I tried to get my hosts to book me a train from Beijing to Dunhuang, but that really wasn't practical - they had to get a special flight to get us all there, in fact.
"For example, when two of the hosts of the Yangzhou conference needed to get back to Beijing, they took a 5-hour train ride instead of flying—a 620-mile trip that requires a transfer in Nanjing and costs less than $40."
I just want to illustrate how staggeringly easy this is compared to distance travel in the US.
I live in Norwalk, and Salt Lake City is about 600 miles from my home.
The lowest price I found for a flight to Salt Lake from LaGuardia Airport, with a layover in Denver, costs about $111. If I take the Metro North train from my home to Grand Central, and then take the 7 Subway to Queens and then a bus to the terminal, we're looking at a total cost of about $20 using public transportation.
Adding up the time it takes for me to get to the airport, allowing for an hour to get through security and board the flight, take off, and land in Salt Lake, we're looking at a time investment of around 15 hours.
So the same distance between Beijing and Yangzhou, with a transfer just like in Nanjing, takes three times as long and costs three times as much in America.
When you count the beans, you can see how much we lose in America when we don't embrace innovative, state-of-the art train travel that has a proven track record not only in China, but in Europe too.
Welcome back home Karen. Your round trip has covered many a mile by plane, train, and automobile to arrive safely back to your point of origin.
Thank you for your informative and descriptive post!
I tried to get my hosts to book me a train from Beijing to Dunhuang, but that really wasn't practical - they had to get a special flight to get us all there, in fact.
Great share Karen. I love this:
"For example, when two of the hosts of the Yangzhou conference needed to get back to Beijing, they took a 5-hour train ride instead of flying—a 620-mile trip that requires a transfer in Nanjing and costs less than $40."
I just want to illustrate how staggeringly easy this is compared to distance travel in the US.
I live in Norwalk, and Salt Lake City is about 600 miles from my home.
The lowest price I found for a flight to Salt Lake from LaGuardia Airport, with a layover in Denver, costs about $111. If I take the Metro North train from my home to Grand Central, and then take the 7 Subway to Queens and then a bus to the terminal, we're looking at a total cost of about $20 using public transportation.
Adding up the time it takes for me to get to the airport, allowing for an hour to get through security and board the flight, take off, and land in Salt Lake, we're looking at a time investment of around 15 hours.
So the same distance between Beijing and Yangzhou, with a transfer just like in Nanjing, takes three times as long and costs three times as much in America.
When you count the beans, you can see how much we lose in America when we don't embrace innovative, state-of-the art train travel that has a proven track record not only in China, but in Europe too.