North America Travels

Aug. 2nd, on the ViaRail Train from Toronto to Winnipeg

The initial feelings on my first long ViaRail train ride in Canada are very positive in comparison to using the Greyhound bus to Calgary 3 years ago. The pluses:

I have tons of leg room. It feels like being in the business class on a plane compared to being in economy class on the Greyhound.
The AC is not to cold and not to warm.
There is a skyline car behind our car which is terrific to sit in and watch the outside going by.
You can buy reasonable food in the lower portion of the skyline car.
You can walk along inside the cars if you want (the train has 20 cars and is quite long).
I can only imagine what the "prestige sleeper cars" look and feel like. On the way back I am going to consider making a reservation and shell out the money in the real dining car just for the experience.
The washroom in the car is spacious, well vented and clean.

Some of the compromises:

The ViaRail rail route goes through much more remote territory in Ontario compared to the Greyhound. Back then I liked very much the views of the coastal areas of Lake Superior and the Georgian Bay North Channel of Lake Huron (small towns, beaches, islands and the lakes themselves). On the ViaRail route it is mostly birch and needle forests with the usual bogs, small lakes, rivers and beaver castles which are a familiar sight for someone going canoing, which is cool too, just not as new compared to the large lakes and their vistas (from what I saw out of the bus back then Lake Superior is a very cool place in its own (it is a goal of mine to hike and canoe there on a future trip)).

Neutral:

The size of Ontario from east to west and its emptiness is simply staggering. That feeling is the same regardless if one uses the bus, the rail or probably a car (which I have yet to do).