The only way to travel (overseas division)

jibbonpoint

It's Sunday. Smile

"The only way to travel is by train; any other method of tansport is commuting." I don't know whe enunciated this anecdote but I thought that it might be a good lead in to:-

Train Trips Overseas.

Anyone had any memorable train travels overseas. Mine are limited to a return trip Modena - Florence (Italy) single Liverpool - London (UK).

The former being the most attractive scenic-wise but any train trip to me, evokes peace tranquility & a sense of well-being & safety. (Well, it does, so get fucked.)

I'm goiong to do the Alpine trip in NZ at the first opportunity. Any others recommended?
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johnmc · Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 11:36 am Post subject:

I've only been on one trip to Malaysia and Thailand, so at the moment *all* the train trips I had there were memorable, if only in contrast to Oz.

However, if I was going to nail one of them, it would be the trip on the remnant of the Thai-Burma railway. Even though it's been "touristised" to hell and back, often with fiction accounts that are perceived as fact <cough>bridgeontheriverkwai<cough> it's still a moving experience.
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Oldfart · Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 12:50 pm Post subject:

Have been on a few, so just one not so well known trip for now:

Rosslare to Dublin up the coast on an 'Iarnrod Eireann' DMU service was cool. Through Rosslare Strand, a surf spot (?). Through Wexford where the village is on the left and the water is on the right (and on both sides at one stage as you run along the dock). Train goes slow through the town in case cars are parked too close to the track (no fences).

From Arklow to Rathdrum it follows a pretty river, (a bit like Gloucester to Wingham in NSW). Goes through the village where Ballykissangel was filmed. From Wicklow, it runs along a beach (wetlands on the left, sand on the right) for ages (a bit like Bombo, but for kilometres), then punches its way through tunnels in a series of headlands.

1500v OHW (DART - Dublin Area Rapid Transport) begins at Greystanes. Train runs through to the port of Dun Laoghaire (pron. Dun Leary) and the upmarket southern suburbs into Dublin past mudflats where people really do collect cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh.

Dublin was a real surprise; prosperous, elegant, clean and everything painted bright. Makes England look dull and dingy by comparison. Lots of classic Irish pubs full of music and life, ultra friendly people and seriously hot looking girls.

Full of history, pretty parks that once were battlegrounds, major buildings still with bullet marks, centuries old buildings, minimal law (even no advisory speed signs on curves on roads) yet with lots of order, and most laid back Police (Garda) I've ever seen. Heaps of history along the line too; castles, old bridges and villages, and lots of spots where trains were attacked by rebels during English rule.
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biqua · Diamond Bollocks Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Posts: 575

If you're planning the TransAlpine in NZ, I recommend also heading down to Dunedin and doing the Taieri Gorge Railway - Dunedin is only about three and a half hours south of Christchurch, and although I'm biased I would say it's worth it ... especially if you're heading from Christchurch to the regular touristy spots.

I haven't done the TransAlpine myself, but it is definitely on my to do list.
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jibbonpoint · Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 4:56 pm Post subject:

Thanks Biqua, I'll definitely do that next time. Also the Albatross Rookery.

All my trips are work related which might sound great but it's tough to see anything. In the UK & Italy, I had two days off. The rest of the time I was inside a factory. I can usually scrounge a few extra days in NZ.

Smile

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riccardo · Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 190

If you haven't done High Speed, then its a must.

Have done the following

Paris to Nimes and Paris to Tours at 320km/h

Osaka to Tokyo at 260km/h and Tokyo to Morioka at 300kms

Berlin to Frankfurt at 250km/h

A definite must.

Just about everywhere overseas with a rail service does it better than we do. In the US it isn't as dense on the ground but definitely good fun.

Other must do-s I have done:

-Zurich to Innsbruck via Alberg pass and Innsbruck to Bolzano via Brenner Pass.

-HK airport to HK

-Nagoya to Takayama by tilting thing

Give the Marrakesh Express a miss. Maybe Crosby, Stills etc thought it was good and had a choof.
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Gromit · Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 8:57 pm Post subject:

My younger sister lived in Japan for a year as an exchange student, then for a couple of years for work. One day she was riding on the Shinkansen (Bullet train), and being a blonde, white bignose, the steward picked her to practice his English language skills on. Conversation turned to trains (as it does) and he invited her to have a ride with the driver (at 250km/h)....and she said....naah, thanks anyway!

HA!

If ever there was an offence punishable by a fate worse than death, this should be it. I have expressed my outrage to her.
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MJJA · Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 9:12 pm Post subject:

When I was in England last year (I'm a fairly impecunious party, it's my trip-of-a-lifetime and I'm unlikely to go overseas again for a decade or more so I WILL keep harping on about it, if you don't want to hear put your fingers in your ears) I rode the Manchester trams and the Virgin Pendolinos. Both very memorable because they actually worked the way the people say they do. Somehow whenever we in Oz get you-beaut tech from overseas it never works properly. I had gathered the impression that the sparkling descriptions were all media wash.
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johnmc · Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 9:31 pm Post subject:

Gromit · Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 9:42 pm Post subject:

Shame, shame, shame...
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Skraw · Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 11:25 am Post subject:

Anything in Switzerland is great. Went from Zurich to Genoa and if you like tunnels then staggering views which are snatched away suddenly as you enter yet another tunnel this is the trip for you!
Memorable trips include Fukuoka to Osaka on the Shinkansen but spent at least a third of the time underground!
Some rack railway up a mountain in Austria (Salzburg perchance?)
Freezing my bum off on the Singapore-KL train - AC is turned down to about 5C!
Dublin to Sligo - ah the Oyrish fields!
Lyon-Paris on the Train of Great Vitesse. Fast but no bullet train!

Then there's the memorable trips for all the wrong reasons!
Thessalonika to Istanbul and return. Gave me a sense of the Trans-Siberian if it was the same train as the North West Mail in the 1950s. Took forever. SFA to see apart from peasants in fields.
Kampala (Uganda) to Kasese - yes it's name dropping but what the hey? Not recommended excpet for the cultural experience! Only one major derailment where we got off in the middle of nowhere and walked along the tracks for 15 km to the next town which was so small it didn't have a road. Waited there drinking cups of chai until they got the beast back on the rails and it came by again. A few hundred kms took 24 hours or so. Can't remember - have pushed it from my memory! (This was 1990)
TAZARA train - from Dar Es Salaam to Mbeya in Tanzania. Actually not as bad as I thought it would be. The Chinese built railway was quite an experience. Not much to see though except the little Chinese railway stations in the middle of the African savannah!

Never been on a train in North America although I've visited about 6 times. I lie - the Vancouver Skytrain - driverless like the Docklands LR in London. Also memorable.
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Maaaark · Joined: 16 Jun 2007 Posts: 54 Location: Hangar 18

Fuckin' bastards are making me jealous! I haven't even been overseas yet. I'd love to travel on a train at 250km/h Shit-eating grin

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bingley_hall · Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 11:02 am Post subject: