Every Traveler Heavily Depends on Great Transportation Infrastructure

I was born in the slums of Manila, very near the railroad tracks that once widely served the country. Now the rail operations are limited in northern Metro Manila and the Bicol Region. After the war, vintage jeepneys became a more popular transportation mode. But, since I migrated to the US, RVed the continent, and traveled the world, I have come to appreciate the transportation infrastructure that makes developed countries thrive. Travelers like us depend heavily on resources like the road network of America and the railway system of Europe. 

The Great North American Road Network

the highway to Reno. Nevada

I cannot tell you how much our eight years of RVing full-time in the US, Canada, and Mexico has made me appreciate these countries’ roads. We have traveled all forty-nine American states including Alaska, ten Canadian provinces and territories, and seven Mexican states. My book, Carolina: Cruising to an American Dream, chronicles this epic road trip. We have realized this North American road network has no equal.

Let me lift verbatim what Wikipedia says about its largest component, the US network. “The National Highway System (NHS) is a network of strategic highways within the United States, including the Interstate Highway System and other roads serving major airports, ports, rail or truck terminals, railway stations, pipeline terminals, and other strategic transport facilities. Altogether, it constitutes the largest highway system in the world.” Strategically identified after WWII and officially coined in 1995, today it constitutes about 165,000 miles of roads that are crucial to the country’s economy, defense, and mobility. Wikipedia says it carries 90% of tourist traffic in the country.

Trans-Canada Highway

This is complemented in the North by the Trans-Canada Highway (French: Route Transcanadienne), a transcontinental federal-provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada from the Pacific Ocean on the west to the Atlantic on the east. The main route spans 4,860 miles across the country, one of the longest routes of its type in the world. This is complemented by the 1,390-mile Alaska Highway that connects the US mainland to Alaska.  

Mexico 15D

our RV on the road

And, in the south, the roadway network in Mexico also does not disappoint, especially with the recent completion of parts of the concretization of Hwy 15 that connects the Mexican mainland to Arizona. The Mexican road network has  72,577 paved miles, making it the largest paved network in Latin America. Of these, 6,508 miles are multi-lane expressways, including six-lane ones.

To add to this great North American road network, there are two other resources that make RVing the best way to cover the continent. One, the network of campgrounds, including all the different kinds (see Classifying Campgrounds in my book), also has no equal in the world. Second, the available RV models (see Different Kinds of RVs in my book) span the smallest teardrop trailers to the biggest luxury sixty-five-foot motorhomes.

But even if you do not travel North America in an RV, road trips are the best way to go from state to state or from national park to national park. Compact cars that deliver 40+mpg efficiencies and the national availability of a wide range of budgets for motel and hotel chains that deliver standard quality make American road trips a reliable way to cover the continent.

NOTE: We are beginning to find that the road network of Australia is similar to that of the US. And that includes both the RVing and road tripping resources cited.

The Reliable European Railway System

the train station in Newcastle, UK

2017 European Railway Performance Index ranked the performance of its national rail systems as follows:

Tier One: Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Austria, Sweden, and France.

Tier Two: Great Britain, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, the Czech Republic, Norway, Belgium, and Italy.

Tier Three: Lithuania, Slovenia, Ireland, Hungary, Latvia, Slovakia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Bulgaria.

everyone going to the Brussels train station

We have used all seven of the Tier One systems, six of the eight Tier Two, and three of the ten Tier Three. We especially loved our train travels through Llubijana and Bled in Slovenia, Vienna, Salzburg, and Innsbruck in Austria, Munich, Oberstaufen, and Uberlinger in Germany, St. Gallen in Switzerland, Vaduz in Lichtenstein, Paris in France, and Brussels in Belgium. We covered all of these destinations in four weeks and a half, thanks to the efficient railway system in Europe. 

at the little train station of Oberstaufen which was our hub for six trips

We tried economy and first-class trains and those that took us to small towns and big cities. They had seamless connections with buses, taxis, and Ubers. Not a single train ride was late or canceled. And we experienced no mishaps. The stations were sometimes airport-like in the big cities and in the small ones, there were quaint villages and little shops built around them as walking malls. I love train travel in Europe.

Bill loves it more. He didn't have to worry about driving and enjoyed with me the scenic views of country and city life that unfolded before us: the dwarf apple trees, the tiny garden sheds, etc. The wide windows sometimes can even be opened for a better camera shot. We always tried the bars and dining cars. I even found a great comfort food for my upset tummy at a train ride between Innsbruck and Vienna. Thus, we have decided that we'll no longer use rental cars on the narrow roads of Europe. 

metro subways complement the trains so well!

In fact, we are putting together our next discovery of Europe through trains, this time in purely Tier Two and Three systems: Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, and Ireland. And then it will be an exploration of Eastern Europe through the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia. We are confident both will be flawless enjoyable train trips, great for cruising past 70.

NOTE: The metro rail systems of the big European cities also complement so well the regional and national trains.


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