Train Travel at its Best!!!

Getting Desperate ;)

The only productive thing I did on my journey from Barcelona to Paris was writing the last entry (The Current Affairs One). Rest of my time, I was just ‘zzzzzzz’ing. When I was going to Lille from Paris, I got a call from Varnika that the next train was in 15 minutes and I had to take a metro in between to reach the station from where the next train was leaving. It was practically impossible but I was reminded of the good old college days, when I used to catch trains running; always with a race against time (Raghav, my friend will surely agree). So, it was kind of a revisit to the past, only this time the stakes were much higher (I was travelling to a different country and this was the last free train for the day). 

A Typical Train Meal

So, me and Padosi ran our hearts out towards the metro station, only to see that the metro doors were closing. I don’t know what happened to me (probably the adrenalin rush or I don’t know what), but I instinctively put my hand between the doors; the doors opened just enough for me to take my hand out. As they closed again, I put my bag this time in between, again it opened only to allow me to remove my bag. I was just about to concede defeat when the doors opened fully suddenly and we were let in J. The race was half won, still we had to sprint for 5 mins from the metro to the central station in Lille. I reached 5 minutes before time. Padosi was in total shock at that time, he said he had never done such a thing ever in his life. For me however, it was like reliving my past. However, as luck would have it, the train got cancelled and we had a new problem on our hands. 

Liege Railway Station - The Most Beautiful Railway Station I've Seen

With the last free train cancelled, the only option was to go on high speed trains, which require reservations, even with a Eurail Pass we all had. So, we just decided to go ahead and and travel ticketless and deal with the TC. We knew that if caught, the fine would be huge, but it was a risk we had to take. Desperate times do call for desperate measures. When the TC came, we all gave him reasons of exams and so on and started explaining that we just had to get on the train and to our luck, he agreed. Second time lucky today...

The Surprise Evacuation from the Train

I was never used to sleeping while sitting, friends from XLRI will vouch for it. However, after coming here, I have had no other option. To enjoy cities during the day, we generally travel during the night and sleep in trains, which are sitting coaches many a time. So, this is something I have started doing now. Hopefully this does not mean I will sleep in lectures like my XL colleagues henceforth, something I haven’t done till now. 

So after another night in the train, in the morning I was woken up by officials asking us to evacuate the train. The destination was a few hours away so it was surprising. The train was stationed inside and within something; not a station. Wait a minute, we were inside a freaking ship. Yes. The train was inside a ship.  

The TRAIN Ride :)

We had to get on the top deck for the next 45 minutes, as the journey was going to be over sea. This was not at all expected and we were pleasantly surprised.The cruise journey was super fun, wind blowing and the novelty of the situation was something and all of us felt so fresh.