[Hardback, read aloud to Adelle]
Moonlight Express, Around the World by Night Train, by Monisha Rajesh
We have long thought about going on sleeper train services, circumstances have conspired to make that impractical for us. This book was a way for us to experience some of the romance of overnight train journeys without leaving our house.
We have previously read Around the World in 80 Trains by the same writer. She has an infectious enthusiasm for train travel, wanting to learn what she can about her fellow travellers. Night trains are an easier context to strike up conversations.
She starts out on the route of the Orient Express, and most of her journeys are around Europe, where there is a resurgence of sleeper trains. There are many different styles of train and ticket class covered by the book, from seated sleepers to luxury cabins. And many different levels of service and qualities of train, some are shabby old stock contrasting with slick newly commissioned carriages.
The Nordic journeys were my favourites, one each in Norway, Sweden and Finland, that descent into the tundra from the civilised and built up south. Although the journeys in India and South America also sounded amazing, in very different ways.
She travels with a variety of people, her family and various friends she has met in her previous travels. Each companion bringing a different viewpoint to her travels.
Books like this feed my wanderlust, but are not the same as being there yourself.
