Here’s a little story that celebrates the benefits of train travel.

Recently, I was in Richmond, Virginia and needed to get back to New York.

There were no convenient or reasonably priced flights, and many of them actually made stops. Absurd.

So I checked Amtrak.

There was a northeast regional train that left Richmond at five in the morning, stopped in Washington, D.C. and then made its way to New York’s Penn Station by 1 p.m.

It was about $180. Very reasonable.

But then I looked at the schedule again.

At 4:30 a.m. a train arrived called the Silver Meteor. It runs once a day between Miami and New York.

For $170, this baby comes complete with sleeper cars, a real dining car with food cooked to order, and it gets to Penn Station at noon. $170!

You know which one I picked.

My advice? Look at train schedules.

Not just the regional trains, but the legendary ones, like the southern crescent, between New York and New Orleans, or the famed Sunset Limited between Los Angeles and New York.

You don’t have to hop on for the whole route—just the stops you need.

For more information about train travel, check out:

• Train Passes That Are Actually Worth the Price
• 5 Family-Friendly Train Rides Across the United States
• How You Can Take Scenic Train Rides Around the Country

Keep reading for more travel tips.