Trains, Buses, and Planes: A Beginner's Guide to Transit in the North Atlantic

In my past few months of traveling around the north Atlantic region, I’ve done a lot of individual research into the different available modes of transportation. Of course, driving a personal car everywhere is always an option, but I’m a rather city-driving-adverse individual, and tend to look for alternatives when visiting major metropolises. Below I thought I could share some of my findings, comparing the different modes of transportation and giving some suggestions based on some of my own experiences traveling out of the Albany region.

Buses

There are a lot of bus lines that operate in the area, but I usually end up choosing between two main players - Greyhound and Megabus. If you live in a big city with a Megabus hub (e.g. New York City), Megabus can get you basically anywhere you would want to go. But the coverage is much more limited for other starting points. Greyhound tends to have more destination options for smaller cities like Albany, where I usually travel from. In my experience, Greyhound seems to be a little more spacious and punctual. But where Megabus really shines is the cost. Megabus ticket prices start cheap and increase as time goes on, so if you plan far enough ahead you could potentially snag some great deals. I’ve been able to get tickets from Albany to NYC for $5 one way, versus the $40 round trip it would have cost with Greyhound. My general strategy with bus travel is to check Megabus first for any good deals, and then look at Greyhound if the Megabus tickets have already gone up in price.

A word of caution on buses though - their punctuality depends heavily upon traffic conditions, and I’ve had buses outright canceled on me before. In the latter case, they put me on a later bus also going to my destination, but it meant arriving a few hours later than expected. So if you are on a tight schedule and absolutely must be somewhere at a particular time, taking a train or driving might work better for you.

Trains

For intercity travel, most people I talk to equate trains with Amtrak. I personally avoid Amtrak because they don’t go much faster and tend to be more expensive than the buses ($42 for a roundtrip ticket from Albany to NYC, versus around $30 for the bus), but some people swear by Amtrak. Advantages of traveling by train are more leg room, more pieces of luggage allowed, and no delays due to road traffic. So if you have really long legs, a lot of luggage, or a tight schedule you could consider taking the train. I think where Amtrak really shines is extreme long distance travel - a ticket from LA to Chicago can be as low as $169, and for a 40+ hour ride like that the extra comfort you get on a train might actually make a difference.

Planes

Flying is fast, but airport security is not. My general rule of thumb is to only consider flying if the destination is more than 400 miles away - roughly the distance from San Francisco to LA. (Or if Southwest is having one of their huge sales…) Otherwise the time you spend traveling to the airport and waiting at security would negate any time savings you get from flying.

Cars

Even with all these different public transit options, you definitely still need a car to go to smaller cities and towns in the region. Many cities are only reachable by car, especially once you get up to Vermont, New Hampshire, and beyond. Other cities can be reached using transit, but may lack transit options within the city, making it a hassle to get around once you get there. And some cities are reachable via transit and have ample public transit options in the city itself, but depending on where your departure point is, there may not be a direct way to get there using buses or trains, making driving a more attractive option. (This was the case with my trip to Providence.)

Of course, all this is only a brief introduction to transit around the area. By all means use this as a starting point but definitely do some homework before embarking on your own trips. Hope this information helps, and feel free to comment below with any questions, comments, or suggestions!

The Lonely Mountains of New Hampshire

Last weekend M and I went hiking in one of the most isolated places I’ve ever been. Maybe it was because it’s already considered the off season in the New Hampshire state parks, but we could literally go for miles without seeing another human being. Big difference from certain other parks that even require lottery ticket systems for their most popular hikes. (Yeah, I’m looking at you, Half Dome.) You would hear nothing but the wind howling through the trees and the leaves crunching beneath your feet. It was kind of nice.

The area we visited is called the White Mountain National Forest, a huge expanse of woodland stretching over one portion of the rugged Appalachian Mountains. We went to two of the more prominent parks within the White Mountains, Crawford Notch State Park and Franconia Notch State Park.

Silver Cascade

Crawford Notch is most known for its waterfalls. As California natives, we were exceptionally excited at the prospect of seeing real waterfalls with actual water in them, so we spent most of our time in the park trekking to as many falls as we could. The Silver and Flume Cascades were easily accessible right off highway 302. They were small but photo-worthy.

Flume Cascade

Arethusa Falls took a little more effort to reach. We decided to hike the Arethusa Falls Loop, the most highly recommended hike in Crawford Notch. The trail started by going up, and continued to go up basically until we reached the falls over a mile later. With a drop of over 200 feet, Arethusa Falls was very impressive and well worth the climb. We took a nice snack and photo break there and continued along our way.

Majestic Arethusa Falls

The next part of the loop climbed up some more up to the Frankenstein Cliffs. The cliff overlook provided a great view of the surrounding mountains and the valley below. If you looked hard enough toward the west you could even faintly see the top of Arethusa Falls poking through the trees. It was all downhill from there. Though I actually thought the downhill was the most difficult park of the hike - that part of the Cliff Trail was quite rocky and steep, and leaves covered the trail to the point where it was often difficult figuring out where the trail was. Luckily there were painted trail markers at frequent intervals, and slowly but surely we made it back down.

View from Frankenstein Cliffs

Franconia Notch is one of the biggest state parks in New Hampshire and contains a variety of attractions. Unfortunately many of them were closed when we went. But we did get to see the Basin just off of I-93, a giant pothole at the base of a waterfall, carved perfectly smooth by the forces of nature over thousands of years. 

The Basin

Also right next to the highway was the Old Man of the Mountain. Or at least, what’s left of it. Look on the New Hampshire state quarter and you’ll see what the Old Man used to look like, a natural rock formation resting on the top of a cliff hundreds of feet high. If you looked from a certain angle, you would see the face of an old man, hence the name. But a few years ago, the rocks fell, leaving a gaping hole where the face used to be. Unable to let go of their crown jewel, the state of New Hampshire installed metal rods at ground level in what is now known as the Old Man Plaza. If you stand at just the right angle, the metal rods form a silhouette that lines up with the former Old Man, recreating what it used to look like.

The new Old Man of the Mountain

The last thing we did in Franconia Notch was go on another big hike up to the summit of Cannon Mountain. We made our ascent up on the Hi Cannon Trail, and it was extremely rugged - we were basically scrambling over boulders the entire way up and at some point there was even a ladder we had to climb. At some point we crossed the snow line and continued our way up tromping in snow. When we finally made it to the top, wind chill brought the temperature down to 20 degrees F, but the view was unparalleled. We could see for miles in every direction. I would’ve stayed up there longer if I didn’t feel my fingers start to go numb from the cold. 

View from Cannon Mountain summit

On our way down we took the Kinsman Trail down to Lonesome Lake. The trail was just as steep and rocky as before, and we were quite worn out by the time we got to the lake. Luckily there was a hikers hut there run by the Appalachian Mountain Club, where we could warm up and take a short break. The last segment of the descent down the Lonesome Lake Trail was the least difficult park of the hike, good news for the weary travelers.

Lonesome Lake, aptly named

I think one of my favorite parts about the trip was simply getting relatively far away from civilization. Sometimes it’s nice just to take the path less traveled and spend some time communing with nature.