Whats the Big Idea!?
A couple nights ago I was reading one of my travel guides and I came up with a 'big idea': creating "the longest continuous rail journey in the world". More precisely, traveling from Inverness, Scotland to Singapore by rail. I believe this has to be the longest continuous rail journey in the world. I'm already planning to travel from Copenhagen to Hong Kong by train so a little extension on either end and voila!
This big idea has one main problem and one minor problem. The main problem is money. I've already booked my flight from London to Copenhagen. So I would loose $45 plus the cost of the train trip (~$250) going from London to Copenhagen by train. I need to figure out if this is the right thing to do. Secondly, I don't have the time or even more money to take the train from London up to Inverness and turn around and come right back to London. That would be a complete waste of money since I wouldn't have time to see any of Scotland. It would also cut down on my already short time in London. So what is the point? It would only be to say I did it.
So I'm going to nix the Inverness to London portion and just call it 'London to Singapore' by rail. That is, if I decide to bite the bullet and spend an additional $250.
The two driving factors behind this endeavor - beyond the obvious "thats cool" factor - are the fact that I really love trains so the longest rail journey in the world obviously has huge appeal. Second is that train travel is the most eco-friendly form of land transport. So this has some implications on an environmental level (but honestly I was already planning to travel mainly by rail, so this will just help me avoid flights that much more).
Another issue with this idea is that I have already ridden the Bangkok to Singapore section - which was incredible and cheap - so I don't know if its worth me doing that leg again in the name of a 'challenge'.
I would, of course, be making lots of stopovers (that is the whole point of traveling), but as long as return to the last city in which I arrived by train before continuing, I would call it a 'continuous' rail journey.
I haven't heard of anyone doing this before, but I'm sure its been done. And probably in record time too and not over 6.5 months like I'll take.
I'll have to mull it over a bit, but my time is short, so I can't hesitate too long if I intend to book the London to Copenhagen train........
This big idea has one main problem and one minor problem. The main problem is money. I've already booked my flight from London to Copenhagen. So I would loose $45 plus the cost of the train trip (~$250) going from London to Copenhagen by train. I need to figure out if this is the right thing to do. Secondly, I don't have the time or even more money to take the train from London up to Inverness and turn around and come right back to London. That would be a complete waste of money since I wouldn't have time to see any of Scotland. It would also cut down on my already short time in London. So what is the point? It would only be to say I did it.
So I'm going to nix the Inverness to London portion and just call it 'London to Singapore' by rail. That is, if I decide to bite the bullet and spend an additional $250.
The two driving factors behind this endeavor - beyond the obvious "thats cool" factor - are the fact that I really love trains so the longest rail journey in the world obviously has huge appeal. Second is that train travel is the most eco-friendly form of land transport. So this has some implications on an environmental level (but honestly I was already planning to travel mainly by rail, so this will just help me avoid flights that much more).
Another issue with this idea is that I have already ridden the Bangkok to Singapore section - which was incredible and cheap - so I don't know if its worth me doing that leg again in the name of a 'challenge'.
I would, of course, be making lots of stopovers (that is the whole point of traveling), but as long as return to the last city in which I arrived by train before continuing, I would call it a 'continuous' rail journey.
I haven't heard of anyone doing this before, but I'm sure its been done. And probably in record time too and not over 6.5 months like I'll take.
I'll have to mull it over a bit, but my time is short, so I can't hesitate too long if I intend to book the London to Copenhagen train........
posted by Dustin at 8:17 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home