Last night I failed to convince a friendly acquaintance that they should ride the “L” while visiting  Chicago. I actually used the word “subway” just to be clearer (and at some point regretted it because I kept saying “subway subway subway” and hated myself every time). I had noticed some other suggestions that were offered, like Shedd’s Aquarium, which I’ve been to and was not impressed with (it’s very old-fashioned, crowded, and overpriced). So I told them my favorite thing about Chicago is that you can be in a big city but still feel like you’re in the Midwest. Somehow the people there have something that we, coming from St. Louis, can relate to well. You have the advantage of the midwestern friendliness but also the visual interest of a populace that is more attractive and better dressed—plus a lot of big buildings.

But they were not impressed with this opinion. I may be contented with just being in a place, but other people need something to do. And that’s fine. I was surprised how few places of interest I could name. Sears Tower, Hancock Tower, and Millennium Park were about all I could come up with. But I was trying to come up with stuff that was easy to find and easy to do. I could have suggested neighborhoods, but I know the reply would have been, “Okay, but what do I do once I get there?” and I would most likely have shrugged in response.

But if you’re in Chicago, do take the “L” (subway)(train). Especially if you’re from a city without any comparable mode of transport. My acquaintance was convinced that it would be expensive and somehow very unpleasant. I remember the first time I rode the “L” when I was in 9th grade. It was my first time in Chicago too. My dad and I went up there to watch my brother and sister-in-law run in the Chicago Marathon. We had some signs (that I have no memory of making, so my dad or brother probably made them) saying things like “GO ANDY GO!” We tried to get to different parts of the race ahead of them so we would be ready with the signs. I think we managed to find each of them once in different parts of the race. I have a vague memory of seeing Danna running through China Town and completely failing to get her attention. We spent all day climbing in and out “L” cars completely packed with people. I was 14 and had never experienced anything like it. I had been on busses and trains before, but never one absolutely packed with people, not running up and down steps, trying to beat the pack of runners to the next stop.

I suppressed the impulse to tell my friend to watch for rats while waiting on the “L” platform. I find big city  rats to be an interesting phenomenon that we don’t have in St. Louis (I think I’ve seen one, maybe two, rats in St. Louis in my life). But I kept my mouth shut on that one seeing as most people don’t respond to rat sighting as if they’re on safari like I do.

But ride the train. I’ve spent some time trying to convince other people to ride trains. My brother, my boyfriend, my dad, acquaintances, coworkers, friends—there’s a lot of people out there that are just wholly opposed to train travel. But they have a lot of weird hangups about it. They think that trains are packed with violent intoxicated vagrants ready to attack you and steal your stuff. There are intoxicated people on a train, but in my experience no more, probably less, than were on my Frontier Airlines flight to Las Vegas. They do serve wine on Amtrak. They think that trains are loud (not louder than a plane, I assure you), uncomfortable (bigger seats than a plane, more legroom, free electric, and you can get up and walk to the dining car if you want a change of scenery), and expensive, which always throws me for a loop. Trains may be more expensive than planes in some areas, but between St. Louis and Chicago it’s vastly cheaper—a few years back the price was subsidized even more so you could get a roundtrip ticket for maybe $30. And people will say, “But compare it with car travel and you lose all those points.” But that’s assuming your car is 1. more comfortable, 2. quieter, 3. reliable, and 4. that you won’t have to pay parking fees once you get to your destination. And driving a car in a busy unfamiliar place can be very stressful. If you’re going to visit your family in the suburbs, train travel might be a hassle over the car (not necessarily the plane), but if you’re going downtown to downtown, train travel has a lot of perks.

I’ve said this and more, but my powers of persuasion are not as good as I think they are or want them to be.

Often when driving the 40 miles to my job I think how nice it would be if there were a train I could ride—read a book on the way to work. But that is not going to happen in my life time. So when I want to ride a train, I go to Chicago.