Raleigh is a great area for most people, but I can’t stand it. My apartment is nice and the area is bougie, but in no way do I fit here. I am currently unemployed and my lease ends in November, giving me absolute freedom to do whatever. In addition, my beautiful Nissan Altima has passed away, leaving me stuck at home unless I want to walk alone on the sidewalk next to idiots driving their trucks to their cubicles. Biking, walking, and taking public transportation everywhere in France spoiled me. Cities are so much interesting than the milquetoast suburbs. Fortunately, I have a ticket (or 10) out of here. Im talking about the USA Rail Pass baby.
For $500 I can take ten trips (segments) within a 30 day span. A segment means starts whenever I step on a train and ends whenever I step off. Changing routes for a connection will use multiple segments. However, length does not matter as long as I stay on the train. Using the map above, you can see that going from Seattle to Chicago uses just as much of the pass as traveling from Washington D.C. to Baltimore. This can be absolutely abused if you have enough time to kill.
Trains are absolutely impractical for anybody who has a job, relationship, friends, or really any responsibilities in general to take care of. With some segments taking up to 70 hours, it is only viable to a select group of absolute bums. Freaks with no social life that can happily sit for 3 days on a coach seat, perfectly content with the normal 10+ hour delays. Its fits like a glove for me.
The Plan
My Snowpiercer vacation begins next week. I will be going to DC, Chicago, NYC, Boston, Seattle, San Diego, and have wiggle room for an extra stop or two along the way. The goal is to see which of these cities fits me best. Chicago has my attention and it’s in the center of all the rail lines, so I’m gonna go there twice. I’ll do my best to not stare at The Bean and other touristy crap all day. My objective is to spend my time in these places exactly how I do now. Pretty much just libraries, churches, bikes, beaches, and walks. Locations where rent is affordable and public transport is accessible will get all my love and attention. I’ll do my usual hostel hopping, these places always have tons of info on what I should look (and look out) for.
The beauty of this trip is that it is surprisingly friendly on my bleeding bank account. My hobbies are naturally cheap and I’ve always enjoyed less wealthy people and environments. Hostels and train tickets run $50 a pop. Pretty much all I eat is rice and beans. I am going to do my best to document this trip because the USA Rail Pass doesn’t get enough love and it will help me to decide if I should move from Raleigh. Job hunting has been a challenge in this area. I thought it was because I wasn’t interested in the jobs, but I am starting to think it is because I don’t want to get stuck here. Spending a month hopping between all these big cities will help clear my thoughts. I can see if the few square feet of grass is greener in Chicago.