Our roughly planned route
Since I announced my 2-months train trip around Europe with my mum, I’ve had a lot of questions from readers and people I speak to about it. So here are some of the most frequently asked questions and their answers.
The trip
When are you going? – From 16th July to 16th September – it comes to total of 63 days.
Where are you going? – Although nothing is concrete, we have a rough idea of cities we want to visit. Paris, Lourdes, Madrid, Barcelona, Marseille, Geneva, Zermatt and St Moritz (for the Glacier Express), Milan, Pisa, Rome, Florence, Venice, Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, Berlin and Amsterdam.
Why are you only going to Western Europe? – My mum hasn’t really travelled around Europe. Added to that she doesn’t speak much English or any other language means she’s not yet a confident traveller, so we are sticking to where she feels a little more comfortable.
How are you travelling? – By everything but a plane. We’re using the train from my home town of Edinburgh and all the way round Europe. I’m sure we’ll be using lots of buses and metro too and we’ll be taking the ferry home from Amsterdam to the UK. We didn’t really set out for this to be ‘no-plane’ challenge, but I really hate travelling, mum loves the train and more freedom in what we take means it’s the best option for us.
Are you using a rail pass? – Yes, mum has the 2-months unlimited Eurail pass and I have 2 x 10-day in 22 days Interail pass.
You’re not travelling on the same pass? – No. As a non-EU resident my mum is eligible to the Eurail pass which is considerably cheaper than the Interrail pass. Me, on the other hand, being a EU resident am only eligible to the Interail pass. In terms of price, mum’s 2-months unlimited pass (60 days of train travel) costs less than my 2 x 10-days in 22 days passes (20 days of train travel).
Traveling minimalist style
How much stuff are you taking? – As mentioned in my packing list, I’m taking an 18 litre backpack and a 4 litre hand bag (see it in action in this post) for a total of 22 litres of luggage space. There’s still plenty of room so I am currently toying with the idea of swapping out the handbag for a Packsafe hip pack.
Why are you taking so little? – Life is just a whole lot easier if you can travel ultra light. Getting on and off transport is easier, you can walk for longer, and pack up faster in each hotel. It also makes you more flexible – say if your train arrives early in the morning (as you tend to with sleeper trains) you can just do some sight seeing with your luggage rather than having to find a hotel or a locker to dump your luggage first. Travelling with just a small backpack is also safer as you’re not forced to leave your luggage in the luggage holder far away from your seat on buses and trains.
How are you going to survive with so little stuff? – Only having one spare trousers and two spare tops is not as bad as it sounds. If you can just spend 5 minutes each day washing your clothes in the hotel sink, you can actually do with just one spare set of clothes in the summer as I did on my 10-day trip to Spain recently. So taking two sets of spare clothes is actually more than enough. Besides the clothes, I have my toiletries, medication and stationery, what more can a girl need? I’m not taking any make up with me, but that’s because I don’t own any!
Is this the first time you are travelling minimalist? – No, I’ve been travelling ultra-light for just over a year now. I’ve done a 5-day trip to Isle of Skye, another 5-day trip around the Scottish Highlands, 9-day trip to Vienna and Brussels and my most recent 10-day trip to Spain with my 4 litre Packsafe Citysafe 100 handbag. I also did a 2-week trip around UK in spring with a 15 litre bag. Once you go ultra-light, it’s hard to go back because your eyes are opened to how easy travelling can be. If you are thinking of going ultra minimalist for a big trip, I highly recommend taking one or two smaller trips beforehand to test out your gear and fine tune your packing list.
Why don’t you take a wheeled case? Won’t they be easier to carry? – Yes wheeled cases are superb for taking the weight off your luggage but I have several reasons why I personally don’t like them:
- They have a massive desire to hit every seat along the isle of the train/plane/bus, annoying any passengers sitting in the victimised seats.
- No matter how small the cases are, you are forced to put them in the luggage holder on buses and trains, far away from your actual seat. You have to then spend the entire duration of your journey hawk-eyeing your luggage and panicking at each stop because you think someone is going to take your luggage.
- They act like a drunken idiot when you are trying to pull them over a cobbled street – loud and stumbling around the pavement – and there are lot of cobbled streets in Europe.
- They encourage you to take more stuff since wheeled cases tend to only come in one or two sizes.
The people
You and your mum must be real close to be travel for 2 months? – Emotionally yes, but but we’ve also spent 22 years of my 32 year life living on the other side of the world from each other. Since I was 10 years old, I have lived in the UK (going to a boarding school then a string of universities) whilst my family lived in Japan. We speak to each other on the phone weekly, but we haven’t really spent any time with each other. The longest we’ve ever spent 24-hours a day with each other has been 10 days.
Aren’t you two going to fall out? – Yes. We’re two very strong minded women, who like their own spaces and never lived at close quarters with each other. Of course we’re going to fall out! But beyond falling out, with lots of patience, will come a deeper understanding of each other, deeper connection to each other and one heck of an amazing experience together. Either that or we’ll kill each other – either way, we can whole heatedly say we tried!
Is James not going with you? – No, he’s unsurprisingly not able to take 2 whole months off work to travel with us as much as I would so love him to. He will however be flying out to visit us on three weekends, which will make being away from him a little more bearable.
What about your dad? – You know, I thought I’d never say this but for the first time in my life I can whole hearted say it’s useful to have a dad that has a secret second family. My father had set up and maintained two families for decades (which I found out about 5 years ago). Although this has caused countless hardships and heart aches, my mother has turned the situation around and told him to go and stay with his other family. So that’s where he’ll be for the 3 months she is away from home.
And finally
What are you most looking forward to? – Food, art and really getting to know the woman that is my mother. I know my mother well but only in her role as my mother. I am dying to get to know the person that is behind that character. I want to know what her likes and dislikes her when she doesn’t’ have to make decision based on the fact that she is a wife and a mother. I’m also looking forward to learning about travelling for extended periods of time as it’ll be a great learning opportunity for James and mine big travel-around-the-world plan.
What are you most worried about? – Getting on with my mother, not quitting half way through, being away from James, having to do all the travel arrangement, having to translate for my mother all the time, dealing with her hatred for having to rely on anyone (this has caused us some big issues in our past travels), and getting tired of travelling for so long.
Do you have any other questions about the big trip?
About Dr. Akiyo Kano
Best wishes for your trip – I’m sure it will turn out wonderful. I should say though that even if it doesn’t, I’m sure everything will be ok. I say that because I went on a trip tp Europe a number of years ago with a dear childhood friend. It was my hope that this trip would bring us closer together (we lived in different cities) and enhance our friendship. All went well for the first while but a few days before we returned to North America, we had a falling out. I have emotional problems in my past and well, it didn’t help during our falling out. My friend didn’t talk to me on the plane ride home (she sat in a different seat) and I was too scared and crying to talk. My husband met me at the airport but my friend had already left. I thought I would try and write her a few weeks later, which I did, but she never wrote back. I tried to reconnect over the years, but she refused. It was heartbreaking. I still miss her friendship. I pray one day she will try and reach back out, but I need to respect her desire to have ended our friendship. It’s painful but I’m slowly learning everything will be ok, with or without my friend. I just thought I’d mention my story..in case you feel things are at their worst, please remember they aren’t. If I can survive, anyone can. I’m learning patience too….and time does help.
Hi Jo, thank you so much for sharing your story with me. It is partly very scary to hear stories like this, but it is also strengthening to know about them. I am finding your comment about how if I was feelings things are at their worst that they are not. I am sure your words will be ringing in my head during the trip. Thank you very very much. I am so sorry that it happened though, and I really hope that one day your friend will return to you. If not, just remember that friends come in three types – friends for a reason, seson and a life time.
On a different note, can I ask how long did you go for? Where was the best place you visited?
Hi Akiyo,
I’ve been to many countries in Europe but for this trip my friend and I were mainly in England for 3 weeks. This was her first time in England but I was born there and still have relatives (been back many times). I did all the planning and we generally stayed in B&B’s. I think she had a good time (before the end that is). We had Britrail passes too. A few times, she felt like staying in and I took the pass to visit relatives or see other parts of the country so we weren’t together 24/7. I like your quote on friends – I think my friend for a lifetime is my husband of 16 yrs…we went to Italy for a week once and had a wonderful time. Of course, we had an argument’ toward the end of that too (not sure what it is and ends of trips with me) but my husband never gives up on me and that is why I think will be there for a lifetime (I hope so anyway). Good luck with your trip…try and enjoy each day
Really glad to hear that your husband is for life. I think knowing that you are never going to give up on each other is so important. It allows you to explore corners of your relationship that are really hard to deal with, but would gain greatly by doing so. Most of the time, people are too polite to ‘go there’. I know my mum would never give up on me because if she was inclined to do so, she would’ve diffinately done it by now!
Where did you go in Italy? Do you have any recommendations? You will have to come and visit us next time you are in the UK. Edinburgh isn’t that far from anywhere in England these days with faster trains
Hi, I went to Rome in Italy (we stayed at a convent near the Coliseum, loved it!) and Turin. It was a fast week but that was all the time we had away from our kids (they stayed behind with relatives). We went to Turin to see the Shroud (this was in 2010 when it was on exposition) as I am very interested in it. My faith isn’t traditional but it helps me a lot. We might be in the UK next year. I’ve never been to Edinburgh and would love to visit (I just wish Europe wasn’t so expensive). This time, I will have my 2 children with me, they are teenagers. Teenagers are expensive too but we really want them to see as much of the world as possible. We have relatives in Scotland so hopefully we can visit them too. Lots of planning when you have a family. Enjoy your holidays!