A Holiday by Train

And I'm Emma Wells. It's true, Jack, I loved every hour of it. Last July I went from Vienna to Venice by train. My friend Sofia lives in Vienna, so I visited her first. Then I wanted to see the sea. Sofia said, don't fly, take the train. I wasn't sure, but I tried it. And now I think it was the best part of my holiday.

The train took about seven and a half hours. I know, that sounds long! But listen. The plane takes one and a half hours, but you also need to go to the airport, wait two hours, and then travel from the airport into the city. The train left from the centre of Vienna and arrived in the centre of Venice. So the real difference was maybe three hours.

Sofia gave me a very useful tip. She said, buy the ticket early. I bought mine six weeks before the trip, and it cost forty-nine euros. The same ticket on the day of travel costs more than one hundred euros. So it's like a plane. Early is cheap, late is expensive. I bought it online and got a QR code on my phone.

This was my favourite thing. The train left at seven fifty-five in the morning. I arrived at the station at seven forty. Fifteen minutes! There was no security, no line, no passport check. I just looked at the big board, found my platform, and walked to the train. I had a coffee in my hand. It felt so relaxed.

I carried it with me. That's another good thing about trains. There is space for bags above the seat and at the end of the carriage. My suitcase was next to me all day. I could open it when I wanted. I took out my book, my snacks, and a warm jumper for the mountains. Nobody weighed my bag or asked how heavy it was.

The seat was bigger than a plane seat, and I could move my legs. I chose a window seat when I bought the ticket. It cost three euros extra. There was a table in front of me, and a plug for my phone. There was also a small restaurant carriage. I walked there at lunchtime and bought a sandwich and an apple juice.

Exactly. For the first two hours it was flat, with fields and small towns. Then the train went into the Alps. I saw green mountains with snow on top, even in July. There were lakes with very blue water. Then we went through a lot of tunnels. Dark, light, dark, light. And then suddenly we were in Italy, and everything looked different. The houses were yellow and orange.

My train was direct, so I didn't change. But Sofia did a different trip last year, from Vienna to Rome, and she changed in Venice. She told me one rule. Leave at least thirty minutes between trains. Her first train was twelve minutes late, but she still caught the second one. So it was okay.

It's real! I didn't take one this time, but Sofia takes the night train from Vienna to Zurich for work. She has a small bed in a cabin with two or three other people. The train leaves at nine in the evening and arrives at eight in the morning. She sleeps, and she doesn't pay for a hotel that night. I want to try it next year.

She said the first time was hard. She woke up at every station. But now she brings earplugs and a small pillow, and she sleeps well. She also said, don't drink coffee after six. That's a good tip for any night, I think! And the movement of the train can help you sleep, like a baby in a car.

Nobody checked my passport. The train didn't stop at the border at all. I only knew we were in Italy because the signs changed language. A man came through and checked the tickets, but that's all. I had my passport in my bag, of course. It's always good to have it. But for that trip, I didn't need to show it.

I met a woman called Lena. She was about sixty, and she was going to see her daughter in Venice. She sat next to me for three hours. She told me about the best cafe near the station and gave me half of her cake. I don't think that happens on a plane. When we arrived, she said goodbye like an old friend.

This was the perfect moment of the whole holiday. The train crosses a long bridge over the water into the city. Then it stops at Santa Lucia station. I walked out of the station with my suitcase, and there was the canal right in front of me. Boats, old buildings, and the sound of water. I stood there for five minutes. I couldn't move.

Ha, okay. Two bad things. First, the Wi-Fi didn't work in the mountains. So I couldn't work on my laptop for about three hours. But then I read my book, so maybe that wasn't so bad. Second, there was a family with a very loud baby in my carriage. The baby cried for one hour. I moved to the restaurant carriage for a while. Problem solved.

Do it, Jack! And bring your own snacks, a book, and a jumper. Buy the ticket early, get a window seat, and arrive fifteen minutes before. Then sit back and watch the world go past. That's my advice for everyone listening. Try one train trip this year. It's slower, but it's a different kind of holiday.