On the journey from Brussels to Amsterdam, Jess and I got into a silly argument. Those that hang out with me know I like to be right so if I feel that I am right, I will debate until you understand my point. Well poor Jess decided to throw out an innocent statement about the comfort of trains vs the comfort of planes and how she liked trains better because they were more comfortable. I went into a long point about how you can't compare the two equally without taking time into it as a factor. I do not need to spell out the whole conversation but it brought up a common theme on our trip: trains.
The train has been our main mode of transportation. We purchased a Eurail pass before we left the U.S. (Which I HIGHLY recommend if you plan on backpacking all over Europe) and we have used it on almost every train journey. It basically lets us take the regional trains for free and provides a minimal fee for the more expensive, high speed trains.
You might be wondering why I even bother writing about trains but I wanted to share one thing I have learned, everything about train travel is dramatic.
-You fly past little villages in a dramatic fashion and in a blink of an eye you're gone.
-You will never find a calm train station, names of places and times are constantly flashing up on the scroll and then disappearing, each flash causing a group of people to scurry off to the right platform.
-you can hop on and off as you please and you can even get left behind in random cities (trust me, we know)
-Goodbyes- WOW, watching someone say goodbye to a loved one is one of the hardest things to watch. They may hug or kiss goodbye on the platform but then the one who isn't leaving just stands on the platform waving goodbye as the train slowly rolls out of the station. This is literally perfect for movies and now I understand why it's in so many!
People handle train travel in one of two ways; to plan ahead or to wing it. Most of the time we are in the first group. We manage to reserve our tickets to leave a city when we arrive and most of the time it works flawlessly. For the times it doesn't, it's a cluster. As much as I love things that are free, nothing is worse than sitting on an unreserved regional train for 4 hours. Sometimes you do what you have to do and I'm currently in this situation. Luckily we all found seats. Some unlucky folks have been standing the whole journey. Sometimes we luck out with entire rooms to ourself, and sometimes we are stuck with screaming toddlers. It makes airline travel seem so organized and orderly (even the Southwest Boarding Process!)
All in all I am thankful for the expansive train system in Europe. Not only has it allowed me to see more of the continent than I would have imagined but it has really allowed me to slow down and reflect. It allows me the time to write my blogs, to play card games, share stories and even meet fellow travelers. So every time you read a blog posting, you can guarantee I am in transit from one place to another!
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