Mainly, a plane is not a train, and I wanted to take a train. It's more of an adventure than an ordeal.

Sounds like the person you responded to was just taking it as an adventure, not to get anywhere quickly or economically. So in that regard it makes sense and sounds fun.

Sorry you're being downvoted though. In a general sense, I agree with you. Once I thought I'd look into getting a train ticket somewhere far-ish in the US and was absolutely astounded at the pricetag. It was the same or even more expensive as a flight and took several days instead of several hours.

It's like...ok I understand the time thing. That didn't surprise me. But the pricetag sure as hell did!! Cross country train rides in the US are just not a sensible option unless you're just looking to do it for the fun of it.

By contrast however, there are some decent (if incredibly sparse) regional train lines, particularly in the northeast US. I used to take a train every so often when I briefly lived in New England and found the experience very nice and reasonably priced. Was a fantastic experience compared to a bus.

It just falls apart if you are going anywhere of a decent distance unfortunately.