One month after returning from travelling around Europe, I want to reflect on my experience beyond the clumsy stuff written in my diary at the time.
First, I do find the diary very clumsy. Looking back at both this year and the journey 26 years ago, I find a lot of it is complaining about being tired or bitching about a fellow traveller. These are not pretty traits, and I definitely need to work on both. I wish I was capable of writing much more profound and reflective writing at the time, situating my experience in a much more meaningful way. Sadly not, and what I am left with is brief data points, largely descriptions of whatever is filling my mind at that point. Far from being a reflective writing experience, the diary is usually vomit, written at a point where something has gone wrong, something hasn’t met expectation, or I’m just bored/tired/complaining. It colours the whole tone. I say some stupid stuff in the diary that makes me cringe, but I left it in because it’s what I say sometimes. I took some personal stuff out, just because it sometimes pertains to others, and I don’t want to annoy them. Other than that, the diaries are unedited.
On reflection, seen in hindsight of the total journeys, I am so glad to have done both trips. They hint at homesickness at the end, which is sincere. I reached a point on both trips where I missed my routines and wanted to go back. I think this is natural after a while, when the novelty of travelling wears off, and the enthusiasm (and money) wanes. My point at the end of the most recent diary, of whether I should start far from home and work my way back, is interesting. I may try that in future. There is certainly something about always getting further and further away that creates a sense of dread about the return leg. It wasn’t so pronounced when flying back from Sarajevo, but the first journey from Budapest to Paris was punishing.
There are some themes that I want to revisit. First is travelling alone and socialising. The first trip it is so more apparent of chatting to everyone and knowing their names. This is less common in the most recent trip. Harder to determine whether this is personal (my age, my confidence, whatever) or societal (phones, post 9/11 stranger danger) or a mixture of both or neither. One thing is for certain: the desire to share dorms for a budgetary or social reason is outweighed by the need for decent sleep. I’m too old now to manage multiple days of sleep deprivation, especially in the heat of the summer.
A second theme is the benefits of European Union versus the downsides. The currency was so much easier in the most recent trip, and so was spending on credit card rather than cash. On leaving the EU and entering Serbia and Bosnia, this was a pain in the ass. The freedom of movement around the Schengen area was also much smoother than the first time, although there is something quaint about the old school passport stamp. The downside is that Europe does feel a bit homogeneous as a result of some of this. It is possible to find same shops, same souvenirs, same foods. It gets edgier once you are out of it and some character returns, sometimes good, sometimes bad. But I met people who prefer the alternative experience of being outside of the European Union, where things are genuinely different.
A quick note on Interrailing itself. The app is okay. I found the process easy and never encountered a problem with it. I never encountered a problem with the old paper ticket either. There were people I met who preferred using the Flixbus network (which I used in the Balkans.) I can see the merit in this, although I prefer trains to coaches. I think it is a shame that the ability to just rock up in a city and book a couchette for that night has disappeared. I find it leads to a load of previous booking and planning which creates a domino effect if a train gets cancelled (looking at you European Sleeper – who still haven’t refunded me.)
Why even take this approach to travelling in the first place? I have spoken to a few people who find the charging around different cities each day to just be absurd and pointless, as what could you possibly experience in just a day? I think this criticism is valid and I sometimes agree. However, it is not the purpose to ‘do’ the city or tick it off a list. The objective was more to gather a vibe of a place, to determine whether you want to revisit more. I think of it like clothes shopping. You wander around the rack and try a few things on. You don’t just walk in a buy a single thing and either enjoy it or not. So it is a sort of taster session on a city… that’s my theory and I think it’s valid too.
Will I do it again? To be honest, I’m not sure. I would still like to see more of Western Europe like Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona and some more of France and Italy. I’d also like to see more of Albania, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Greece. And the Baltics. Do these need to be on train? Possibly not, although I would prefer to be overland rather than just hopping on and off of planes.
My hope is that it won’t be another 26 years before I actually get around to it…
