“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.”
-Freya Stark
Overnight train travel is a classically European experience; doing it alone makes for an even more interesting (read drunk) experience. Traveling from Paris to Florence in the easiest, and most fun fashion, I decided to book an overnight train. Alone.
The first stop after booking this ticket was the wine store, which in France is basically any store. After picking up 2 bottles of wine, I headed to station a few minutes early, got some snacks and waiting for my journey to begin. Shortly, the crowd around me began to move to the platform, and after checking my platform and train number four times, I boarded and eventually found my cabin and seat. They say an experience is only as good as your company and from this experience, I can say that’s true. I was lucky to have a cabin full of young travels from around the world to make this train ride even more interesting.
Overnight Train Travel Esstentials
The night started with wine, cheese and beautiful views of the country of Southern France –probably some of my favorite things ever. My cabin mates and I exchanged travel stories, swigs of wine and became best friends. The train made a few stops during the evening and each time I felt the sudden jolt of the brake, I became aware again that I was traveling via train throughout a foreign country. At one point in the middle of the night, I heard from a fellow passenger that we were stopping in Switzerland. No idea what region or city, but I got out of the train, just to say I’ve been to Switzerland. It’s crazy to be in such a causal atmosphere and moving across the world at the same time. All I had to do was walk down the out and out a door and I was suddenly in a new country.
Cheers in many languages is always a good cheers
As the night (at this point morning) was winding down, I came back to my cabin to see that the train conductors had moved the seats and pulled out the beds. Six beds that is, in an extremely small compartment. My seat, now bed, was in the middle rung. After strapping myself to the bed, taking a few sleeping pills, I actually fell into a deep slumber. Maybe it was the soothing motion or the bottles of wine, either way I passed out and was awoken a few hours later by a calling in a foreign language and slamming doors. I woke up alone in a foreign county, a little hung over, but couldn’t have been happier.
