Taking the Scenic Route

Working out a route home gave me time to connect more with the geography of Europe, and to problem solve. It wasn’t initially clear how we could get home without sitting in a train station for the early hours of the morning until the first train onwards. However, with more investigation, and being flexible about spending a night in a hostel, we were able to find a route that allowed us to get a good night’s sleep on our journey too.

Slowing down allowed me to be more present for the journey. Usually, I find airports very stressful, and it is always about getting through the next hurdle, of check in, through security, to the gate. There’s not much to do or see on a plane, and so I’m often just waiting for the flight to be over.

However, with the train, we had time to settle into seats, often with a lot of space to ourselves. We had beautiful views the whole way through Austria and Germany, and I spent a lot of time feeling very present, taking in the scenery. It was hard to feel bored when there is ever changing nature just outside the window, with the occasional city scene.

I learnt that things don’t always go to plan – but they usually work out ok in the end anyway! We missed our connection in Germany by a few minutes, with the connecting train being the last of the day to Brussels. At this point I had been away from home for nearly 10 days, and so I found the uncertainty of not being sure how to continue the journey home quite anxiety inducing.

However, we learnt that Deutsche Bahn are fairly used to having to sort out stranded passengers and were able to provide a taxi for us (and 12 other weary travellers) to finish the last two hours of the route to Brussels. We got to know our fellow travellers a little in the taxi ride, which was another positive experience of taking the slower route – there are more opportunities for spontaneous connections with strangers from completely different backgrounds and home countries.

Taking this journey by train taught me that I really do enjoy slowing down and forcing myself to sit and be present for a few hours, when there’s nowhere else to go. Whilst I definitely didn’t feel as wiped as I do after long plane rides, it was still very tiring to have such an extended journey at the end of an already long trip away, and so in the future, I would maybe aim for countries a little closer to home or do the train leg of the journey on the way out, rather than the return. I’m grateful for the opportunity to test out this mode of travel, as it isn’t one I can usually afford – although I was pleasantly surprised how cheap trains were in Europe as compared to within the UK. I hope more people make use of the IGUANA initiative!