Coming attractions. Or, how we roll: the train!

Hahahaha, it’s hot. Montpellier in summer is not for the fainthearted. We’d have left, but it’s been hot everywhere, plus we had unmissable and annoyingly spaced appointments. Hunkering down for summer is the new normal. We’ve been choosing our outings judiciously, the narrow medieval streets of the city center afford shade, but sadly no breezes. That childhood game where the floor is lava? We play that with the sun. Otherwise we’ve been inside, shades drawn, air conditioning on when we’re at our adaptation limits (which we’re doing our best to stretch).

On the plus side, all this quiet time has allowed me to thoroughly indulge in travel scenario spinning. The dining table is the nerve center, loaded up with maps, books, notebooks, multiple online devices and a thousand sketched trajectories.

I’m not usually heavy on travel planning. Anywhere in Western Europe, I’m happy with a train ticket, initial lodging and a general idea of what to do/see/eat there. But I like long travel and there are still arrangements to be made as the trip goes on: trains, bus routes, lodging, day trips. It allows for maximum flexibility, but keeping things loose means making arrangements on the fly once there, and that takes time.

My new experiment: to see whether, paradoxically, a planned trip allows for more freedom, not less. We’re only talking destinations, lodging, and transport, I’ll never be someone who schedules their days down to the hour. For our next gallivant, I’m taking the decisions off the table. The only thing to do will be to show up, execute the plan and let the days find their own surprises.

We leave in 2 weeks for Central Europe, all via train. Montpellier to Paris, where we’ll pick up the Night Jet to Berlin. I’m very excited that overnight trains are making a comeback. We’ll have our own compartment, which will make me feel like Poirot, even if it’s far from being the Orient Express. From Berlin we’ll wind our way through Poland, stopping in Poznán, Torún, Gdansk, Warsaw and Krakow, then Prague, Bratislava, Budapest, and finally Vienna where we’ll catch another Night Jet back to Paris. A little over 5 weeks in total. A combination of short stops and longer ones, just how we like it. Thrill and chill.

As delightful as it is planning a train trip through Europe, that doesn’t occupy a whole summer. There’s another big train indulgence in the works, 3 months in Japan, starting in late winter. We’ll avoid the so-called Golden Triangle of Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, in favor of places that aren’t so overly visited, which is a whole other subject.

More and more I’m aware that the years are short and the world is large. And the world is changing ever more quickly, so I must roll on!

Cheers,

Maer