After reading http://seat61.com/ and watching the movie Before Sunrise, I had a very romantic notion of traveling by train. My first trip on the Eurorail from Paris to Copenhagen took me 15 hours and tor·tur·ous moments where I’m telling myself to get some sleep or I’ll be hallucinating in the bike train.
Hmm, I still have 9 more trips on this Eurorail pass, gotta to use it up. Not looking forward to it.
Then on the trip back to Paris, I decided to get a sleeper car instead. The trip from Copenhagen to Hamburg was in a first class cabine with free tea and coffee. Very comfortable 5 hours. And I got to chat with 2 fellow travelers. 2 sisters from Korea and the time passed by very fast as we talked nothing specific and the hours flew by as they talked about boyfriends, life in Korea, doritos, lack of sleep.
Then off to the Paris sleeper and the moment I got into the cabin I felt asleep. very comfortable! wow, this is nice. In the morning, they set an alarm to wake me up at 7:30, I went next door and eat next to my roomie and we had an hour worth of very personal chatter and I felt a connection (as most travelers do I’m sure) with this 50 year old film producer from Copenhagen.
wow.. I was telling him about my dissapointment with train travel and he told me he always enjoyed the slow travel and it’s the best way to meet new and interesting people.. I was looking at him, thinking this through and YEAH, that is true.. I would have never talked with anyone on the plane. hmm, that’s not so bad.. This train travel business is pretty cool, even though it burns aways all my hours (but while sleeping).. hmm, that’s not so bad. I got off the train in Paris, unfolded my Brompton and in 15 mins I’m back in the Paris apartment.. hmm, that’s not so bad.
I think I’ll put this 35 year old through another train ride all the way to Dublin end of August. A former co-worker from Y! invited me over. I think I met her only once, Emi and her husband are willing to show me around, let’s see how that goes.
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