Train Travel

Taking the train has a sense of calm to it. There’s something about a long train ride that's almost soothing. When going by train, I find myself in a state of peaceful reflection, staring out the window, lost in thought as the hours wind by. 

On the train, you see the most interesting parts of cities. The neglected and run-down parts; long forgotten corners and neighborhoods too poor to be further from the tracks. It’s the “other side of the city” tour, the one you cant request, but comes complimentary with any train journey. In TrenItalia, SNCF, Renfe, Deutsch Bahn, and OBB cars you speed through city after city--some whose names you know, others you will forget within the hour--catching flashes of graffitied buildings that have seen better days, overcrowded housing developments, and a glimpse of the more industrial side of town.

In these stretches, I’m not a tourist, but an anthropologist. I pay careful attention as the train wooshes by the parts of the city people like so much to forget. Because here is where the contrast is most interesting. Here I search for the differences between each city and the last. Is there more industry? Less housing developments? Has the style of graffiti changed? It all gives a raw picture of life in the city, coloring my understanding of where I’m going to and coming from.

And then there are the in between periods, when the view out my window opens up to a sweeping rural landscape. Mostly it’s just barren winter farmland on these trips. But sometimes, there are mountains and the occasional treat of an old castle or pristine lake in the distance. Generally though, I see flat plains or rolling hills dotted by small villages that seem to go on forever, eventually merging with the grey sky somewhere in the distance. I let my mind wander on these stretches, losing myself to my thoughts somewhere in that grey landscape. 

Sometimes my mind wanders to what it would be like to grow up in one of those many small towns we pass; so far from everything, so quaint and comfortable-looking. How different would life have been?

But most of the time my mind goes to its reflective place. Something about settling in for a long bus or train ride is a cue for me to start reflecting on the bigger things in life. Train rides more than bus rides--the view from the train tracks is always more interesting that the highway. Staring out that window, I mull over the big questions: what I want to do with my life, where I want to be, what makes me happy, and how to do it all.

The funny thing is though, when we pull into the station and I step off that train, I’m usually burdened with more new questions than answers to old ones. But somehow, I step off each time with a feeling of relaxed contentment. 

Maybe it’s because I always have one good answer. When I ask myself what makes me happy, of all the answers, one always comes to mind. Traveling. So when I step off that train, in a new place, ready for new adventures, I can’t help but feel content on some level. I’m doing something that makes me happy, and as long as I keep doing that, I’ve got all the train rides I could want to figure out the rest.