There and Back Again: An Inter-Railer’s Tale
(Or: How I Survived Without Communication For A Month)
First off, if you have ever considered going travelling, even just for the briefest second, along the lines of “I need to go to Tesco, write up my lecture notes, and I wonder what it would be like to go to Bulgaria”, then I would recommend you go for it. Absolutely, unconditionally. It is quite expensive, yes, but the experience is worth every penny…erm…Euro.
My decision to go inter-railing in Europe was fairly spur of the moment. It was a couple of days after New Year, my friend was round, we may have been a bit drunk and watching Mamma Mia, but somehow the topic came up and it seemed like the greatest idea ever.(!) [Three days later when we actually talked sensibly about it, it still seemed like a fairly good idea, so we decided to go for it].
Planning, as usual where I am concerned, was hectic. My friend’s passport didn’t come through until three days before we left, and we stupidly decided to leave the day after arriving back from University, so it was extremely stressful and we found ourselves thanking our lucky stars that it was only the two of us going. Planning a month’s trip when you’re spread across the universities of Britain may have been a bit too much.
It wasn’t until we were on the plane that the enormity of what we were doing finally hit me. It was even a little scary, but mainly I was excited, and also in pain (another helpful hint: find a backpack that doesn’t kill your spine. You’re going to be carrying it for four weeks). We left Edinburgh on one of the hottest weekends of the year, Britain was in the middle of a heat wave, and the skies were clear as far as the eye could see.
Until we hit Europe. Landing in Krakow to find it as rainy as England on a good day did put a bit of a damper on our spirits, if you’ll pardon the pun.
It’s probably better if you’re organised regarding accommodation. It was purely by chance that we found a hostel in Krakow, and it did involve a bit of getting lost and butchered attempts at non-existent Polish. We had a hell of a time in Prague, where the only accommodation we could get was half an hour from the city centre. You will be doing a lot of long-haul train journeys and the last thing you want is to arrive in a totally new place and have nowhere to sleep.
The truly wonderful thing about travelling for a month is you literally do not know what will happen from moment to moment. Sure, you have a vague idea: we’d planned which cities to go to, and, once we got there, what sights to see, but you cannot account for the people you meet, the places you stumble upon, the random nights out you hadn’t planned on going on until a drunken Australian pulled you from the hostel into the strange creation that is European cities at night.
It was surreal, almost like a dream. The time seemed to stretch on endlessly as we travelled southwards towards Italy, our final destination, looking more and more haggard as the days went on. But the thing about time is that it messes with your mind, and before we knew it we were in Rome, doing an Angels and Demons style tour of the city, and finally visiting all of the places I was supposed to have read about in those sub-honours Classics modules.
It was incredible. It was also, sadly, over.
There are places I wouldn’t revisit -that night spent in a Viennese hospital after my friend came down with stomach flu and I thought she was dying being one of them - and there are things you can’t revisit: incongruous meetings, friendships forged, moments so special to you that to retell them is to lose the ethereality somehow. It’s like a dream, a very special and somewhat extended dream.
It was four months ago. We came back and got on with our lives. But the memories of that month, good and bad, will stay with me forever, and that is what’s so special about inter-railing. It’s something no-one can take away from you.
So I repeat, most emphatically, if you are thinking of going travelling, do so. Take that plunge. You definitely won’t regret it.
(Or: How I Survived Without Communication For A Month)
First off, if you have ever considered going travelling, even just for the briefest second, along the lines of “I need to go to Tesco, write up my lecture notes, and I wonder what it would be like to go to Bulgaria”, then I would recommend you go for it. Absolutely, unconditionally. It is quite expensive, yes, but the experience is worth every penny…erm…Euro.
My decision to go inter-railing in Europe was fairly spur of the moment. It was a couple of days after New Year, my friend was round, we may have been a bit drunk and watching Mamma Mia, but somehow the topic came up and it seemed like the greatest idea ever.(!) [Three days later when we actually talked sensibly about it, it still seemed like a fairly good idea, so we decided to go for it].
Planning, as usual where I am concerned, was hectic. My friend’s passport didn’t come through until three days before we left, and we stupidly decided to leave the day after arriving back from University, so it was extremely stressful and we found ourselves thanking our lucky stars that it was only the two of us going. Planning a month’s trip when you’re spread across the universities of Britain may have been a bit too much.
It wasn’t until we were on the plane that the enormity of what we were doing finally hit me. It was even a little scary, but mainly I was excited, and also in pain (another helpful hint: find a backpack that doesn’t kill your spine. You’re going to be carrying it for four weeks). We left Edinburgh on one of the hottest weekends of the year, Britain was in the middle of a heat wave, and the skies were clear as far as the eye could see.
Until we hit Europe. Landing in Krakow to find it as rainy as England on a good day did put a bit of a damper on our spirits, if you’ll pardon the pun.
It’s probably better if you’re organised regarding accommodation. It was purely by chance that we found a hostel in Krakow, and it did involve a bit of getting lost and butchered attempts at non-existent Polish. We had a hell of a time in Prague, where the only accommodation we could get was half an hour from the city centre. You will be doing a lot of long-haul train journeys and the last thing you want is to arrive in a totally new place and have nowhere to sleep.
The truly wonderful thing about travelling for a month is you literally do not know what will happen from moment to moment. Sure, you have a vague idea: we’d planned which cities to go to, and, once we got there, what sights to see, but you cannot account for the people you meet, the places you stumble upon, the random nights out you hadn’t planned on going on until a drunken Australian pulled you from the hostel into the strange creation that is European cities at night.
It was surreal, almost like a dream. The time seemed to stretch on endlessly as we travelled southwards towards Italy, our final destination, looking more and more haggard as the days went on. But the thing about time is that it messes with your mind, and before we knew it we were in Rome, doing an Angels and Demons style tour of the city, and finally visiting all of the places I was supposed to have read about in those sub-honours Classics modules.
It was incredible. It was also, sadly, over.
There are places I wouldn’t revisit -that night spent in a Viennese hospital after my friend came down with stomach flu and I thought she was dying being one of them - and there are things you can’t revisit: incongruous meetings, friendships forged, moments so special to you that to retell them is to lose the ethereality somehow. It’s like a dream, a very special and somewhat extended dream.
It was four months ago. We came back and got on with our lives. But the memories of that month, good and bad, will stay with me forever, and that is what’s so special about inter-railing. It’s something no-one can take away from you.
So I repeat, most emphatically, if you are thinking of going travelling, do so. Take that plunge. You definitely won’t regret it.