Eva, thanks for putting that a little more gracefully than me. I get especially angry because my tips, in all reality, ARE what I live on. Every cent I make at my other job goes into the travel fund savings account.

Institutionalized tipping is wrong, I agree. But as Eva says, it is not in anyone's best interest to punish the server (we remember you...). Service quality increases with food quality and there is a reason tipping is usually based on a percentage: a $40 dinner yields more than a $4 breakfast. But your server at Denny's isn't telling you about the "roast duck with mango salsa" that would go great with such and such wine.

The pathetic part is that if food prices were raised to compensate for say....the equivalent of a 15% tip across the board server salary, and you no longer had to add any money at the end of the bill, there would be OUTRAGE because those cheapskates that leave 5-10% are now held accountable regardless.

Never having been to a country in which tipping isn't the customary practice, I can only speak of my experience travelling within the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

I think you're right in saying the structure is at fault. The institution of tipping in the United States requires that a tip be left so that a server may reach that reasonable wage. I am doing research on this subject for my upcoming trip through Europe, making sure to respect regional customs and not offend anyone. However, stateside, tipping is a long lost art that hurts those of us in the service industry. We only get paid on average $4/hour, and a 15% tip isn't too much too ask, or one dollar a drink. Everything above and beyond that can be a reward for exceptional service, but anything less is cheap

And if you can't afford to tip a dollar, you can't afford the beer

So is the train the happy medium? (Especially with some sort of pass that enables you to hop on hop off) You get to see the landscapes, plus don't miss everything in between. Not having done any extensive train travel myself, I'll have to defer to someone else to comment....

while some of the coolest pictures I've ever taken have been from the window seat of a plane, there's something about being close to the ground that you just can't shake. it's the reason the road trip still remains a cultural icon in America.