A bit of a random topic but at the moment I am indeed sitting on a train from Antwerp to Hasselt where I shall be working for the weekend. It occurred to me that now was a perfect time to do some writing and while I’m here, why not write about trains.
I travel quite often by train, I always have. Even when I lived in Ireland getting back to my parents house it was my preferred mode of transport. Since I moved to Belgium a week hardly goes by that I’m not on a train even though I live in the apartment above the bar I work in.
In my opinion there are two different types of train journey. The first Is like today just enjoying the journey, chilling out and being generally relaxed, not keeping an eye on the time because thoughts about how far away your arrival is are not really occupying your mind.
The other kind of journey is one similar to what I experienced recently coming back from Rotterdam with my girlfriend, both of us tired and hungover, exhausted beyond belief and the thoughts of boarding the train and making the journey home were simply unbearable. However, we made it back in one piece and have since recovered.
One thing I do miss from the trains back in Ireland is the food trolley that gets wheeled up and down the train. I know on some of the faster trains in Europe they have a bar but on your regular everyday train that option is unavailable.
Do you guys do much travelling? Have you much experience of the rail system in Europe, what do you think? I would love to hear some thoughts in the comments section. Dan.
Daniel Phillips 