ARTICLE Long-distance travel

Sit back and enjoy the train

Are you one of those who would use the teleporting machine, if it existed, just to
skip the travelling altogether and reach the destination in no time? If so, stop for a
while and consider sitting back by the window in a long-distance train, amidst the
soothing rocking sound of the composition and relaxing views of distant fields in
between the towns.
hat is precisely what I did back in !""#, when I was travelling to Italy for a
summer school programe. $ever did I regret my decision to take the slow track,
for it was highly rewarding. %uring the greater part of the voyage I was immersed
in a book or thoughts, my eyes occasionally wandering over the landscape outside
the window, or across the faces of my fellow travellers, looking for a prospective
interlocutor. I met various interesting people then, among whom a singing group
of young &ritish scouts, delighted by 'erbian rakija.
(ave you ever seen how the )members* of a compartement become united and
fight as one against the curmudgeon who wouldn+t open the window because of
the current? ,r did you have the opportunity to meet a lot of new people from
different cultures, analysing their habits and perhaps peculiarities? And above all,
when was it the last time when you could dedicate a number of hours to peaceful
introspection, analysis and pondering? (op into a long-distance train for your next
vacation, switch off from all your every-day fren-y, and you will have seen it all,
as these are all inherent to the slow long-distance travelling
he train journey is an adventure and an experience of its own. .nless you are
only interested to get transfered from A to &, choose the railway. $ot only will
you have the chance to learn about both the other people and yourself, but you
may as well meet a future friend, or a partner. /ou may even end up writing a
book 0 or at least an article about it.