Written by:
Cecilia Lundström
When I got the confirmation that I had been accepted to speak at a conference in Zagreb, Croatia, flying there was immediately out of the question. The climate change related issues we are facing are too grave and serious for anyone not to avoid flying as much as possible. And besides, I prefer trains!
I work as a research assistant at the Department of History and for this conference, I talked about comic books as historical sources. I was in Croatia from April 15th-17th and spent in total a little over 60 hours on travelling back and forth (about 29 hours there and 32 hours back).
Now, this may sound excruciatingly painful. I realise that a two-hour flight sounds preferrable in all regards. But hear me out: despite setbacks and some issues along the way, I would not choose the plane over this even if we didn’t have a looming climate crisis over us. It was a great adventure in and of itself to go by train!
Why I prefer trains over flying:
- Trains are quiet and come with a great view. And trust me, my view was fantastic.
- You can move around more freely on a train.
- You can bring as many water bottles as you like 😉
- The most common argument I hear for flying is that it’s quicker, but here I could really spend all my time working, reading or doing other things instead of standing in queues at the airport.
- If something goes wrong, it’s usually easier to fix if you’re on the ground. If a train gets cancelled the next train will likely be maximum an hour or two away, whereas a cancelled plane could have you waiting for days.
- You get to explore so much more than just the country you are visiting! On my journey to Croatia, I got to see Germany and Slovenia as well (all right, Slovenia only from the train window).
- I got off the train, and I was already in the middle of it all – 5 minutes of walk from the hostel, 15 minutes of walk from the conference venue! No airport in the world would have you landing so central.
Here is how I travelled from Eslöv to Zagreb:
6:00 – 14:00: Eslöv to Hamburg, through Copenhagen
I start my journey from Eslöv (where I live) to Copenhagen at 6 in the morning. Tired and a bit nervous – I have never gone all the way to Croatia by train before!
After arriving in Copenhagen at 7:15 and having breakfast, I board the train to Hamburg and started the journey “for real”.
At 14:00, I arrive in Hamburg. In Hamburg, I throw myself at the nearest food stall and buy a sandwich, which I munch standing and looking around for my next train. Hamburg Main Station was huge, but surprisingly easy to navigate even for a chronically lost person like me.
15:00 – 21:00: Hamburg to Munich
The German countryside is amazing! Incredibly pretty landscapes running past my window all afternoon. By the time I arrive in Munich, it’s already past 21:00. Here, I have quite a lot of time, so I took a small walk around the neighbourhood before boarding the subway to get to Munich East station.
At Munich East, I have to wait for quite a while (the night train arrives at midnight). I’m already exhausted from travelling all day and just want the night train to be here. But I get a good look at the Umadum ferris wheel from the platform, glowing in neon colours.
After some confusion about which track the train leaves from, I find (what I believe is) the right track. And sure enough, after a few minutes the train to Zagreb arrives. I’m greeted by a nice German conductor who explains everything to me and asks for my ticket. I seem to be alone in my compartment and almost alone in the entire wagon.
Exhausted from a long day of travelling, I fall asleep quite quickly.
00:00-11:30 Munich East to Zagreb Main Station
I wake up to an absolutely breathtaking view. I roll around a bit in bed before I peek through the blinders and see Slovenia for the first time in my life. It’s foggy outside and incredibly pretty mountains going past me. I still have a few hours left until I arrive. I get out of bed, get dressed, brush my teeth and drink the gross protein shake I bought in Munich the night before. Then I just sit in the cabin, or stand in the aisle, and stare at the mountains. It’s fantastically soothing. Of all the trains on my journey, this was my favorite.
At around 11:30 I see Zagreb for the first time. I made it!
And the conference starts at 12. So as soon as I finish my 29 hour train ride, I walk straight over to the conference venue, get registered and am the third person to present. Not at all nervous, since I’m just exhausted from travelling (and happy that I made it).
Of course, I went back by train as well three days later, an equally fun but surreal experience. I think one of my most memorable moments was when I sat on the replacement bus on the way back from Copenhagen and realised I was back in Sweden again. It was unreal – I had really travelled that whole way all on my own, and it wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be.
My ambition is to be a nonflying researcher. As I am still junior in my career, I recognise that it may be difficult since I might find myself in a position where I cannot say no to things. And I will have to book flights for other researchers in my job. But as I’ve already said many times in this post – I would never pick flying over the adventure I had with the trains.
