WHEN you travel like a perpetual motion machine, you encounter an above average collection of bests and worsts. So much so that it will take two weeks to cover just the tip of last year’s iceberg.Some of the experiences could definitely serve as a wake-up call to alert readers what to seek out — and what to avoid. Certainly we all realise nothing in life is guaranteed to be all moonlight and magnolias. Even the most beautiful roses come with thorns — but some are thornier than others.

How to do it? Should one feature focus on the best, another the worst? But what happens when a specific category is the best yet also has some of the worst? Challenging, to say the least. Not an easy place to start, but here goes.

As readers know, Amtrak played a major role in our travels in 2006. Training off to Montana via Empire Builder, heading out to the vast Navajo Nation on the Southwest Chief and later to far western Colorado on the California Zephyr. There would have been a fourth such trip if the schedule hadn’t required a dawn return.

There’s no disputing in some ways, dealing with Amtrak can be compared to a psychiatrist attempting to work with a schizophrenic patient afflicted with a challenging split personality. On the one hand it’s a truly magic experience, gliding across the rails absorbing grandeur of vast western landscapes from the solitude of your comfortable bedroom. One can cocoon there totally relaxed in complete tranquillity or venture forth to mingle with a trainload of interesting passengers.

The entire Midwest and West spreads out before you — small, century-old towns reflecting their pioneer past, vintage homestead cabins eroding on what evolved into vast sprawling ranches, miles and miles of scenery so entrancing, one is hypnotised.

The lonesome sound of the train whistle echoing across the vastness is pure nostalgia. So mesmerising is the experience, one keeps encountering repeat passengers who are very annoyed, but willing to put up with a number of negatives because they’re intrigued with railroading.

Dealing with the uneven character of its employees is another side of the coin. There’s simply no denying it — even the most devoted rail enthusiast is quick to grimace but quietly bears the treatment sometimes dished out in the dining room. Hot tongue and cold shoulder are often served up along with indifference.

Not all staff, of course. Some were very personable, helpful and could be role models for other employees, but many just don’t care.

Out of six bedroom stewards and stewardesses, two were exceptional, really terrific standouts; two others very good, and two so bored and disinterested in their jobs they made no effort at any pretence of trying to act civilised.

Yet so powerful is the mystique of train travel that passengers — ourselves included tolerate their behaviour.

When things go bad, a problem is simply ignored. En route back on the California Zephyr in October, one of our two bedroom windows was so scratched and scarred one could barely see through it. I would guess its clouded, blurred character could be the equivalent to trying to see through a very advanced cataract. Did anyone care? Absolutely not. When we asked the conductor if an effort could be made to wash it at an upcoming station, his response was “Lots of luck”.

In Omaha, Nebraska, we did get a helpful station employee to attempt to wash it, but it was too badly damaged. $2,600 is a high price to pay for not being able to see out of one of your windows.

The finale came once home. Like the airlines, Amtrak has a frequent flyer programme. Once enrolled, you’re sent a membership number to be used each time a reservation is made, which we did on tickets costing in the $2,300 to $2,600 range. The membership cards arrived with our name misspelled Higgens, but numbers correct, so we didn’t complain.

In autumn when Jim’s statement arrived, it showed zero miles, but 450 for the car we’d picked up in Whitefish, Montana. Mine never arrived and when I called to make inquiry, was indifferently told we’d not received mileage because of the misspelled names. What?

Yet in order to access the reward agents, the membership number had to be punched into the phone. When I asked her, “Heidi” was the response. “Heidi, what’s your last name?”

“I don’t have one — I’m not going to tell you so you can track me down and come to my house”.

Help! What kind of operation is this?

She couldn’t care less. And I’m too busy to search out all the assorted ticket stubs and go back to last May.

Will we take the train again? Yes, absolutely because we find enough positives to balance any negatives. What’s special about train travel is so special, that one is drawn back regardless. There’s a mood and ambience unlike any other kind of travel. Not until you’ve experienced it will you truly understand its appeal.

Since we’re on the subject of transportation, airports deserve equal time. And since we’ve spent so much time railroading this year, there’s no disputing those experiences definitely surpassed those at any airport.

Recent blizzards certainly put Denver’s Airport in the news and it probably wasn’t too hard for those painfully stranded there for days to come away feeling more could have been done — some extra equipment brought in to help evacuate them for example.

But Denver Airport doesn’t only make it onto travellers’ black lists for that reason alone. In baseball parlance, “three strikes and you’re out”. Well, I was at Denver’s new airport four times in 2005 and unhappily far too many times before that. Why do you think we bypassed it last summer and took the train out to Grand Junction, Colorado?

It only took one experience there after it was newly opened to send us fleeing to airports like Albuquerque instead whenever possible — and then driving in to otherwise beautiful Colorado.

Those aren’t winter options unfortunately, but check with your travel agent for other possible routings.

What else could you expect of a city that would build its air transportation centre on an Arapahoe Indian burial ground. And in the earliest days, design runways following the layout design of a Swastika — and not an Indian one! Who plans these things? Those familiar with big city politics can’t be blamed for wondering if some “official” or their relative was holding that vast remote tract of acreage in some hidden land trust.

It took some forceful promoting to come up with an airport so far from town. The traveller coming out from Denver feels they’ve reached the Kansas border. It was a disaster from the start, as anyone who suffered from the early baggage calamities can attest.

Old Stapleton Airport, however crowded, was always much easier to access. Just close enough to town that once when storms caused a six-hour flight delay, we were able to drive into the famed Molly Brown house and enjoy a leisurely tour of that vintage mansion before returning to the airport car rental with time to spare.

My bank’s vice president recently asked us about taking the train out to visit family in Denver. “I just can’t face up to flying out there again.” Never happy with helping plan just a simple trip, we started routing a pre-trip out to the western edge of the state via train, then weaving him back to Denver through mountain scenery in a rented car.

Phoenix was on the plus side of airport experiences. Perhaps we were there on the perfect day. TSA staff went out of their way to be accommodating. We’re also partial to Tucson, El Paso and Albuquerque for their convenient car rental facilities.

Sad to say, experiences at many airports worldwide sometimes make me feel more comfortable landing at an isolated grass strip in a remote corner of New Guinea, Australia’s Outback or an Alaska glacier.

MOST FUN ACTIVITIES

<*In addition to our addiction for exploring sometimes dangerous, century old, four-wheel-drive mountain mining trails, getting involved in local activities is high on the list.

Spontaneously joining nearly 4,000 Navajos in Farmington, New Mexico for their “Just Move It” marathon walk along banks of the San Juan River was great fun.

As just two of a handful of bellagonnas (white men) we were warmly welcomed and presented with T-shirts to remember the occasion.

Next week:<\p>More Best and Worst of 2006

The good, the bad...