Re: Night trains of Europe 🚆

=> rrees posted about night trains

I recently went to Edinburgh by the Caledonian Sleeper¹. I mostly did it because it seemed like fun to go to bed in England and wake up in Scotland. But there's a bunch of advantages over flying or driving.

• Combining sleeping and travelling gives you more time at you destination
• No need to check in hours beforehand
• Stations are central; airports are not
• Safer
• Way lower carbon emissions
• Breakfast in bed, on a train
• I've also had a shower on a moving train (but I'm not sure if that's fun or weird)

There were disadvantages. The bed could have been a bit wider, and I was woken a couple of times in the night, I assume because the train jolted me around. It's not cheap, but you're getting travel and accommodation combined.

Many years ago, we went to Spain via an overnight train across France. We drove to Calais, they put our car on the train, and in the morning we drove over the Spanish border. All very civilised, but sadly those trains are rare in Europe now². The train arrived in the south of France some hours late and it was raining, so we said they must have taken us back to England by mistake.

=> 1 - https://www.sleeper.scot | 2 - https://www.seat61.com/motorail-trains.htm

=> #trains | #travel

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