The Daily Valet. - 4/24/23, Monday
✔️ Would You Ride a Train Over a Plane?
Monday, April 24th Edition
By Cory Ohlendorf, Valet. Editor
What’s your travel mode of choice: plane, train or automobile? I'm a plane guy, but the Tokyo Metro is selling me on trains.
Today’s Big Story
Luxury Trains Are Booming
The classic experience now offers a lot more bang for your buck
All aboard! Sorry. I tried to resist the urge ... but there's just something so old school about a train, right? And despite travel seemingly getting faster and yet less humane, train travel is suddenly gaining steam. Damn, I did it again.I should clarify. Not here in the States. In the U.S., train travel is often the option of last resort. Most of us would rather drive or fly than hop on an Amtrak that tends to cost more and take longer. But according to Robb Report, a growing number of affluent American visitors are choosing rail in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia for exactly those reasons: the slow pace, old-world ambience and luxurious appointments that put it on a par with other elite experiences.Old-school train travel has no intention of trying to compete with the efficiency of jet-setting. Speed's not the goal here. It's the experience, the indulgence and the romance of riding the rails through beautiful scenery. As legendary travel writer Paul Theroux once wrote: “If a train is large and comfortable you don't even need a destination … a corner seat is enough, and you can be one of those travelers who stay in motion, straddling the tracks, and never arrive or feel they ought to.”Leading the boom throughout Europe are Belmond (the luxury travel operator owned by LVMH) and Accor, the French hotel group—both of which, confusingly, use the Orient Express brand name. To meet demand, Belmond is adding new cabins to its VSOE train, which has dominated Europe's luxury train market for 40 years. And Accor is launching a new Italian service that will use refurbished train cars from 1970s (see the image above).Of course, they're not the only ones offering luxe rides. Travel + Leisure has over a dozen well-vetted lines to help you indulge in slow-moving, on-the-ground transport, from Scotland and South Africa to Japan. And if you're a little nervous about booking your first train ticket, The Point Guy (which normally focuses on frequent flier miles) has a well-researched guide for beginners.
Required Viewing:
In Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited, three estranged American brothers reunite for a meticulously planned, soul-searching train voyage across India.
Diplomats Flee Sudan’s Fighting
Nations rush high-risk Sudan evacuation, some foreign citizens hurt
The U.S. military conducted an emergency evacuation of dozens of American government personnel from the capital in Sudan this weekend. And more governments—Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Egypt and Turkey—began evacuating diplomatic staff as well, as fighting between the Sudanese military and a powerful paramilitary group enters its ninth day today.President Biden, in a statement late Saturday, hailed what he said was a successful operation by the U.S. Embassy staff and the military, and thanked Djibouti, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia for assisting in the rescue. Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware (a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and its Africa subcommittee) told CBS' Face the Nation that the shuttering of the American embassy and the evacuations was a temporary suspension.Meanwhile, fighting raged in Omdurman, a city across the Nile from Khartoum, despite a hoped-for cease-fire to coincide with the three-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Many Sudanese are desperately seeking to flee the chaos. Many risked dangerous roads to cross the northern border into Egypt. NPR reports that over 420 people, including 264 civilians, have been killed and over 3,700 wounded in fighting between the Sudanese armed forces and the powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.
Dig Deeper:
How'd we get here? PBS takes a look at how Sudan, a country with a long history of coups, reached this point and what is at stake.
Lukas oozes a wily creepiness, one rooted in the kind of social awkwardness we’ve become conditioned to expect from coders turned masters of the universe. ”
- Nicholas Quah on Succession’s Next Top Weirdo
The Future of Work
Survey finds that people feel ‘AI will impact jobs, just not mine’
I'm sensing a bit of a disconnect here. Americans think artificial intelligence will majorly impact workers, but not them, according to a recent Pew survey. The researchers found about 62% of Americans think AI will have a major impact on workers in general, but only 28% think they will be impacted personally.According to Mashable, an even higher share of those surveyed think the effects of AI in the workplace will be harmful rather than beneficial. The belief that it “won't harm me” is reminiscent of an idiosyncratic human tendency to think one is invulnerable to bad things happening. This is called optimism bias and it explains why we think we'll live longer than average, never get divorced or get skin cancer.But the AI transition is already happening all around us. It's being called the fourth industrial revolution. The fact that people feel they're immune might speak to a simple misunderstanding. Despite the fact that AI is already widely used in our everyday lives, another survey found that only 30% of Americans correctly identified all of the use cases presented in the survey. Having been told to brace ourselves for the AI revolution, maybe we were expecting it to hit us like a freight train with a flashing neon sign, but the reality is that it has subtly been seeping into our lives for quite some time.
FYI:
According to the experts that spoke to Skift, the future of work isn't as remote as we might think.
A Surge of Faith Among the Young
Young adults, theologians and church leaders say the increase is a response to the pandemic
A greater share of young adults now say they believe in a higher power or God. About one-third of 18-to-25-year-olds say they believe—more than doubt—the existence of a higher power, up from less than 25% in 2021, according to a recent survey of young adults, reports the Wall Street Journal.And like so many changes in our world today, it all stems from COVID. The pandemic was the first true crisis many young people faced. “In many ways, it aged young Americans and they are now turning to the same comfort previous generations have turned to during tragedies for healing and comfort.”However, this doesn't equate an uptick in church attendance. Many young people are searching in new places for a connection to “higher power,” which often include thought leaders and spiritual gurus on social media. The idea of God isn't limited to the standard Christian concept or even a specific religion for this new spectrum of believers. In fact, some polls, including Gallup, ask specifically about believing in God and show a decline in young adults who “believe in God.”
Meanwhile:
Many churches have designed youth ministry programs based on 1980s and '90s models that do not necessarily connect with today's youth.
In Other News
Stores will remain open for now, but will shutter over time.
Have you heard about ...
We’re Giving Away the Best iPad
It's the largest iPad Pro, stylish and supercharged for work or play, and it can be yours for free
Only one tablet has truly survived the rise and fall of the tablet craze—the beloved Apple iPad. First launched in 2010, the simple tablet has grown into a full lineup of impressive and capable handheld computers that are genuine laptop replacements.Of course, the only downside is that it's still a choice everyone has to make: “Do I streamline and go for an iPad or just buy the standard laptop?” The tablet can seem a little frivolous, right? Which is why we've teamed up with a few of our favorite brands to give away the top-of-the-line iPad Pro. If you want a serious screen that will allow you to work and play, this souped-up iPad sports some serious hardware inside. Let us walk you through it and then make sure to enter. What do you have to lose?
Check it out:
Enter today to win a brand new iPad Pro with 1TB capacity (and a retail price of $1,799).
Shopping
What We’re Buying
Slip-Ons
If everyone's wearing white canvas sneakers, throw them for a loop with some suede kicks in this rich shade of green. These “dirty martini” slip-ons ($120) are a collaboration with Todd Snyder and are crafted from a premium rough suede dyed a custom shade of “Snyder Olive”. And it's not just the exterior that's been updated, they've also modernized for comfort (peep the cork footbed). But something tells us that these aren't going to stick around very long, so you might want to pull the trigger while your size is still in stock.
Want More?
The five stylish items you should be buying this week.
Morning Motto
You don’t need others’ approval.
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