InterRail 2000

Travel Tales From Beyond The Brochure

Hello!

As a traveller, trains are by far my favourite form of transport. I find them comfortable, I like that I can just get up and walk around if I want to, I get a decent amount of legroom, and I can spend my time looking out the window at the passing scenery, which is invariably far more interesting than what the view out of a plane window. It's also the only form of transport I can sleep on in my seat, never mind the trains I've taken in the ex-Soviet states with flat bunk beds.

It's probably no suprise to learn then that one of my first travel adventures was very much centred on train travel. Back in 2000, me and my then fiancée Laure (originally a penpal of mine from France) did a trip using an inter-rail ticket around Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. This episode takes an overview of this trip, but also contrasting how travel blogging, the way I travel personally, and travel itself, has changed over the decades since.

Topics discussed in this episode are: * How I'm still injured from Parkrun * Background to our InterRail trip in the year 2000 * The ongoing issue of booking reservations for Spanish trains * Why is it so difficult to travel to Santiago de Compostela on Easter Sunday? Ah ... * Watching foreign television * Do Your Research Part 2: Revolution * ... I can tell you about the food but not about anything else! * It's not a scam, it just feels like it (twice) * Travels 'Beyond The Brochure' even in 2000 * Western stereotyping * The malefits and malefits of film cameras * Online mapping is a very useful tool * Gosh! A museum! * It's amazing how much we didn't do; a very fast form of slow travel * Dial-up internet and a lack of useful websites

A PDF transcript of this episode is available.

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Until next time, bye for now. :)