Advice on Subletting Bed From Another Passenger? September Trip/ SWC

[Bob Dylan]

Thanks Alice and Penny! I've shared Rooms on Trains and Hotels/Hostels with both sexes including some AU Members (.none who have posted here) and as Alice said, with persons recommended by someone I knew well!

I fully understand your view Penny!

No problems except for a couple of minor thefts in Hostels in other Countries, and none on a Train except for having to sleep in the Superliner Coffin in a Roomette!

 

[pennyk]

Jim, you can probably guess my response. I don't want to share a room with anyone.

I think I should amend that statement to mean "overnight." Last year, I shared a room with a male AU member during daylight hours between CHI and MSP, and we both survived.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Jim, you can probably guess my response. I don't want to share a room with anyone.

I think I should amend that statement to mean "overnight." Last year, I shared a room with a male AU member during daylight hours between CHI and MSP, and we both survived.

Was he allowed to use the bathroom in the room or did he have to go down the hall?

 

[Long Train Runnin']

I see Stephen's points but totally agree with Chris that it's different for women while traveling alone!

Yeah again I think that might be a uniquely US perspective. In the past 4 months alone I have had conversations and even spent half a day with solo backpacker type single females traveling alone. Even in Myanmar I met 2 girls from Australia that had met while they were both traveling solo and had then spent weeks together. 3 weeks ago I was in Lisbon on a subway platform and was approached by a Chinese national who was a couple years younger then me. It turned out we were heading to the same place, so we spent a few hours together until our plans diverged. That night while enjoying dinner at a sidewalk cafe I shared my table with another solo female traveler from Montreal. Now granted this is all Western Europe so it's not like I was very far off the beaten path, but even in the past year or so when I've really gone off the rails and been traveling way to much I don't tend to run into solo American travelers. The only one I can think of that sticks out I met in Ecuador he was 70+ and still going strong maximizing his retirement that's the kind of person I hope I can become!

I see Stephen's points but totally agree with Chris that it's different for women while traveling alone!

It could be pretty interesting for men too specially if they find themselves the next day with a kidney missing. It is known to have happened in certain parts of Asia. just because you have been lucky a few times does not necessarily make it safe.

It is very important to be truly aware of the environment you are in and act accordingly when dealing with the environment, including the people around you, and commensurate with your own risk tolerance. There is nothing to be ashamed of for being risk averse. Some people get their kicks by taking more risks for more thrills. Others don't. Know yourself and act within your comfort space. Typically on most Asian intercity trains it is common to share sleeping accommodations though in more of a section like setting more often than in a Couchette like setting. Couchette like setting is not uncommon and they all are pretty safe. It is when you go off the beaten path that things may start getting dicey.

Interestingly, several women that have made it clear that they will never again travel alone on Amtrak Coach overnight trains, said their reason was the lack of separating armrest in Coach and the fact that they have repeatedly faced what they considered to be some creepy men tried to and insisting on starting up a conversation with them even after they were told in no uncertain terms to get lost. At least two of them commented further upon me digging deeper that in their experience such is very rare on planes and a little more common on buses. I was a bit shocked to learn that Amtrak overnight trains were considered to be almost as creepy as buses, but I can see their point. Some of them like to ride trains but have forsworn traveling on Amtrak alone, which is kind of sad. But such is the world.

Coming to think of it, I don't like Amtrak Coach on LD trains either, but my reason is different. When I am traveling alone the coach attendant and conductors seem to take a perverse pleasure in shuffling me around to the most undesirable of seats ostensibly to accommodate others more deserving of the better seats for various reasons. So I am pretty much done with i and will not travel by Coach overnight any more.

I understand exactly what you are saying here. It's location location location. I always do my best to research what the culture is like in places. I also understand that what is acceptable in the city centers may not be the way things are in other parts of the country. Next week I am heading to Longyearbyen where local stipulates if you are venturing out the city limits you must have a firearm because of the polar bears. Certainly one of the more interesting local regulations but still something important to keep in mind.

 

[jis]

I understand exactly what you are saying here. It's location location location. I always do my best to research what the culture is like in places. I also understand that what is acceptable in the city centers may not be the way things are in other parts of the country. Next week I am heading to Longyearbyen where local stipulates if you are venturing out the city limits you must have a firearm because of the polar bears. Certainly one of the more interesting local regulations but still something important to keep in mind.

^** LIKE **^

 

[Bob Dylan]

Great post Stephen, and I've experienced the same kinds of travel over my many years of wondering the globe!

Look forward to your next trip report!

 

[Long Train Runnin']

Great post Stephen, and I've experienced the same kinds of travel over my many years of wondering the globe!

Look forward to your next trip report!

Should be right after Labor Day. I rode a ton of different trains/subways/light rail/trams/funiculars in Portugal a couple weeks ago and meant to write it up, but I felt like I didn't take enough pictures and nothing remarkable really happened so it seemed like it would be a rather boring report. Next Thursday I start an interesting 7 days up into the Arctic including trips to an abandoned USSR mining town and then a research base a few hundred miles from the north pole. Then swing back to work for a couple days before heading down to Brazil for a couple days. Should be a good one.

 

[Alice]

I just spent a couple of days at an unusual rail museum near the Weed CA yard (north of Dunsmuir). Quite a number of single young women got there by hitchhiking and bicycling. They were more hobo-like than student-on-summer-break-like, and highly skilled at formerly male fields needed for old railcar restoration. Great women and superb workers. I think who can enjoy high risk travel depends more on street smarts than genital shape.

BTW, if you are curious about the museum, see bbcrc.org. I got to spend the night in 999028.

 

[me_little_me]

Jim, you can probably guess my response. I don't want to share a room with anyone.

I think I should amend that statement to mean "overnight." Last year, I shared a room with a male AU member during daylight hours between CHI and MSP, and we both survived.

Was he allowed to use the bathroom in the room or did he have to go down the hall?

Given that it was a likely a roomette, there is no toilet in Roomettes on Superliners. They are all down the hall or downstairs.

 

[Bob Dylan]

You have to know the Backstory on this, Penny only rides in Bedrooms on LD Superliner trips!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Roomette between New York & San Francisco via the cardinal is 5 full days and 4 nights on the train (with 6 hours in Chicago if your lucky - for many that is simply to long to go by coach however a single traveller is likely to cough at having to fork around $1000 dollars for that, however if you can share that cost it brings it down to around $700, that more than just a few dollars saved.

If money were truly an issue and you couldn't find anyone you knew or trusted to split the fare why wouldn't you choose to fly at half the cost instead of soliciting paid bedroom access from strangers? Or simply keep saving up until you had all the money you required? Perhaps my confusion is a product of my era and upbringing but this mindset honestly makes no sense to me. Hey I'm running a little low on rent this month, care to share my bedroom for a fee? Nope, I just can't see myself ever saying that.

I travelled from Cologne (Germany) to Beijing across Russia sharing a bedroom with numerous total strangers which took 10 days with an over night in Moscow some male some female, I had not had the opportunity to vet them or even talk to them prior to boarding, amazingly nothing happened to me and nothing happens to the 1000's of people across Asia and Europe every night who find them selves in the same position.

Did you go online to advertise your desire for a casual sleeping arrangement with a stranger in an unshared sleeping culture weeks or months before departure? Because for me that's when things went from slightly unusual to genuinely careless. Something about that post made my lizard brain tingle and I tend to trust my gut on such things. Then gain I'm not a frumpy couch surfing Millennial vagabond so maybe what feels weird to me seems perfectly normal to others.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Roomette between New York & San Francisco via the cardinal is 5 full days and 4 nights on the train (with 6 hours in Chicago if your lucky - for many that is simply to long to go by coach however a single traveller is likely to cough at having to fork around $1000 dollars for that, however if you can share that cost it brings it down to around $700, that more than just a few dollars saved.

If money were truly an issue and you couldn't find anyone you knew or trusted to split the fare why wouldn't you choose to fly at half the cost instead of soliciting paid bedroom access from strangers? Or simply keep saving up until you had all the money you required? Perhaps my confusion is a product of my era and upbringing but this mindset honestly makes no sense to me. Hey I'm running a little low on rent this month, care to share my bedroom for a fee? Nope, I just can't see myself ever saying that.

Some people can't fly, for various reasons, but still need to travel and be places on specific dates.

 

[dlagrua]

I am not for sharing a sleeper with a complete stranger but if arrangements are made in advance by both parties, (with proper vetting), you can be added to a sleeper passengers ticket. The sleeper car is a rather closed environment and IMO reasonably safe but I know of no online exchange point where people can connect to share a sleeper. If you have the date and location you may be able to ask here to determine if any members have interest but be advised that bedrooms and especially roomettes are tight quarters. You will have your own bed but you really need to get along well with your room mate in the limited space. .