As someone who abhors air travel — at best I relegate it to one of life’s necessary evils — and is currently unable to drive himself anywhere, I much prefer traveling by rail whenever it’s reasonable to do so. The often ridiculous expense is a trade-off between comfort and — thanks to living within the Northeast Corridor — time.

Taking a long-distance trip by rail has long been an ambition of mine, if not cross country to San Francisco for example, then at least somewhere halfway. To Chicago perhaps. (I’m long overdue for a trip out there.)

Sadly, as GOOD Magazine’s Ben Jervey points out rail travel in the U.S., at least outside the Northeast Corridor, is hardly efficient nor practical for most people.

I returned late last night from Boston, where I attended An Event Apart. (Much to the jealously of certain people I know. I’m looking at you… and you.) I mentioned the other day how strange it was to find myself eating something a mere five feet away from Jeffrey Zeldman. Here are a few other things that made my trip:

• Upon arriving in Boston, I hailed a cab to take me from the Back Bay train station to my hotel. He laughed at me when I mentioned the destination; it was half a mile away. I was fully aware of this, but being that it was (A) 10:00 at night, (B) dark, and (C) I had no idea where to go, I allowed him his chuckle. I then denied him his tip. So there.
• On day one at around lunchtime, I faced the prospect of eating lunch with total strangers, a situation I’m not usually comfortable with. Then I saw this hot guy a few feet away and greeted him, thinking he was familiar but I couldn’t place the face. We herd downstairs to lunch and at some point I turn around, saw his name badge, and realized I ran into Ron, Mr. Leather Egg himself. We went out for drinks after the second day’s sessions.
• I had something of a rock star moment on day two, when I met Cameron Moll, the first presenter of the day, on the elevator en route to the session. We chatted briefly on the way down, and I suddenly felt very hip and cool.
• Leaving Boston was something of an adventure. After finally clearing up a billing issue at the hotel, I head out to walk to the train station. (It was 11:00 a.m., so I was okay with it.) Upon arriving at the station, I find access to the Amtrak entrance taped off. I eventually find out that there was a gas leak and they closed the platform, so I had to get myself to South Station instead. Fortunately, I was granted free access on the T, and I made it to South Station with no time to spare.

I made my train, which left on time… and arrived in D.C. late, natch. I posted some photos from the event to the AEA Boston 2007 group on flickr.