Getting some real sleep on a night train might be likened to your first ever proper engagement in combat – you need the experience to be able to function properly and make the best of things. But until you have this experience, settling down to a good night’s sleep can be rather challenging. The EN447 “Jan Kiepura” is a good train (note – seemingly now also being called the “Berlin – Warsaw Express”). It bashes through Germany in the middle of the night with the minimum of fuss and tooting. I have reviewed the journey on this blog before if […]
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I wish the title of this post referred to the amazing speed and effortless agility of the German ICE train. I really do, but it doesn’t. Instead it refers to that fun 1976 train caper film with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder. Have you seen it? Specifically the bit about being chucked off your train and then trying to catch it up and overtake it. More of this later. I’m actually really pleased to have been hit by a minor train based crisis today. I needed something to rebase my reactions to a relatively minor travel problem in the grand […]
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If I’m honest with you I’m not a massive fan of Amsterdam, but I’m sure that you will already have your own view of the city, so I won’t put you off by saying this. It’s been a wet and miserable day and the climate doesn’t do much for those contemplating some sightseeing. That said, I doubt many visitors to Amsterdam see that much daylight anyway. The streets seem busy with damp and bemused tourists, tramps, pimps, brewers, baristas and drug dealers all going purposefully about their business. In passing there is a very high profile campaign at the moment warning visitors about the […]
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So today is the day of days, as I’m finally on the move towards Tokyo. I am doing my best to adjust my mental state to being on the move, living in the moment and trying to stop worrying about things that I simply can’t control. It normally takes me a couple of days to get properly into this state as the problems of everyday home and work life recede in the distance behind me. So by the time I reach Warsaw (later this week) I hope to have my train mojo sorted out. I read a great blog from […]
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I’m writing some of this blog on the train today, so it’s a crash course in remembering how to use my mobile blogging apps that have been idle since I returned from Singapore in January. I have learned from past trips it’s quite good to run a full test of equipment before setting out; that way there is some “tinker time” whilst you have access to things at home. So today I’m testing things whilst I’m on the train to Cambridge to visit the Scott Polar Research Institute. In passing, I was half expecting to bump into Michael Portillo on […]
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“Black Rain” – Ridley Scott, Paramount Pictures (1989) I’m almost there with the planning phase of the trip now. Time to get prepared for some travel! I got my iPad out this week and loaded it up with films, and also selected the music for my iPhone (all the good stuff – a hand crafted selection of Pink Floyd, Steely Dan and Fleetwood Mac). I have a 128GB iPad, so I can carry about 40 films with me, which I think is pretty impressive (until they make an even bigger one). I try to find connections to places I am […]
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Shinkansen line up of 7 different trains on JR East alone! Source: Wikipedia I have been working this week on planning my rail journey through Japan. The Japanese do train travel so well that its actually a bit daunting looking at the number of trains and the route map. First I should apologise for the blog title, as unless you were a 10 CC fan in the 1970’s, you might think I was going to tell you about being involved in a street riot. In fact it was just a slightly tenuous link to the most famous of Japanese trains, […]
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ICE 3 – “The Most Civilised Train in Europe”? Image courtesy Wikipedia. Well, its official – the winter timetable is now out and Europe now has even fewer night time express trains. From my point of view the main loss is the brilliant “Jan Kiepura” (EN447) from Amsterdam. It seems that Holland is now literally “A Bridge Too Far” from Germany and Poland – so I will have to get a train to Oberhausen where my Warsaw train now originates from. Why Oberhausen I have no idea – its not even as far away as Cologne… It feels a bit […]
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Distance: 18 440 km – the finish! I’m writing this a day after my arrival – some time to decompress from the ups and downs of train travel. I know that not everyone loves the manic sense of order in Singapore, but I love it – more and more every time that I visit. If you know me you will perhaps understand why I like such a well planned and organised place. Things go from one extreme to the other on this trip. I hopped off a dirty train yesterday at Woodlands, and one hour later I was sat in […]
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Distance so far: 17 340 km. Distance at Singapore: 18 440 km. Weather: 32 degrees, sunny. Train number 1 from Butterworth to Singapore is known as the “Rakyat Express”. Its a 14 hour daytime trip leaving Butterworth at 08.00 and arriving at Singapore Woodlands at 22.00 the same day, and my final train trip of this journey. 06.00 An early start by taxi to Georgetown to catch the ferry back to Butterworth, then a short walk to the new station platform. Almost every train station in Malaysia seems to be newly built. The train is shunted into the station at […]
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