Friday, June 28, 2013

By Train on the Cheap

Whether it be by plane, train, or automobile, we love to travel. After all the trips we've taken, plus the travelling back and forth from the US, we know what works best for us.

Travelling by plane is okay. It gets us where we need to go the fastest, but we're confined to a tube a few miles up in the air, can hardly move around and have to first go through security. We've found there's a wide range of how seriously some airports take security. In Turkey we had to get our bags scanned before we even entered the building. In London-Heathrow they made me open up Norah's baby food and give it a taste. Don't even get me started on the TSA. In a small airport somewhere near Rome no one actually looked at our passports before we boarded the plane back to Germany. Needless to say, that one was a smooth process.

Travelling by car is nice enough in the US. In Germany, though, where people may be passing you at 150 miles per hour, it's a bit more stressful. But you get to listen to your own music, stop when you want to stop, and not have to deal with sharing a space with strangers. You can also usually take the most stuff with you when you hit the road. And now, with a toddler, we don't have to worry about bothering anyone else with Norah's near-inability to sit still for more than 30 seconds. Going by car is by far the easiest with a toddler.

A beautiful train ride through the swiss alps.
When it was just Amy and I, nothing beat getting from point A to point B by rail. We loved strapping on our packs and taking the train out of Leipzig. When you ride a train, all you have to pay attention to is which stop you're coming up on. No focusing on the road, no filling up a gas tank, and you can get up and walk around whenever you want. You can also get a better look at the countryside. When I'm driving along at Autobahn speeds, I can hardly glance away from the road ahead for a fraction of a second to look at the speedometer, let alone admire a castle perched on a cliff until it's out of sight.

Put everything you need into a hiking pack, hop on a train and travel from here to there while taking the time to admire everything in between.

That's backpacking. I love it. I love travelling on the cheap: taking the trains, getting our meals from street vendors or grocery stores, and sleeping at a hostel or campground.


Norah Grace camping for the very first time in Berchtesgaden, Germany.

Some of my favorite trips were ones where breakfast was a mini box of cereal and lunch a cold cut sandwich. After those first few trips we realized that with proper planning we could take the comfortable trains and stay in hotels and be within budget.




Still, though, I do get a certain amount of enjoyment in taking the rougher route. Maybe we'll give her a few years and let Norah decide what sort of travelers we'll be.



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