Dear Peter,
I know it’s our tradition to leave notes for each other in hotels around the world and for me to send you these electronic postcards as I travel on my own, but today I have decided to begin the Napa Bottle Blog since I am out and about doing the entire area scene.

There’s going to be a Born to Shop California Wine Country, so I will have a lot more to report on besides Napa, but right now I am living in the Westin Verasa in East Napa, California.

Amtrak has announced that this year’s ridership reached the second-highest mark in its history, despite a decline of more than 1 million passengers over the past year.

Amtrak officials say a decrease in business travel in the Northeast was what prevented the railroad from keeping up with last year’s surge in riders, which represented the highest number of Amtrak passengers ever recorded.

Keep reading to find out the latest on Amtrak and the American train system …

Though flight delays may have improved in the short term, they will only get worse as the economy recovers, according to a report released today by a public policy organization.

The non-partisan Brookings Institution analyzed commercial air patterns over the last 20 years and found that delays decreased in the past year only because the recession caused carriers to cut back on the number of flights offered.

So what does this think-tank recommend to make travel better? And can any of their ideas actually be implemented?

Sure, you might associate rail passes with students wearing the mandatory pair of Birkenstocks. But train passes have come a long way over the years, so here’s how they can help you.

Traveling by train can be a slow process, but if you use your train as a hotel room, you can save both time and money. But before you do that, there are some things you need to know.

It’s hard to believe—and it’s almost embarrassing to admit—that the French figured out high-speed trains in 1981.

They’re coming up on their 30th anniversary, and we’re still stuck with Amtrak.

Recently I took a ride on the TGV (the French high-speed train) from Paris to Nancy, and we were traveling nearly 200 mph.

A new report has ranked which cities would benefit most from a high-speed rail corridor.

The report, issued by America 2050, judged the potential corridors on six factors: expected demand for riders, distance between the cities, potential for connections to local transit networks, economic productivity of the cities, how bad the highway congestion is in the cities to be linked, and whether the cities are part of a “mega-region.”

With fierce competition for the high-speed rail stimulus funds, will the report convince the Federal Rail Administration (FRA) to build a corridor in your city?

On September 19, 2009, Peter was broadcasting his radio show live from onboard a TGV train (that’s Train à Grande Vitesse, or high-speed train) in Paris, France. Guests in the first hour include:

Roger Dow, President and CEO of US Travel Association answers the question, “Where is the money in business travel?”

Frequent rail traveler Brian Cobb chats with Peter about the joys of train travel, especially on the TGV trains in France.

World traveler, shopper extraordinaire and PeterGreenberg.com contributor, Suzy Gershman discusses her latest finds in Paris.

 

 Business Travel, TGV Trains, Paris Secrets & Travel Adventures - Hour 1 - PGW Radio: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download