through more then a minute then i say i was in it. after all if your driving you passing through you can say i been then while passing through.
 
If I physically pass through a state,I count that state. I rode the Montrealer from PHI to Montreal,and that train runs about 10 miles through New Hampshire and I counted that. I now have 47 states,lacking only South Dakota,Maine,and Hawaii. I have been to Alaska,and the Alaska Railroad is a must,especially between Anchorage and Fairbanks.
 
Upstate said:
For me its no, but I really like to get into the places that I go. I have flown into Albany, NY and gone all the way across town to the train station and then on the return of that trip I came in to Albany on the peter pan bus, spent the night and got on the train in the morning. After all of that I still will not say that I have "been" to Albany. I have changed modes of transportation, but I didn't see any of the city.
Click to expand...
You didn't miss much at all in Albany. :cool:

I count traveling through on land as having been in a state/country. I don't count flying over. Airport layovers also count.
 
I count it, whats the difference if you drive through a state in a car (but not stop) or ride through it on a train? None in my viewpoint. One of the things my girlfriends girls have done the last two years is "count" how many states they have been in since they started riding Amtrak. They've increased the amount quite a bit because of the trip we did to NYC and DC on the LSL and CL.
 
For me I would consider having to either see a significant part of the state/country or spending a few hours on the ground outside of an airport/train station to count. So travelling through by train counts for me as you see so much of the countryside and towns and cities as you pass through. You might get a better feel for the state crossing it by train in a few hours than if you spent a week in one of that states cities. Airport layovers are a completely different matter though. The view from an airplane window or the inside of a terminal that looks the same as any other in the world does not count. For example in Basle airport in Switzerland, there are 3 different countries in that airport as the airport was built smack on a 3-way border. In the space of 5 minutes you can go through customs to Germany, France and Switzerland, all in the same building, all the same identical rooms with flourescent lighting. Does it count as having been to Germany just because you walked in to the next room and back again? In my book it absolutely doesn’t
 
My criterion is: Purchase and/or consume something in the state, and it counts.
 
Upstate said:
For me its no, but I really like to get into the places that I go. I have flown into Albany, NY and gone all the way across town to the train station and then on the return of that trip I came in to Albany on the peter pan bus, spent the night and got on the train in the morning. After all of that I still will not say that I have "been" to Albany. I have changed modes of transportation, but I didn't see any of the city.
Click to expand...
You will note that although ALB is commonly thought of as being in the City of Albany, neither the airport or the Amtrak station are in Albany. The airport is actually in the Town of Colonie, NY, about 3 miles north of the City of Albany and the train station is in the City of Rensselaer, NY just across the Hudson River from the City of Albany!

The reason for the Airport's ALB designation is probably because it lies within the County of Albany as well as originally being operated by the City of Albany and the county jointly. That association ended years ago when Albany's mayor Corning discontinued the partnership. It was know as the Albany County Airport until it became the Albany International Airport some number of years back!

Upstate, when you flew into ALB and went to the Amtrak Station in Rensselaer you did have to travel through the City of Albany unless you took the scenic route skirting around the city. Presuming you did take the direct route to Amtrak through the city I have to ask you... if you were not IN Albany while traveling through it, then just where were you? Of course this is a rhetorical question because you were in Albany, but you do have the right to not say you were if you want!

Now as a lifetime resident of the Albany area and having worked in the City of Albany for some 34 years, I would like to do you a favor and make the following official proclamation:

I, sky12065 do hereby declare that Upstate is hereby bestowed the honarary status of having officially been in Albany, NY and may forevermore claim without guilt to have been so.

Use this status wisely! :lol:
 
tp49 said:
You didn't miss much at all in Albany.
Click to expand...
Although Albany isn't another LA, Vegas, NYC or other large city, in addition to other attractions it does have THE EGG in the EMPIRE STATE PLAZA which is considered to be an engineering masterpiece. Some have gone as far as to call it the 8th wonder of the world. (a stretch no doubt)

You can click the green links above for more information about the Egg and the Empire State Plaza! :cool:
 
sky12065 said:
Now as a lifetime resident of the Albany area and having worked in the City of Albany for some 34 years, I would like to do you a favor and make the following official proclamation:
Click to expand...
I have been forbidden to enter Albany! (Maybe it was my many years of working in and commuting to there!) But I did sneak through the city :ph34r: in March on the LSL! :lol:
 
I have been in Idaho twice, and asleep both times—once on train #8, the other on #7. The EB passes through the Gem State at oh-dark-hundred in both directions (assuming it's close to being on-time, of course). So I wouldn't count it, inasmuch as I never actually saw the place. Passing through in the daytime (and being awake) should count for having been "in" a state, however, even if you remained on board the bus or train, or in your car.
 
I count it both ways. The way I do that is I keep an Amtrak route map on a bulletin board and have traced over the routes I've ridden across states with a black Sharpie. I pushpin the stations I've boarded, detrained, or changed trains. So far I've ridden through every continental state except South Dakota, Michigan, and Oklahoma and have boarded or detrained in every state except Idaho, Montana, Wisconsin (smoke stop platformed), South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas (smoke stop platformed), Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska (smoke stop platformed), New Mexico, and Nevada (smoke stop platformed). Of course, that's not counting states I've visited when not taking the train. In that case, the list dwindles, but I don't keep track of that on the map.

Rafi
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top