You can leave your favorite novel at home—these Airbnbs come with plenty of entertainment.
By Meredith Carey December 25, 2020
From two-story bookcases that require ladders to reach the top to a back house dedicated to reading, these Airbnbs with libraries will keep you endlessly entertained. The natural light and home design inspo in each doesn’t hurt, either. Start planning a trip to one of these Airbnb dream homes for book lovers—everywhere from Marrakech to upstate New York—or take a second look at sprucing up your personal library.
But zoom in and it’s so many different, wonderful pieces. It’s the land of eccentric ice cream scoops heaped on fresh, buttery waffle cones. It’s the ecologically fragile peninsula where seals flop on tidal flats, whales come up for air, and bats swoop overhead. It’s a confluence of cranberry bogs, marshy lime green wetlands, and scrubby dunes. And though it’s a favorite summertime spot, it is just as nice off-season.
It’s also 70 miles long so it’s best to break it into three regions—and to make more than a single trip so you can explore it all. The names for the regions can be confusing: Only in Massachusetts would the “Upper” actually be south of the “Lower,” so bear with us. Here is our guide for what to do in Cape Cod: where to eat, stay, and play.
Amtrak’s Superliner bedroom. Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Amtrak
Travelers booking the rooms will get access to private onboard facilities and get to use Amtrak’s premium lounges in Boston and Washington.
The overnight trains between Washington, DC, and Boston are getting slightly more bearable with upgrades coming this spring.
Amtrak will offer private rooms on late-night Northeast Regional trains running between Washington and Boston starting in April. The once-daily trains already depart in the evening and arrive in the early morning after a near-10-hour journey in each direction but have been limited to standard coach class and business class seats.
Americans are increasingly taking road trips that are about the skies as much as the land
The forecast was not promising. The sweeping New Mexican skies appeared clear, and ribbons of cerulean, violet, and indigo created an ombré horizon as the sun receded behind the West Mesa and the Rio Grande.
But the clouds would soon roll in. Outside the main house at Los Poblanos, a historic farm and inn on the edge of Albuquerque, an orange tabby curled up on a bench, an outdoor firepit was lit, a bottle of wine opened. There would be no stargazing this evening.
It hadn’t occurred to me that my entire quest—to trek across the high desert of the Southwest and into the mountains of Utah—could be thwarted by something as evanescent as the clouds. I flicked around an atmosphere-predicting app on my phone to see what the following evening might bring. Again, it augured obscurity.
A train waits on the platform in Washington DC. A little way up the platform, the Amtrak Capitol Limited waits to begin a 17-hour journey to Chicago. (Richard Hall/The Indepedent)
This old train isn’t the fastest or cheapest way – but it’s the most romantic (Richard Hall/The Independent)
The train rumbles through the darkness along Pennsylvania’s southern edge before curving north towards Pittsburgh. It’s the middle of the night, and the sleeper cabins are lulled by the low hum of the engine and a rhythmic click-clacking from the tracks below.
These pleasant noises are interrupted every now and then by the blast of the train’s horn and the clanging bells of a crossing guard as we barrel through one small town after another. Their street lights flicker through the cabins for a moment before the darkness and the low hum returns.
Long-distance rail travel in America today is for romantics. Taking this old train between Washington DC and Chicago isn’t the fastest, the cheapest, or even the most comfortable way to get between the two cities. To travel this way, you have to love these sounds, or at least have plenty of time to kill.
Pete Buttigieg, the new transport secretary, is one of those romantics. But he has nonetheless expressed a desire to drag this country’s rail system into the 21st century. Americans, he says, “have been asked to settle for less” when it comes to rail travel. He advocates massive investment to build high-speed rail and upgrade existing regional lines, and he has the full support of ‘Amtrak Joe’ Biden, perhaps the most train-friendly president in US history.
Amtrak is looking for all the new passengers it can get with ridership still down about 75% from pre-pandemic levels, and that includes more dogs and cats.
Amtrak has expanded its onboard pet program to include weekday Acela trains. Previously, small pets in carriers were only allowed on weekend Acela trains. Pets are already allowed seven days a week on regular Northeast Corridor trains.
Pet fare is $26 per one-way trip (or 800 Amtrak rewards points), and its pet policy limits dogs and cats to no more than 20 pounds. They must remain in a carrier at all times.
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