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Q: I don't want to do standing train tickets anymore
Last minute travel plans and lack of cash has meant that I've done a number of long distance journeys in China with the dreaded standing ticket. I usually haven't cared, have always met some nice people and after a good night sleep having forgotten about the 20 hrs of no seating. But recently someone had a spare ticket, asked if I wanted to join them. It was standing. I flatly refused. Something has happened. Have a lost the travel bug? Am I too old for that kind of crap anymore? Is this a slippery slope to demanding hotels with Western style bathrooms, hot water and A/C?????
I did standing train tickets a lot when I was younger, the classic was when I was in uni, each year for xmas I would not book a ticket because who can really plan when the drinking at the uni bar stops and going cross country to the family events seems like a good idea.
It's many years since I hit my limit, since then I've never traveled unplanned, at least not further than taking a city bus for a 10 minute ride.
Why not? Standing ticket is very cheap! When I have standing ticket, I happy hold my valet all the journey!
You must add few dollars for wooden 'three legs' sitter, which you can always reuse, when you go on peeping
patrol.
Hotwater:
Standing tickets on trains in China are no different in price to the hard seat tickets. There were complaints before the start of this years spring festival travel madness about this....people moaning that they shouldn't have to pay full hard seat price for a standing ticket.
dunno how people can stand (lol) this. I would just die... 20h in seat is already a pain in the ass (lol)
seriously i only take G train and sleeping train now :/
No, you haven't lost the travel bug, you just want to travel in a different style. I can only put up with 4-5 hours in a hard seat these days, but that doesn't diminish my desire for travel. Each experience is it's own experience. The fact that one person stands for 12 hours and another lays in a sleeper changes the experience in such a small way. Getting to the destination is only a small part of the experience.
I hate standing tickets... I purposely wait until I can get a real one.
Try getting a ticket to another city in the province, then take a bus.
I did it once for 16 hours, never again. Hated every minute after about 2 hours... Took the same train home with a hard sleeper, amazing!
