Later this month I will present in North Carolina starting at Elon University, then Guildford College, Greensboro College, and Wake Forest. Lucky for me Amtrak goes from Harrisburg, PA (one hour south of where I live) to Burlington, NC (my first stop.) The BAD NEWS is the train leaves at 5:00 in the morning.
This leaves me with two options:
1. Have a friend drive me to Harrisburg that morning (which means leaving at 3 am)
2. Take the bus to Harrisburg the day before, sleep over a friends house in Harrisburg, get up early, and walk to the station.
Although it adds a day, I’m leaning toward the friend option (which of course depends on the willingness of a Harrisburg friend.)
I only booked a one-way ticket because I am not sure how the trip will end exactly. I mean I know I will come home after a stop in Washington, DC, but there is a short weekend before that which I haven’t sorted out yet.
The one-way ticket comes to $107.00 plus $18 for the bus ride the night before (if I choose that option) The trip takes me on the Keystone Service from Harrisburg to Philadelphia and gives me 90 minutes to grab some breakfast before getting on the Carolinian which arrives 6:01 PM. A long day but I have good books to read.
Amtrak linked me to a Carbon Offset program, which I will look into. The calculator claims that a carbon off-set for the train journey is only $1.69. Seems weird. I wonder what the car off-set will be. I’ll check it out.
I sometimes forget how incredibly lucky we are with the rail network/train services in the UK (and Europe generally).
Good luck with your journey! I hope it’s fun and/or relaxing as well as ethically satisfying.