Travel plan idea blog

OK planes & crowded trains

This New York Times article says that Thanksgiving travel was relatively painless for most Americans yesterday. Well at least the flyers. If you were stuck in traffic you probably knew that was coming anyway...

But traffic in America is nothing compared to traffic in parts of Asia. In China, where tons of people live, one traveler said this about May "golden week":

"The problem is that everyone goes at once," says Jiang, a 41-year-old medical equipment supplier. "It's impossible to get a ticket. And even if you do, it's way too crowded. It's crazy."

The picture that goes with the article is pretty crazy but I actually saw the same thing (people climbing into a train through the windows) in Italy when we were in Assisi and trying to get a train to Perugia for a peace march (this was right after 9/11/2001).

In Korea everyone travels for Chuseok (kind of like Thanksgiving) and Seolnal (Lunar New Year). It's normal for a 5 hour drive to turn into a 15 hour drive or worse on either of these holidays.

Posted by James Trotta at November 24, 2007 1:16 PM | TrackBack