In my post on Bloomingdale’s Le Train Blue restaurant, I mentioned how much I love old travel advertising. To me, vintage travel ads were about the adventure of travel, about the mysteries and romance waiting for you at just the cost of a ticket, and how getting somewhere was part of the experience.
Whereas today’s advertising is all about how quickly you can get somewhere, how cheap the ticket is, how much leg room you’ll have, and how it’ll look exactly like this picture when you arrive.
It’s a natural part of travel evolution, I guess, but I appreciate when companies make ads in the older style, and I really liked these Amtrak ads I saw in Penn Station the other day.
Simple and effective, I like them because they sell the adventure of travel. Reading a book while the Rockies pass by out the window…
Eating and playing cards with a friend as the sun sets over the desert mountains…
An almost Tomorrowland-esque trip through a city…
Who are you going to meet having a drink at the bar?
Ha, now, I’m well aware that the realities of train travel in the US don’t always match up to the romantic version you want them to be. But if you’re looking to put me in a seat, this is a much better way to do it than promising me more leg room. Adventure always wins out.
-SCOUT
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