I’m currently twenty-three hours into a forty-seven hour trip on Amtrak’s Empire Builder train, a journey which travels more than halfway across the US, from Seattle to Chicago. As I write this, the train is hurtling across Montana’s northern plains between Malta and Glasgow. To the north, it’s dead flat as far as the eye can see; to the south, there are hills in the distance, but they are mostly insignificant.

This is a distinct change from earlier in the day, as the train weaved its way through the Rocky Mountains, so high in altitude that even the tracks were covered in snow.

This is farming country – the landscape is occasionally interrupted by farmhouses, barns, grain silos and graveyards of rusted-out agricultural machinery. I haven’t seen a car on the road that runs beside the railway line for about half an hour, and I can’t recall the last place where my mobile broadband device had a signal.

Not wanting to shell out $400 or more for a sleeper, I’ve chosen coach class, which effectively means being unable to lie down and stretch out for two nights in a row. The seats in couch class do have the ability to recline quite a way, and have a decent legrest that pops up, but it’s still not quite the same as having a bed to stretch out on. I’m fortunate that the train is more than half-empty and I have staked a claim on both my seats; this let me lie across both of them during the previous night and get around eight hours of – frequently interrupted – sleep. Not ideal, but considerably better than a bus.

The entire journey costs $153; possibly less if booked in advance – but, strangely, at least $100 more if broken in the middle for a night. As you might imagine, I’ve decided not to go with that option, and thus am in it for the long haul.

Naturally, there’s not a lot to do, other than look at the scenery or eat in the cafe, so bring a lot of reading material or a laptop if you’re inclined to get bored easily. My carriage had power points at each seat, but other Amtrak trains I’ve been on haven’t always had this, so be prepared to charge your electronic equipment up in the toilets.

The dining car is available during breakfast and lunch, but must be reserved for dinner; the cafe is open during daylight hours, although strangely the attendant takes a break smack bang in the middle of breakfast time.

The train’s air conditioning seems to run permanently, and it can get cold in the middle of the night, so I recommend either bringing a blanket, or wear as much layered clothing as you can. I’d also recommend a facemask, if you’re sensitive to light when trying to sleep, because it’s never completely dark inside the train.

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For the last three nights, I’ve been staying at Portland, Oregon’s Northwest Hostel, which is one of two Hostelling International hostels in this city. The hostel consists of two historic buildings, one containing the reception, kitchen and rooms, and the other containing a second kitchen and more rooms, often reserved for groups.

This hostel is the only one of the two that is located within easy walking distance of Portland’s main attractions – as its name suggests, it is in Portland’s north-west quarter, and it is only three blocks from the “free rail zone” – the area where all rail-based public transport in Portland is free. Theoretically, it is possible to get from Portland’s Amtrak and Greyhound stations to the hostel for free, only using the MAX light-rail and the streetcar, but it’s not really a direct path, and it’s probably easier just walking for fifteen minutes, unless your luggage is particularly heavy.

The hostel’s website notes that it has dormitories ranging from 4-bed and 6-bed rooms through to 8-bed rooms, however it doesn’t mention that these rooms are not necessarily isolated from one another. In my case, while my room was an 8-bed room, it was separated from another 8-bed room by a couple of curtains, so effectively I was staying in a 16-bed room. Personally, I prefer to stay in 4-bed dorms, but unfortunately, the Hostelling International USA website doesn’t give you any ability to specify this when you book.

The beds – all bunks – were fairly sturdy, and didn’t rock too much when climbing in, so there’s less chance of being woken up when the person above you arrives in the middle of the night. Bedclothes are provided by the hostel – basically a pillowcase and a folded-up YHA-style sleeping sheet – and there were extra blankets available in a trunk in the hallway.

My room had free lockers, with a clip for attaching your own padlock, although the reception also had padlocks available if guests required them. There were also plenty of lockers available outside the rooms, again all free. I can’t understate just how great it is to have free lockers; while obviously it’s no guarantee of security, it’s nice to be able to leave your valuables behind for a little while and not have to lug them around with you all day. Hostels that insist on providing only pay-per-use lockers – or none at all – should really look at this and learn.

Other than that, the rooms were fairly typical for a hostel. One minor annoyance was that towel hooks were located on the bed. Admittedly, it was nice to have hooks (I’ve stayed in some cheap hostels that don’t have any at all), but it would be better for them to be located on the walls, away from where you can smell them.

The bathrooms were fairly drab, as one would expect from such an old building, but they were very clean. The showers were of the bath/shower combination variety, which might present problems for people with mobility issues, and while the water was always hot, the shower-head in one bathroom was missing, and it fired a fairly narrow stream of water at the occupant.

My dormitory had its own ensuite bathroom, and there were two others located out in the hall, one upstairs and one downstairs. I suspect the hostel could probably do with a few more of them, as there were times when they were all occupied.

Each building has a small kitchen, with a refrigerator where guests could store perishable food, however there wasn’t much storage space for non-chilled food. Cooking equipment consisted of an oven, a four-plate stove and a microwave, with a fairly complete set of utensils. Not quite like the industrial kitchens of various hostels in other counties (such as New Zealand, for example) but certainly workable. I’m not sure how well it would cope if the hostel was full, though.

Also, simple things like washing-up brushes were missing, meaning that guests had to clean their dishes with a sponge – this doesn’t strike me as a particularly good way to clean.

The hostel had plenty of common areas, from the dining rooms attached to each of the kitchens to a comfortable, although dark, ground floor lounge in the second building. There didn’t appear to be a TV room anywhere, although given the quality of American TV, this was probably a blessing.

There is free wifi covering every room, and the speeds were good, although it did drop out a few times. There’s also a large selection of board games available, plus a good range of travel books and also a book-swap collection.

Each building has a laundry, with one washing machine and one tumble-drier – I suspect in busy periods, this would be insufficient. Only one of the buildings had a rack where clothes could be hung out to dry.

The staff were all incredibly friendly and helpful, and upon arrival, they would take each guest through the hostel, showing them the various facilities, before taking them to their room. They also provided advice about Portland’s sights and nightlife, and were more than happy to print out my onward Amtrak ticket (naturally, for a fee).

In all, this would have to be one of the most comfortable hostels I’ve stayed in so far, but this is tempered by the fact that it wasn’t high-season and the hostel was half-empty. In more crowded periods, I do wonder if the small kitchens, low number of washing machines and lack of bathrooms might make the place a bit cramped.

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For years, flights between Australia and the United States have been dominated by the Qantas and United Airlines duopoly due to an agreement between the two countries that limited any other airlines flying the route to only four flights per week. This severely limited competition on the route, drove up prices and resulted in poor service, to the extent that serious travellers would only fly with Qantas.

Now, with a new government in Australia, a new open skies agreement has been struck between the two countries, and there are no longer any restrictions on flights for any Australian or US airlines.

Virgin Blue has been planning to fly on this route for a while now, and will commence services towards the end of this year under the banner of V Australia.

The new agreement, however, will not remove restrictions on airlines from other countries on the US-Australia route. Singapore Airlines has long wanted to fly a Sydney to Los Angeles service, but is still hamstrung by Australia’s refusal to allow such a move.

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It’s no wonder that the number of travellers to the US is declining. With constant stories of mistreatment of air passengers by the TSA, people mistakenly finding themselves on no-fly lists and unable to remove themselves, and others being denied entry for petty reasons, I am not surprised at all when I hear comments from people who would otherwise jump at the chance to travel to the US saying that they really can’t be bothered anymore.

Well, now it’s about to get just that little bit more difficult to go to the US, with the signing into law of an electronic authorisation scheme, for travellers from 15 EU countries.

“It will require people from 15 western EU states who now do not need visas to register online and give details of their passport, travel plans and planned social and business meeting at least two days before departure”

How many travellers know the details of their social meetings before they depart? I can also imagine that there will be huge chunk of travellers who also have no idea what their travel plans will be, other than their arrival and departure dates. I can imagine now that a proportion of the travelling public will now throw up their hands in frustration and fly to Canada instead.

Not surprisingly, the EU is now thinking of retaliating, by imposing a similar scheme on American citizens.

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