The 31-hour argument for night trains
London to Zagreb by rail: what the timetable calls a delay, the journal calls the content.
Go slower. See more.
Dispatches from journeys taken at ground level — night trains, wrong buses, and the towns the guidebooks skip because nothing famous happened there.
Read the dispatchesRecent dispatches
From the road
The wrong bus to Koprivshtitsa
The mistake tax, paid in full: a missed connection, a mountain town, and the best day of the trip.
In defence of the unfamous town
Nothing happened here, says the guidebook. Everything is happening here, says the market square at 8am.
The current journey
London to Istanbul, no planes
1
Paris
France
Day 1
The night train south smells of coffee and possibility.
2
Zagreb
Croatia
Day 6
A café where the waiter corrected my order to the better thing. He was right.
3
Sofia
Bulgaria
Day 11
Wrong bus, right mountain village. The mistake tax paid dividends.
4
Istanbul
Türkiye
Day 14
Arrived by ferry at sunset, which is cheating, frankly.
“The plane sells you the destination. The train gives you the distance — and the distance is the point.”
One dispatch a fortnight, from wherever the rail pass ran out
