Planes and automobiles are expensive ways to travel these days, but apparently there still is one affordable way to get out of town this summer — the train.



According to this report on NPR, train ridership is reaching record levels. And this story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution echoes the statement that when it comes to travel this summer, the train might be the best choice.



"We’ll probably crack 27 million this year" in riders, said Alexander Kummant, president and CEO of Amtrak, officially the National Railroad Passengers Corporation and operator of the trains that carry riders between the nation’s cities. That 27 million is up from last year’s record of 25.8 million passengers.



Vacation travel on Amtrak is up 28 percent over the same period last year, said Cliff Black, Amtrak’s chief of corporate communications. With gas prices high and apparently headed higher, "there’s no doubt people out there are looking for other transportation choices," Kummant said.

 I’ve been pricing vacations, and I found that on Amtrak, my two sons and I can get to Anaheim and back to ‘Burque for about $450. It’s a 15-hour train ride, but most of it is overnight. The kids take their portable music and DVD players, I take a book and we’re good to go until arriving in California the next morning about 9 a.m.

Where I go broke is in Disneyland. Ouch.