"I'll just get a rail pass and everything will be all right"

Everything probably won't be all right

Rail passes 50 years ago were wonderful things that made travel easy, affordable and flexible. But today's rail pass is not the same pass it was in the 1970s.

A rail pass does not mean that you'll Venmo someone a little money and then be able to show up at any train station and take the next train that's going your way.

Instead, you need to analyze any and all rail passes with strong skepticism because:

Hint 1 - companies that sell rail passes profit so much off them that they can pay a whole staff to sell you on the idea.

Hint 2 - compare the cost of a rail pass with the cost of an individual train ticket.

Hint 3 - when I did some "comparison shopping," I found that the only way rail passes made sense was if I traveled long distances, day after day. If I spent that much time on a train, I'd have far fewer hours to experience villages, countrysides, attractions and cities. You're investing so much money that you don't want to throw it away like this.

Figure it out for yourself. Maybe it will make good financial sense to you, but I doubt it.