Paul Morris: InterRail Press Trip

I am an editor with expatica.com and for the summer of ’08, I decided to visit all six countries in which we have a site for internationals: Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Spain. Clutching my InterRail pass in a dead man’s grip, I hopped from train to train, from country to country for four weeks, sometimes booking in advance but often deciding just to stay put for that bit longer somewhere, lazing by the river in Basle, or adding an extra couple of days to my visit of the mediaeval towns of Cataluña.

It takes away some of the stress, knowing that you needn’t schedule your time as if it was a military campaign. That’s the point of train travel – I haven’t flown for nearly 10 years now – you’re going somewhere but you pass time in the ‘in-betweens’, drifting past tiny ancient one-horse stations such as Ria or discovering the modern architecture under-construction in Liege Guillemins.

I travelled mostly during the day, barely touching my book, simply watching the ever-changing flow of  life beyond the window pane. I did however almost run out of time (the end date on the pass began dancing alarmingly before my eyes) and so I took the overnight sleeper back from Figueres to Paris, passing the first couple of hours in the bar in the company of a Chilean couple on their first European adventure and discovering, to my surprise, that I could hold a conversation of sorts in Spanish with them.

I would have no hesitation in using the InterRail pass again but this time I would travel in Spring or in the Autumn to avoid the crowds and the occasionally stifling heat that hits you once you step out of the shelter of the air-conditioned carriage.

Now all that remains is to sift through an awful lot of photographs but that can be fun as, with each click of the digital viewer, the real memories come flooding back.