[Newsletter] The battle of two luxury trains (Patreon)

▶︎ Watch the new video → https://youtu.be/leivj6tujec

I've got a bit of a different video style for you this week – it's a head-to-head competition between two trains that run between Ōsaka and Kyōto:

• Keihan Railway's "Premium Car"

• Hankyū Railway's "Privace Car"

Both of these exclusive cars are attached to regular trains, and cost an extra ¥500 on top of the regular fare that everyone pays.

I rode both of them, to see how similar they are, what the differences might be, and whether one might be a better deal than the other.

How this all started

My original idea for this video was just to ride the Keihan Premium Car, and do a regular travel vlog video about the experience. But when I told Masayo about it, she mentioned that Hankyū now has a similar luxury car.

I didn't know that.

That car, the Privace (pronounced "pry vase"), started less than a year ago. I assume it's a direct competition to Keihan's, which began a few years ago.

So, I decided to ride both trains. And I had to plan how they would fit into one or more videos.

One could be a public video, and the other could be a Patreon-only video. Or, maybe the Hankyū part could be in an extended version only. Or, the two rides could each be a separate full regular public video over two weeks.

I thought it all over and eventually decided that a single, public head-to-head competition video would be best. Who doesn't like a good fight to the death between two train companies!

I'll let you decide which premium train ride you like best. I will say that I found the two experiences quite similar in some ways and, as you'll plainly see, quite different in other ways.

Bloopers

There is a separate (short) video featuring some bloopers and outtakes from this video. Paid supporters can watch it here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/133302016

Some final notes

• Upgrades
  Thanks to everyone who upgraded your Patreon tier towards the end of June. I will be making the private "upgraders only" video diary available soon for you as I promised. You are also thanked in this latest video. (And previously in this paragraph, and again, right now in this sentence – thanks!)

• Free month
  Welcome to everyone who took advantage of my free month of Travel Fans membership. That tier is now closed to new members, but will continue to secretly exist for those in it now.

• Merch
  I still haven't received my own proof copies of the new merch. I gotta say I'm excited to see it, and especially to wear the "checklist T-shirt" and show it off in a video. And to stick the "obaachan with cart" sticker somewhere. My oversized forehead perhaps.
  About that merch: https://www.patreon.com/posts/131792369

• Schedule
  I'm still not fully back on schedule with my videos – still working on that ferry ride video 😅 – but rest assured that I'm toiling away on it all.

Thanks for watching. Let me know which exclusive, upper-class, premium, luxury, highfalutin' train car you liked best.

Everywhere is worth exploring!

–Jeremy