I love riding the train. On the West Coast it's kind of a patchwork of reasonability, though. Seattle to Portland is $45 and can be done quicker than driving while Seattle to Vancouver is $30 and an absolutely lovely (and quick) ride... so long as BNSF isn't running freight on the rails that day in which case your $30 ticket becomes a bus ticket and I shit you not, our driver got lost on the way to the station once and we had a miniature mutiny as everyone argued about how to get there. On the other hand, LA to Seattle costs more than flying and takes three.fucking.days. LA to Lompoc costs $18 but they only run the train once per day so you can't go up for a launch unless you plan on camping.

They're actually quieter than jets, but they aren't quieter than libraries. And, psychoacoustically speaking, "speech" is something that cuts through quite nicely because we're tuned to listen to it. "Typing" on the other hand is background noise and vanishes completely unless you're seeking it out.

Libraries are a great place to access multiculturalism. So are community centers. I had no idea how many Russians we had in our neighborhood until I hit the swimming pool...