AI fails

[BoldonLad]

I'd be confident they don't. Trains are not that narrow, so perpendicular is always the best option.

The only "sleeper" I have ever travelled in was St Petersburg - Kiev, in the 1990s, the rolling stock was pre-WW2 vintage (1935). The Carriages had a corridor at one side, going the length of the carriage, the "beds" were bunks. The upper bunks folded down from the wall, across the compartment, the lower seat became the lower bunk.

 

[PurplePenguin]

Maybe depends on the train. I found taking the train in India difficult as they are always booked months in advance but I did find a "loophole" so managed and long'ish overnight (SL class is no aircon, lowest class available). Interesting experience and glad I tried it but different challenges from overnight bus travel.
View attachment 15589
AC classes follow the perpendicular open compartment but often with 3 berths each side of the compartment (class 3E). No idea about AC1 and AC2.

Brings back memories. Better than the wooden seat option.

 

[PurplePenguin]

Happy to correct myself. This is the orient express. Still different to the AI box though.

 

[briantrumpet]

Happy to correct myself. This is the orient express. Still different to the AI box though.

View attachment 15591

I wonder if they offer 25-year mortgages.

 

[briantrumpet]

This is a rather pithy editorial column, where there was supposed to be something else, but someone submitted an AI-written one, which they refused to publish.

https://www.cityam.com/there-should-have-been-an-op-ed-here-but-you-filed-ai-slop/

"The truth is simple, if you can’t be bothered to write it, why should anyone be bothered to read it? It’s insulting but, more than that, it’s depressing. Writing, especially in opinion, is about individual voice: how you turn a phrase, the anecdote only you can tell, that odd word you might have picked up from a well-loved novel.

"If you think you can fool us, I’d urge you to think longer-term, not just for us but yourself. Not only are there material costs – we are extremely unlikely to trust you enough to commission you again – but ethical ones. Trust in the media is already at an all-time low; making it a dumping ground for your Claude castoffs is unlikely to help."

 

[PurplePenguin]

I wonder if they offer 25-year mortgages.

It's one for the travel thread, but even though I hate flying and love a proper journey, I think I would struggle to pay more for a bed like that than, say, a chartered plane which also comes with a bed. This is particularly true if I'm planning to be asleep.

Fortunately, neither option is available to me, so I don't need to wrestle with it.

And, I really do hate flying. I think I could fill the annoyances thread based on a single journey.

 

[Pross]

I would love to do a proper train journey such as the Orient Express or across The Rockies but the prices are just crazy, they make cruises seem a bargain.

 

[briantrumpet]

And, I really do hate flying. I think I could fill the annoyances thread based on a single journey.

I quite enjoyed Flybe Exeter - Paris in their little Dash-8's, but have got more and more intolerant of Easyjet Bristol - Paris (not least because of the hassle of getting to Bristol Airport, and the cattle herding aspect of Easyjet), so now I've got a decent itinerary from Topsham to Valence via four trains for about £160 (with railcards), with an overnight stop in London, that's going to be my plan from now on.

If the sleeper train from Paris Austerlitz to Die weren't sooooo slow and decrepit/unreliable, that might have been an option, but TBH, I'd just as soon have a decent night's sleep in a hotel than a couple of hours half-dozing in a rackety old sleeper bunk with five other people snoring in the same cabin.

 

[PurplePenguin]

I would love to do a proper train journey such as the Orient Express or across The Rockies but the prices are just crazy, they make cruises seem a bargain.

The ones I did in Finland and Sweden were reasonably priced, but only 15 odd hours, so probably not what you are looking for.

Transatlantic cruises are decent value if that is your thing.

 

[Ian H]

Our experience of Interrail, especially first class, is that that is the way to go. It didn't seem expensive.

Which reminds me I need to book a train to glorious Birmingham.

 

[briantrumpet]

Our experience of Interrail, especially first class, is that that is the way to go. It didn't seem expensive.

Which reminds me I need to book a train to glorious Birmingham.

Just booked 'anytime return' to Chester for the week after next. £80 ono with my railcard, via Newport & Hereford, as I'm not in a hurry, and have no wish to be a sardine on Cross Country.

 

[briantrumpet]

Transatlantic cruises are decent value if that is your thing.

Not so great for getting off and exploring scenery along the way, I guess.

@Ian H - I gather Interrail can be quite a cheap way to get a return via Eurostar to various Eurodestinations, though spaces on Eurostar are quite limited in number if you do it that way, and you have to be sure to book places on TGVs and some other trains too, for a small fee.

 

[Ian H]

Not so great for getting off and exploring scenery along the way, I guess.

@Ian H - I gather Interrail can be quite a cheap way to get a return via Eurostar to various Eurodestinations, though spaces on Eurostar are quite limited in number if you do it that way, and you have to be sure to book places on TGVs and some other trains too, for a small fee.

Train - ferry - train, etc.

 

[Pross]

The ones I did in Finland and Sweden were reasonably priced, but only 15 odd hours, so probably not what you are looking for.

Transatlantic cruises are decent value if that is your thing.

The wife would like to do trans Atlantic just to arrive in New York but neither of us fancy just being at sea. The shore days are what make a cruise, the rest is just the hotel and mode of transport being mashed into one (very pleasant) entity.

 

[icowden]

The wife would like to do trans Atlantic just to arrive in New York but neither of us fancy just being at sea. The shore days are what make a cruise, the rest is just the hotel and mode of transport being mashed into one (very pleasant) entity.

The star gazing could be epic though...