World Trip – Closing Thoughts, Peter

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Closing thoughts, Peter

As we sit on our last intercity train journey, it seems as if time has whooshed by, as quickly as this Eurostar train is speeding through the French countryside.

A Swedish woman working for the Bamboo Yoga Retreat, in Goa, asked: when you experience so much in such a short time, won’t you get overloaded with experiences? 

In one way, every moment has become etched into my being, in other ways, my brain needs reminding. Thank goodness for our travel blog, which we have assiduously kept up throughout our voyage.

One major theme I cannot shake loose, is how many people there are on this earth. From the bustling, overcrowded railway stations of Europe, the people sleeping on the ground on so many Indian railway station platforms, stifling with heat, miles and miles of conurbations in Indonesia, village after village with busy families, the elderly, children, all doing whatever they are doing.

Unfortunately, the detritus of people – unsanitary water, huge drifts of discarded plastic, destined to degrade human environments for many hundreds of years, stinking air as we crossed over four, five, six lane motorways. The ‘chemicalised’ food – treated to last longer and taste better, filled with harmful, unpronounceable chemicals.

But also, cheeringly, the kindness of people. The man who helped us in the Istanbul metro, the guard at Tipu Sultan’s palace who let us hot-spot on his mobile phone, the woman in Penang’s botanic garden shop. And all small kindnesses, the cheery greeting, the kind smile, the shared joke – everywhere, irrespective of culture, colour, religion or creed.

But then, the other major theme. Why we travelled: – the travel itself.

The great ships, the sturdy long distance trains, the patient and the nippy buses. They knitted together the whole voyage into a magic mosaic. It was really about the travel – not just the destinations. 

We loved the huge ferries plying the Mediterranean, especially with our generous cabins, and efficient escalators for embarking and disembarking. The hydrofoil between Busan and Fukuoka, with its stomach-churning movement at the astonishing speed of over 50 knots. The tiny open deck ferry taking us over a volcanic lake in Sumatra.

But the great ships take the biscuit, Queens Elizabeth and Mary 2. The mind-boggling size of the ships, the sumptuous interior design and artwork, the variety and quality of stage entertainment and lectures. The developing relationship with our evening meal waiter and sommelier. Our deck walks. The powerful wake radiating out from the bow. The thrashing of the propellers in the stern, agonised water stretching behind us into an infinite line. And the oceans. The vast, day after day, after day, of unbroken horizon. The sense that we were just slowly crawling across the surface of our globe.

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Oh, the trains – the glorious trains. The fast, efficient and superbly comfortable trains in France (when working), Italy, South Korea and Japan. The crawling, lumbering trains of India and USA. The loose sheet, blanket and tiny pillow on our overnight from Hubballi to Bangalore, the cramped, narrow, but deliciously comfortable bunks on Amtrak, the glorious generosity of and comfortable bedding on The Canadian. 

And, not forgetting the probably most expensive train journey of the lot – the Rocky Mountaineer, taking us from Banff in the high Canadian Rockies to the beautiful city of Vancouver. The carriages were a delight, with high windows, allowing unbeatable views of the mindblowingly beautiful mountains, deep forests and wild rivers. With the views, the stories. Our carriage hosts plied their passengers not only with wine, G&T’s and Baileys, but also with absolutely riveting stories on the building of the railways, the nature, the beasts of the forests. Superb theatrical, historical and nature performances. Oh, unlike many in our carriage, we did not indulge in the ongoing liquid entertainment…

Less impressively, but no less importantly, the buses. Spending large parts of travelling days on buses require the ability to sit in cramped seats, to snooze, to have mobile phone charger batteries, as well as good bowel control. Mini-buses took us through Turkey and Costa Rica. A large coach eased our pass through the Costa Rica to Panama border. Another replaced the New Orleans to Atlanta leg of our Washington journey due to rails being too hot.

But then, the experiences. The ‘mind expanding’ Mount Bromo catching the early morning sun rays. The great craggy gash in the Earth’s crust, the Grand Canyon. The deep rainforests of Sumatra, with the enigmatic orang-utans dangling tantalisingly from the forest canopy. Falling off paddle boards in the Pacific Ocean, the luscious jungle waterfalls with cool, dark pools to swim in, swarms of scuttling Hermit Crabs on a desert island beach, the deep, dark moat surrounding Rhodes City, with a history of centuries of bloody fighting, declaiming the few memorised Shakespearian monologues in ancient Roman and Greek theatres.  Just some of the things that we have been so blessed to experience.

Summing up, looking back, we can turn towards the future, enriched by all that has passed in the last six months. Happy to be back home in both France and London. Looking forward to our next, as yet unplanned, journey.

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