Travelling 6,000km by train

[@NotJustBikes]

You're making me so jealous! Now I need to take a trip to Trondheim (I hear it has some of the highest levels of cycling for a hilly city). It's sometimes said of train travel that the journey IS the destination, and I think you captured that feeling here. Plane travel is fast, but it's painful. And while train travel may be longer (depending on the trip and how early you have to check in at the airport), it can be much, much more enjoyable. I remember when my wife and I finished our 5½ day train trip from Moscow to Beijing, it was so enjoyable that we didn't want to get off of the train!

[@SondreBKrogh]

If you go, you should check out the trampe bicycle lift!

[@jesper2k]

It also has it's own Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trampe_bicycle_lift

[@AndrewReesonLeather]

I've also taken the Moscow to Beijing train. I remember hopping of the train in Beijing at 4:30am and thinking that it was a surprisingly quick six days. Even though I lived off noodles in a tiny cabin the whole time, I enjoyed the whole thing. At no point was it draining in the same way a long flight is. I'm very glad I did it.

[@Felix-nz7lq]

Trondheim is also home to the World’s most Northern and Pointless Tram line so there’s that too

[@gurito4374]

@@Felix-nz7lq and don’t forget to buy a buss ticket (before the buss is even in the station) cuz the fine is 100€

[@AFAndersen]

As a Norwegian, I have a duty to remind everyone that the ship "Vasa" sank on it's maiden voyage, only after about 20 minutes of sailing, because of a gust of wind.

[@denklokegud]

And a lack of computer modeling, that placed most of the heavy stuff to high in the ship. Still a great ship it just does not handle seas or any other body of water very well. Still love the swedes, and Sweden in general.

[@ericdew2021]

The Vasa Museum was, by far, the most interesting and intriguing place I went to in Stockholm. The level of scholarship and research is incomparable. They've detailed practically what each person ate that morning, where they were when the ship started to sink, how their clothes were made... everything.

[@BiasOfficialChannel]

In other words ‘terrible designed’

[@dijikstra8]

​@@denklokegud The ship designers were definitely aware that the ship was not very stable, they were experienced ship builders from all over Europe. They even performed tests by running people from side to side before the maiden voyage that indicated it was not stable, but no one was brave enough to tell this to the king lest he get upset, so they made it go away, with catastrophic results.

[@lordrindfleisch1584]

And as a Swede, I have a duty to remind everyone that it was designed by a dutchman

[@lairdmikeywood]

I'm proud of you for not having flown, and for having met Greta Thunberg. She does look like Greta Thunberg.

[@engineeringvision9507]

When did you last fly?

[@lairdmikeywood]

@@engineeringvision9507 2007. My parents are going to die alone.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

When she showed up on the screen I seriously thought, hmm, she looks like Greta Thunberg. Then I realized Simon said her name was Greta and it clicked.

[@COMEINTOMYWORLD]

Greta Thunberg, has a carbon footprint caused by using flights. She has now, somewhat late to the party, decided to cut back on FLYING. Yes, really.

[@Alexander_Dunn]

She has to be Greta thunberg

[@sanderhoefsloot6852]

I really love train journeys. We travelled by train from Amsterdam to Paris for a few days and not only the days in Paris but the journey itself was just super comfortable and fun. I do agree the price is intense, but the actual travelling exprerience is also great. Lets hope travelling by train gets cheaper :)

[@robot4jarvis836]

Hey, mr. Moon. I am mr. Red Moon. Nice to meet you.

[@dredfell]

UK peak time train travel is bat-sh!t crazy expensive - up here in Scotland, ScotRail is now managed by the government (as of about a week ago), so aye, here’s hoping they’ll reduce the peak time fares, or at the very least not continue drastically increasing the fares.

[@pingu99991]

Becoming disabled has made these videos much more stressful to view. When level boarding isn't an option every changeover becomes a double point of failure that can have a cascading impact on the whole trip. If you can't make it off or onto the train you're screwed. I've been on a European train journey before and really enjoyed it but I fear that today it would cause too much anxiety. Plane travel isn't that much more accessible. Not long ago a disability activist died when their wheelchair got broken by American airlines. This isn't an uncommon occurrence, however there are still better procedures for helping disabled people in airports than there are at train stations. This needs to change for more climate conscious travel to become a realistic option for disabled people.

[@rfldss89]

I rarely think of the struggle disabled people go through to travel by train, yet sometimes even for able bodied people it can be quite the feat. I'm sure theres some reasoning behind it, but its a shame most stations arent built level with train entrances...

[@dylanhamilton1441]

I travelled by train on crutches once, and when I raised how inaccessible it was online someone just responded "well why did you go then." Really depressing that the response should be we just shouldn't travel...

[@drdewott9154]

Thank god trains with level boarding are becoming more and more common, even for intercity and high speed trains. Like all the new trains in Denmark, including the 200km/h high speed trains that'll be delivered in a few years, will all have step free level boarding.

[@swedneck]

@@drdewott9154 It's something i'm very proud of my regional transit for, everything has a minimum level of accessibility now.

[@aileenmarzanna]

No shit. I "just" have Aspergers, and unfortunately, unlike Greta Thunberg, I do not have filthy rich parents (or any at all), and for me, often, it's the choice between air travel to get quick from point A to point B, or staying at home. I love traveling by train, and in Poland it's relatively affordable to take a night train across the country and have a cabin for myself, but not so much in other countries. Unless I can put at least an "extra" train in between connections and arrive to my destination before trains stop running, it's air travel for me. Otherwise, the anxiety is just too much. Which kind of limits my train travel to like Poland, Germany, Czechia and just into Benelux. Same with veganism. I have celiakia and some food intolerances, and I will never be able to be vegan, unless some major things change (like corn flour becoming the main staple additive rather than wheat flour) - which are unlikely to happen. I'd love to eat vegan, I just can't. Can't afford it, don't have the time to prepare it myself. Despite the fact that I'm economically quite on the left and have rather progressive views, I often feel that my needs are more accepted by the right-wing conservatives than the left-wing progressives. And being a transgender woman from Poland, that says a lot.

[@berlineczka]

Fun fact WRT traditional meatless food: one of the European countries that has plenty of vegetarian and some vegan (and some more that can be relatively easy "veganised") traditional food is Poland. The peasants were often too poor to eat meat, and many in the the nobility were devout Catholics who fasted for a third of the year. In result a big part of traditional Polish cuisine is meatless. If you are pescetarian, then your choice is even better (as e.g. the Christmas dinner is traditionally pescetarian and fasting is also a big part of the Good Week, so plenty of Eastern veggie options too). So, if you are interested, you may like a visit (after Ukraine wins and the people can come back home safely, and there are hotel rooms in Poland available again).

[@wolfgangkranek376]

OK Vegan.

[@skittlesryan7862]

When I was stationed in Schweinfurt Garmany, the other soldiers used to take a train every weekend to go to Italy or Amsterdam. Trains are awesome in Europe. I just wish they would improve our train experience here in the states.

[@1224chrisng]

Yes, I reckon trains should play a bigger part of travel in the US, but we also have to acknowledge the differences. Europe is tiny and dense, whereas the US is mostly empty/farmland. I think trains should take over shorter flights so that people can fly more sparingly (eg. next state over vs. NY to LA)

[@TAP7a]

@@1224chrisng the US is already full of railway tracks, and ran for a century on the back of them. The infrastructure exists. It's just owned by freight operators rather than passenger lines or the public or a regulatory body or otherwise. Just like with the world class and exemplary public transport systems that US cities used to have before becoming some of the least well provisioned in the developed world, this favourable situation for the public was dug up and replaced by car-centrism and car-centric development

[@yeetyeet7070]

I too just wish they would improve our train experience here in the Germanies :(

[@rleitros9378]

@@1224chrisng There is surely an excellent case for high speed rail ( c. 200mph ) in the NY / Boston / Washington / Chicago area and LA to SF. Possibly LA / Vegas / Dallas / Denver area. Any thoughts anyone?

[@MrCrackheadst]

@@TAP7a Europe has been developing its high speed rail since the 80's. We talk about 100's of billions of investment Spain,france,germany, italy... Big buisnesses and the price of construction drops since the actual industry of high speed technology actually hss existed for decades. In USA this kinds of developments have to be imported from japan or europe, plus the distances are huge . In my opinion high speed in USA only makes sense on the east coast.

[@TheSmil1001]

I was lucky enough to see the talk, and it was great as expected! Both educational and fun. Great video as well!

[@SimonDonkers]

I’ve had several 700 km business trips recently where I convinced the company to get train rather then car/plane and it’s a great way to travel. Your much more productive in a train too. For most trips it’s difficult to justify the extra traveling time though. Having better and faster connections in the EU would help greatly.

[@rfldss89]

an absolute shame there isnt a pan european high speed rail network. spanning from glasgow to athens and lisbon to helsinki, what a dream.👀

[@megs2000]

aww what a nice video about trai... IS THAT GRETA THUNBERG???

[@iacobnedreaas3360]

We loved having you, and its a bonus to have a small feature in your video aswell. truer word have never been spoken "if its good weather"

[@plainlake]

Kind of sad that you only travelled at night Oslo-Trondheim, some stunning views to be had.

[@ncard00]

Who cares, people don’t care about beautiful views, the experience, or climate change, or they would also ditch flying tomorrow. Low cost, on time departures, and speed makes the train a better option.

[@edouard1580]

I can only (cynically) laugh at the train delays in Germany. I'm from there so I unfortunately know how often trains are delayed, this came as no surprise. Not funny indeed, but it's either laugh or cry.

[@jameskilgour387]

It's no different from the West of England so don't feel to bad - we're used to it

[@manoncramer8603]

I had the same reaction 😅 Deutsche bahn really is always late

[@matearabar5821]

Being late is so on brand for DB 😂

[@Friek555]

German always seem to think they have a monopoly on delayed trains... Guess what: Trais get delayed everywhere. It's just what happens when you run a system at capacity.

[@connecticutmultimodaltrans8226]

Oh y'all ain't got anything to say compared to the US. Long-distance trains are delayed by hours every day.

[@bork9231]

I have been doing Exeter - Abisko in Sweden every September for a few years now, and I can do nothing else than fully agree with you. Seeing the landscape change, meeting people along the way. Train is a part of the trip, and really makes you enjoy the journey instead of teleporting you directly to your arrival location. Cheers mate, see you for Pint of Science

[@maartenw4827]

I'll be doing an Erasmus exchange to NTNU next year, but I figured I'd have to fly given the distance. You may have changed my mind :)

[@maartenw4827]

Coming back to this after the fact. I did it! I travelled all the way by train. :D

[@thegerda9030]

Cant wait for RailBaltica, which will connect the Baltic countries to the rest of Europe through train, and I hope I get to properly travel with train from that moment onwards

[@benas_st]

me too! It'll be so cool to finally be able to travel all across!

[@u1zha]

Night train in Norway has its drawbacks - you probably missed beautiful waterfall views and fjord cliff faces in huge numbers... (Or well, maybe not so many on Trondheim - Oslo route, but Bergen line is super enjoyable in RailCowGirl and other channels)

[@aronwidforss]

As a Swede living in Norway, I must say: 1) Welcome to Norway! 2) I'm glad you didn't take the Swedish night train to Trondheim (or rather Duved with connection to Trondheim). Our railroad cars have seen better days. But they'll get you from Stockholm to Narvik, which is an impressive distance, even for someone who rides that train routinely.

[@barvdw]

I agree they have seen better days, but honestly, I quite like the woodwork interior of the trains, and prices are generally a bit lower than on the Norwegian network. And especially to return, it's a little more time-efficient, as you can combine night trains both from Duved to Stockholm and Stockholm to Hamburg. Travelling via Oslo is a bit of a detour.

[@Zelmel]

I wish that the US would implement more actually usable train lines. I love trains, but considering that there's no high speed lines worth mention and anything beyond short regional trips become quickly expensive, it just isn't feasible. I would happily even take the time it currently takes to do cross-country just for fun, but the cost is just obscene.

[@jameskilgour387]

Yeah, it's tough when you can book a flight to Latvia for like 10 quid, but Bristol to London is like 50. Absolutely insane - but I do prefer to travel by rail when possible

[@johntousseau9380]

The US has one high speed line. It's from DC to Boston. I heard the NY to Boston part the speed is limited because the track is in poor condition. I can confirm that DC to NY is higher speeds. 100mph/160kph. Still Europe and Asia high speed rail blows that out of the water.

[@Zelmel]

@@johntousseau9380 Yeah, it's "high speed" compared to other places in the US, but it's still pretty pathetic. It's also pretty expensive.

[@henryginn7490]

This is amazing! This looks far far better than taking a plane, and it's nice to see someone else who takes the climate seriously and avoids unnecessary plane journeys

[@DystopiaJunkie]

As someone who lives in Birmingham... yeah, totally fair. (Amazing video as ever, Simon!)

[@VirtualTurtleGames]

Awesome! And I totally agree with you, traveling slow is a much better way of experiencing the landscapes and the true distance you're traveling. The only problem I've experienced so far is trains being late, causing me to miss the next one, and then having to pay for a new ticket because my old one isn't valid for any other train than I originally booked it for. There are some big improvements that can be made to the system, but overall it's still my go-to for traveling!

[@supermanifolds]

Glad to see you enjoyed your time in Norway! Some day you should take the train over from Oslo to Bergen in the day time, it's really beautiful!

[@dyver123]

As a Dane and a longtime viewer, seeing you briefly being in Copenhagen and sitting in the train that I've taken God knows how many times filled me with joy! Hopefully you will get to come back and explore the city properly ^^

[@eliaspohl5741]

Amazing, i love that youre not just saying what we have to do to be the best possible people for the environment, but we also have to enjoy things like you did. Youre amazing i love your vids

[@bracco23]

I do appreciate slow travel and the wonderful experiences that it brings, but the truth is that unless you are REALLY into reducing your carbon footprint and have great autonomy in travel decisions, it is not something that the majority of people can afford to do. Above about 1000km/600miles, it just doesn't really makes sense, and that distance really stands only with an efficient rail network.

[@wolfgangpreier9160]

Yes. Up to about 900 - 1200 km it’s actually cheaper and sometimes even faster when I drive my Tesla.

[@noeljonsson3578]

@@wolfgangpreier9160 do you include the car’s initial cost along with that? and the tax amount it costs to maintain the roads?

[@wolfgangpreier9160]

@@noeljonsson3578 Tax amount to maintain roads??? Whats that? Every user of the roads has to pay. Even trolleys, bicycles and trekker. Either via local community taxes for local roads or yearly toll for passenger cars or kilometer-toll for lorries and above. Of course i do include all costs. VW Golf TSI costs me 33.73,-- Euros and 32 Eurocents/km. Tesla Model Y costs me 59.645,-- and 21 cents/km Both with 15000km per year. My use case is 50.000km a year. Skoda Enyaq iV 60: 9,7 cents/km Model 3: 14,5 cents/km Model Y: 12 cents/km Golf TSI: 15,69 cents/km Model S Plaid: 46 cents/km Model X Plaid: 47 cents/km Porsche Taycan Grand Tourismo: 55 cents/km Rivian R1S: 42 cents/km Cybertruck QM: 27 cents/km Rivian R1T: 33 cents/km VW Crafter electric: 26 cents/km VW Crafter Diesel: 41 cents/km

[@noeljonsson3578]

@@wolfgangpreier9160 yes taxes do pay for road maintenance cost so it’s not something a person would think about for any specific trip of course, as it’s divided up amongst most taxpayers instead. i was mostly curious about wether you did include the initial cost of the car, which it’s great that you did. have had quite a few not do that before which obviously does make it a bad comparison.

[@Sam-gf6ue]

That's why flying itself isn't an issue. But we should aim to offset the necessary carbon emissions through other means

[@stevieinselby]

That looks like an amazing journey 😍 - I definitely need to get myself over the Scandinavia.

[@JKVisFX]

I fell in love with Norway (Norge) 22 years ago when I went there on my honeymoon. We visited Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Leganger, and Steinkjer. It was the best trip I ever went on. That marriage didn't last but my love for Norway has never faded. If I could return permanently, I would move to Trondheim for sure. I found the same thing you did, just the peace and calm and the amazing, abundant, surrounding natural beauty. Damn, I miss that country.

[@Mugtree]

Absolutely love this. This is how I travel. In 1996 I went by train from Bristol to københaven, Stockholm, Narvik, Oslo and home. Amazing. Bought tickets as I went and the internet wasn’t really a thing then and know what you mean about Norway. It’s my happy place. This winter I went skiing in Italy and traveled by train with my skis. Bristol to London to Brussels to Frankfurt to Munich night train to Venice then bus and taxi to the hotel. Absolutely bloody love traveling by train. So so so relaxing. As I said. Brilliant video 👍

[@jakoblien5907]

Hi Simon, just wanted to say I really appreciated meeting you after your talk at Realfagsdagene, and I’m glad you liked visiting Trondheim. I do hope you’ve checked out Snowpiercer by now:)

[@natox78]

I went to a conference in Rome by train. I had an afternoon in Paris then a morning in Milan. It was such a good journey.

[@MothsAreTheBest]

At 15:23 its so weird to see you chilling where my mom does her daily walk xD

[@SimonClark]

Wow, lucky mum!

[@StianOke]

So glad you liked Trondheim and Norway! I was sad to not be able to go watch the lecture but i got ill with the cove :/ Maybe you could do a lecture at the university of Oslo some day, that would be really amazing! Would gladely show you around! Thnx for the good content as allways!

[@millezenith]

Happy to say I've been to all these train stations except Bath and Cologne (and Trondheim, I just realized)

[@esbenstenwig4864]

i love this video. I live on Norway, my birthday is the 25th of march (the day you posted the vid) and i love trains!

[@pauledwards9493]

5:11 Upside down mask game for the win 🤣 We've all done it.

[@Ysmeril]

Great video, I love those train travel journeys. But why on earth did you pick night trains between Oslo and Trondheim ? I would have added another day just to be able to see that route by daylight.

[@tadhgtwo]

Simon, great video. I loved seeing how travel across Europe can be done by train. Having been in Brussels train station, I can confirm the surrounding area is not that great. But I am hoping when you compared it to Birmingham, you didn't have my experience of walking out the wrong door and finding yourself in the red light district.

[@engineeringvision9507]

The other door isn't much better.

[@esquilax5563]

Sounds like you were in Brussels North. The Eurostar comes into Brussels South, which also isn't in a great area, but doesn't have a red light district. At least, I'm pretty sure it doesn't. There are several in the city, but I've been to that station a lot and never noticed one

[@BlueMountain1992]

-Enters Norway -Civ 6 Norway Atomic theme plays As a Norway main, I appreciate that reference!

[@xtieburn]

It was a few years ago now, but going across just England (Which is probably the biggest waste of CO2 an individual can produce.) flights were considerably cheaper than the train, and only 20 quid more than National Express. Its also pretty much done in 2 hours vs 8+ hours by the other forms. You expect things to be slower, but wiping out an entire day for a comparatively tiny trip is daft. This is to say nothing about the fact that different services on the train trip had entirely different carrying allowances, some of which they simply wouldnt tell you about. The ticket site would literally warn you that half way through your trip, depending on how much use they were seeing you might simply not be able to take your luggage with you... So, yeah, trains could be a great help with CO2 emissions, if... you know... the service wasnt utterly and embarrassingly rubbish in almost every conceivable way. (In case people were wondering. I almost always just take the National Express regardless, which thanks to the seating and environment is an experience that can best be described as: Someone who smells faintly of urine trying to slowly break your back for 9 hours.)

[@drdewott9154]

Thank god budget train operators are becoming a thing though. Recently a new train got launched on the route between London and Edinburgh under the name "Lumo" for which tickets all the way between London and Scotland usually only sit at around 20-30 pounds.

[@NikoBellic04]

You must have passed by my hometown of Halmstad, Sweden. Cool.

[@ninaliljan235]

Oh my goodness, you really should have gotten a day train at least one of the trips to/from Trondheim! The view for so much of this journey is just baffling.

[@jamesarthur67]

‘Train twitcher’, I love that way of putting it 🤣

[@ScratchMonkeys]

Some great documentation of this trip. As a Brit living in Norway, the method of travel for visiting the UK is always a difficult decision. I would rather not fly and I am a big fan of trains but setting aside 2-3 days either end for train travel is also not practical for shorter visits. As other comments have mentioned, another issue is the price difference: It is still possible to get plane tickets for £10!! I am guessing your interrail pass was over £200. Many of us long for the return of a ferry service between Scandinavia and the UK, although be careful what you wish for as some ferries can match flights for passenger emissions. For now I am just not traveling to see relatives as much and wishing for one or more of the following: more high speed rail, more night trains, hydrogen planes, low emission ferries or teleportation.

[@erikconfirmed1865]

9:28 when I was in Oslo one summer I also went on the opera house around noon but forgot to bring sunglasses. I still recall how much my eyes hurt by just standing on that white shining building for half an hour 😅

[@aron5377]

Wow, love the message, and awesome to see these vlog-type videos again. Kinda makes me sad we don't have any trains in my country.

[@Valent_Nomad_vlog]

Nice video but fast train 🙂🙂🙂 Travelling by train in Romania 🇷🇴 is definitely an adventurous ❤ and enjoyable 😀 experience that offers you the chance to know better the country and its inhabitants … 🙂🙂🙂🙏 People very curious when recording in train 🙂🙂

[@mrfuzz987]

I really enjoyed this video! It had all of my favorite things: trains, travel, climate, and Simon!

[@herpetiderp]

I was literally 100 meters away from this talk and I seemed to miss it …

[@WMfin]

In my utopian dream life I would travel. Not with planes to as many places as possible but slowly all around.. Now in this modern dystopia it's a question of "have you grinded enough cash" and "how soon do you need to go back to grinding again". Star Trek future can't come fast enough! Madventures taught me an old wisdom: travel at speed in which your soul can keep up too.

[@Shilly]

From someone who is experiencing debilitating chronic illness, I can only dream of doing something like this one day. I hope that day comes for me. Such a beautiful journey, thanks for bringing me on it virtually.

[@spectator4096]

So many moments and snippets of why I love travelling by train, and why I try do it when I can. That looked like such a fun journey to take, and so many cool places you got to go to! Awesome video , I loved it! Got some good b-roll 👍 (side note: I have experienced that feeling of difference between travel time and duration of reason for travel so many times)

[@lyra9767]

I got selected for PhD in NTNU now my goal is to travel to UK by train😌🤞

[@wallysonthomas]

I would love being a PhD student in mechanical engineering at NTNU university. How can I find a supervisor in mechanical vibrations in NTNU? I also would like to visit the city. Could you help me visit the city around?

[@hananas2]

Oo I love those low/high pod rooms, stayed in one twice and had a great time, so efficient as well!

[@macjonte]

Took the sleeper train Stockholm - Berlin last month. It was great! About 5-6 hours of beers in the bar, sleep and wake up next to the hotel. Better than plane and actually cheaper. I also took sleeper to the ski mountains in the north of Sweden from Stockholm. It was nice. Need more sleeper connections, none Oslo - Hamburg/Berlin yet.

[@nakenmil]

Husmannskost means something like "tenant farmer's diet". Ie. the food of the working poor.

[@326Alan]

Has anyone found the Swedish Wikicast?? Can’t find it anywhere

[@LKNL13]

I travelled from Austria to Florence by train going through Germany and Switzerland. One of the best things I done

[@ingerjuni]

As a student at NTNU gløshaugen, who loves traines, this is probably one of my favourite KZbin videoes!

[@pflaumen-august2833]

I did almost the same trip like you. But from my hometown Karlsruhe in Germany up to Jörn in Lappland (Sweden). I had a layover in Göteborg as the night train departed 30min prior to my arrival in Göteborg. So I slept in Göteborg had a day there and got on the night train to Northern Sweden. The way back I took the night train to Stockholm as I could use a connection directly to Copenhagen and i could catch the last direct ICE of the day from Hamburg to my hometown. It was just an amazing experience with the big bridges in Denmark, the amazing swedish night train and overall the landscape in Winter . The advantage of this trip except the enviromental point was that it was way cheaper than flying and i saw 2600km amazing landscapes and Had an amazing Journey for 28h... A month earlier i went to Vienna and Budapest via train also an amazing experience :) I would defintly recommend doing such train trips through Europe when you got the time and sometimes the Money to do it. Sometimes you have to expect some compromises like having a break in your journey. But its definetly worth it. I'm also planning my next trips to Edinburgh and Valencia visiting friends of mine. It's just amazing where you can go in Europe via train. I just like it :)

[@candytoo3729]

Hi Simon. Great video and yes Trondheim is beautiful. My grandfather was from there and immigrated to Newfoundland. I love Bristol and had a thought that hopefully you will get a chance to speak at Memorial University of Newfoundland, since Newfoundland and Bristol are connected through history. Happy thoughts from the "Rock", which we Newfoundlanders call our island home. BTW lived in England for 10 years and Bristol was one of my fav cities.

[@EirikHFD]

19: 57 Wow, she looks just like Greta, how quaint 😆

[@cauchyschwarz9759]

Train travel is one of the great joys of travelling and life. Some times its just worth to take a short ride to.. well anywhere. Literally get to a train station and board the next train :)

[@martinstent5339]

As you see here, one of the best things about travelling by train is that the stations are typically right in the town centre. If you travel by aeroplane, you will get dumped in some airport miles out of town, and have to commute to the centre. Here we see that Brussels, Köln, Hamburg and Kopenhagen all have stations right in the heart of their city centres.

[@michaelbothwell9026]

This is lowkey one of my favourite videos of yours Simon!

[@MirkoC407]

That pretzel in Cologne was anything else than traditional. It is today eaten all over Germany but has its roots in the south, with Bavaria and Swabia fighting over the honour of its invention. Typically in Cologne you would have a "Halver Hahn", which literally translates to "half a chicken" but despite its name is a rye breadroll with dutch cheese.

[@mikevale3620]

Just stumbled upon your trip report Simon which is almost the same as a trip myself and two other Aussie friends did in July/August 2019...phew, the last year before COVID! Except we travelled by train from Penzance UK to Bodo, Norway, as far north as you can travel in Norway...thence the daily ferry service to Kirkenes at the top of Norway, way past the Arctic Circle. Yes, I too fell in love with Norway and in particular, Trondheim, Bergen and of course Oslo. I want to experience the same journey again when the war is over.

[@bademba2606]

Pity that you took the night train to and from Trondheim. I took the same route by train from Amsterdam a few years back and trust me when I say the view between Trondheim and Oslo is stunning!

[@Nighthunter006]

You missed out on the best views on the trip! Dovrebanen (Oslo-Trondheim) is absolutely stunning in day time (though I'm sure you had more than enough considerations when planning).

[@barvdw]

Absolutely. I was just a little more impressed with Bergensbana, but Dovrebana is definitely up there. I hope I get the opportunity to visit Nordlandsbanen as well...

[@Timmie1995]

I was already planning on visiting Prague by train in August, staying 2 weeks, and interrailing through Eastern Europe, but you've made me so much more excited with this video. And now I want to visit Trondheim as well.

[@sarahb.m.5730]

Love this Simon! So great to see more people choosing trains over planes 🚅 Thank you for sharing your experience with others and highlighting the benefits of travelling slowly 🙌🏼 I’m also hoping to do this journey in the next year or so v useful to get a preview 👀

[@MrStark-up6fi]

Taking the plane is cringe

[@manuelcampagna7781]

Train spotting, Simon, and riding.

[@maybevoldemort8995]

Really interesting to watch. The challenge for me is living in the UK and having family in Florida. We’ve committed to not flying other than to Florida very rarely but it all seems redundant at that point. We can’t just say we will never see family again, though….

[@CoBy_CoBy-97]

made me curious how you could to America with out a plane or cruise ship as they are even worse for the environment, and aparently you can pay to take a cargo-ship across the atlantic for 100-150 euros per day. still takes about 15 days but just found it interesting

[@maybevoldemort8995]

@@CoBy_CoBy-97 yeah, I’ve explored that. It simply isn’t viable as we have a kid and it just takes too long. Would totally do it otherwise

[@Jason-gq8fo]

I wouldn’t worry about it too much tbh, if you only fly once or twice a year it doesn’t matter that much

[@simonabunker]

@@CoBy_CoBy-97 I think a member of the Swedish Wikicast managed to do it, but it's definitely not simple or easy.

[@CoBy_CoBy-97]

@@simonabunker Yeah doesnt seem easy but definatly interesting

[@jnliewmichael4235]

Dunno why but I immediately thought of this XD Next time, "I'll be hosting a talk in Singapore. This is my 2-3 month journey on train." I do kinda wonder how many people actually take that route.

[@ylw]

Probably not now with what's going on in Russia

[@jnliewmichael4235]

@@ylw Unintentional optimism that the Russians retreat from Ukraine after Putin gets overthrown.

[@jameskilgour387]

@@ylw you can definitely avoid Russia - Xinjiang / Tibet and Afghanistan is more of the issue tbh

[@amanohashidate3298]

@@ylw Another route would be Europe >Turkey >Georgia >Aserbaidschan >Caspian Sea (by Ferry) >Kasachstan >Xinjiang >Southern China >Vietnam >Cambodia(by bus) >Thailand >Malaysia >Singapore. Definetly recommending (when the pandemic is finally over everywhere) and an adventure in its own, but still comparable safe all the time. with the excepition of a ferry ride, some short hikings at transfers and buses through Cambodia, all is manageable by trains.

[@MichaelGGarry]

As a Brit living in Singapore, I've looked at this journey before. Technically you can do it in about 4 weeks, but you may have gone mad by the end!

[@richardbloemenkamp8532]

As a Dutch I have travel to most of the cities you showed us by rail or other. It is nice that you made a video about it and I agree that if you have time and you travel alone then the train is a really nice option. With a family it is still quite expensive and it can be quite annoying when you miss a late connection and have to find a hotel during the school vacation weeks.

[@Jablicek]

On Tuesday night I got home after spending a week travelling from Berlin to Kiel, Hamburg, Essen, Amsterdam and finally back to the UK. What you forget to mention here is that while it's terrific to be able to stop whenever, it's also *exhausting*. Additionally, consider CouchSurfing for accommodation rather than hotels - there's a number of hosts (myself included) who will deliberately choose guests who are undertaking interesting journeys. You must entertain us for a night in our guest room/on our sofabed :D (Not really, we get that you sometimes need to sleep/work.)

[@angelo7743]

I love you, Simon. Thanks for your diligence and dedication :)

[@brennanpui8755]

Thank you for sharing your trip with us. Trondheim looks breathtaking!

[@theoneandonlysoupemporium]

Birmingham is great! I challenge anyone to name another city where Tom Cruise could eat 2 chicken curries while his car got stolen

[@caromurray6152]

In 2019 I travelled from London to Paris, Turin,Genoa, Marseille, Toulouse & Bordeaux. The train journeys were as enjoyable as the time spent in each of these locations & having enough time to travel this way was such a joy.

[@ConsciousAtoms]

Awesome journey! I feel inspired to do a train holiday like this someday.

[@gwinnsontheloose]

This was such a feast of a viewing experience! Liked and subscribed!

[@m-a-l-3000]

22:13 love the fact, that you watched DS9 on the trip. This is probably the best TV-series I have ever watched...

[@BandidoDescalzo]

I wish we had trains like this where I live.

[@Fabienne1998]

Simon! I love your journey! I live in Edinburgh but am originally from close to Cologne and always take the same train journey to Cologne you took! I am so glad you went on a walk around Brussels, the train station really isn't it

[@MiciaSger117]

Absolutely love the adventure you went on. Wish universities in the UK would embrace alternative travel like this but it's often "must take the cheapest option".

[@pennyoflaherty1345]

It’s a pity we missed your Science lecture- many. Would have listened in ! Enjoyable viewing 👍🤓 All the way from Dwn Under thanks for sharing your thoughts and time ,

[@katasulu]

The reason for the different trains in Norway is because a couple of years ago nsb(the train company) merged with another company and changed their name and colour scheme. Because they haven't re-painted all the trains some still have the old color scheme. My grammar sucks

[@kevanhubbard9673]

I did a trip to Narvik years ago using;rail, ferry,bus and foot.Oxford Newcastle (rail), Newcastle to North Shields(metro), North Shields Stavanger (ferry) then a combination of train, bus and ferry to Narvik via Oslo, Trondheim and Fauske.Heading back;Narvik to Kiruna, Stockholm and on to Copenhagen via rail and ferry.Then onwards to Oxford via Brussels and London using rail.Sadly the ferry from North Shields to Bergen via Stavanger has stopped now so you couldn't replicate the trip now via that route.

[@GeniusLad32]

That looks like a hell of a trip and an excellent pair of tour guides for Stockholm. Norway has definitely been on my bucket list. Maybe when I have a bit more expendable cash, trains will be the way (mind you, zoology degrees don't seem to be paying off too well these days...)

[@seraphina985]

Cologne cathedral is impressive and only gets more so when you realise people built this thing out of iteral rocks back in the 1240's (Well earlier than that it was completed in 1248 after some centuries of construction I think). No steel, no fancy ass modern cranes and yet it is still a massive imposing piece of architecture to this day I found that impressive when I visited. Oh not to mention realising people literally chiselled all of that detailing out of hard rock by hand.

[@bisschops99]

Haha, it is funny to find out you did the (almost) exact same thing as I was currently doing. Noticed the video while on the train to København. Although I'm taking a few more days to see all the big cities and the whole trip in general. It is a lot of fun!

[@SimonS44]

fun how you were surprised by the Hamburg-København train, it's always this rather tiny diesel train. Until 2019, the train even used to go on a ship between Germany and Denmark, that was a lot of fun!

[@flaggnerd]

Thank you for making such a great train travel video. It was surreal seeing the city here on KZbin. The walkway above the railway is called "Sjøgangen", directly translates to "the Seaway" Taking the train is slower, but i hope more people set an example, like you did here. Safe travels 🇬🇧🇧🇻

[@mrtnsnp]

I made the same pledge some time ago, although flying just gets a hard 'no' from me (haven't had to argue yet). I notice that I make fewer journeys, but those that I make are far more enjoyable and memorable. Starting from The Netherlands, I've been to Vienna (To Duisburg and then a night train), to Rome (a train to Munich, then a night train to Rome), Milan (train to Basel, Bellinzona, then Milan, back was even easier), several times to Munich, Darmstadt, Mainz. En this fall to Sicily. Really looking forward to that one, I only need to change trains twice for that. Contemplating to go via Chur on the way back. I think you should be able to figure out what I do from those destinations.

[@floramew]

As an American I so wish train was a viable option. There are clearly still trains going across the country, but they're almost all cargo trains. Cross country busses are the closest we have, I think? But they're not nearly as comfortable as trains, which for the time spent traveling this way is a big issue.

[@MysticKenji2]

We do have cross-country train service still; Amtrak is emaciated and needs vast improvement tho.

[@samehatt5171]

Didnt know you went to Trondheim, I actually live there:)

[@phoebecaulfield3989]

very glad you survived that journey!

[@kornenator]

This was interesting to watch, not in small part cause i have just been to some parts that you travelled through just this week. But for me even that 5 hour train from Malmö to Stockholm was already a bit long. But the biggest issue with trains is that they are much more expensive compared to the cheap airlines usually (in fact, i can fly from my home to Sweden for less money than it costs to take the bus/train from the airport to downtown after arriving). Also, thumbs up for Greta, she really does look a lot like Greta Thunberg!

[@drdewott9154]

Yeah. Thank god some positive changes to legislation as well as budget train operators are becoming a reality with the likes of Flixtrain and to some extent Snälltåget.

[@8lec_R]

For me Greta is some kind of a celebrity, whenever people just introduce her like "Oh, hi Greta" I'm kinda confused, it's like saying "oh, hi Zendaya" I cannot promise if I meet Greta that I won't squeal like a little girl 😁