Two years ago, as I still remember it, on a hot summer afternoon, I was browsing at the second hand book market under the Waterloo bridge, when I picked up The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux. I have put it down after two days, and decided that one day I would follow him, atleast till Istanbul or as I like to call it Constantinople. Agatha Christie, Graham Greene, Paul Theroux, and so many others did this trail from London to Istanbul by train, overland. Finally, after two years later, and after a lot of planning I am starting my trip the day after tommorow.
The original Oriental express, as it was called does not run anymore and the Orient express that replaces it is a luxury train, which I for one can't afford to take, and for two, is like travelling to Istanbul shut out from the rest of the world. So I had to make my own plans. It was not easy, checking the timetables, booking different trains, and being an Indian, getting visas to travel through Europe and visas to get into Turkey.But now, everything is set and ready to go. I will be blogging everyday during the trip from my phone, subject to availability of wifi.
My planned itinerary is
London Liverpool street - Amsterdam Centraal-by train and ferry
Amsterdam Centraal-Paris Nord-by high speed train Thalys
Paris Nord to Munich -by City Night line train
Munich to Budapest-by Rail Jet train
Budapest to Bucharest -by ordinary sleeping car train
Bucharest to Istanbul-by ordinary sleeping car train
I start in London liverpool street station on the 13th August at 6:25am, and will reach Istanbul on the 19th at 8:20am, with stopovers in Amsterdam and Paris.
Konda, So far so good. It is a good start anyway. Make it frequent to write blogs to know your whereabouts.
ReplyDeleteMom is asking what took you two days to write the first tranch of the blog.
Awaiting for more blogging.