We go around the world, but there isn’t a balloon in sight!
Around The World – the blurb
From the cloud-skimming heights of Tibet’s Qinghai railway to silk-sheeted splendour on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, Around the World in 80 Trains is a celebration of the glory of train travel and a witty and irreverent look at the world.
Packing up her rucksack – and her fiancé, Jem – Monisha Rajesh embarks on an unforgettable adventure that takes her from London’s St Pancras station to the vast expanses of Russia and Mongolia, North Korea, Canada, Kazakhstan, and beyond. The journey is one of constant movement and mayhem, as the pair strike up friendships and swap stories with the hilarious, irksome and ultimately endearing travellers they meet on board, all while taking in some of the earth’s most breathtaking views.
Planes, trains and more trains
I hadn’t read Rajesh’s first book, Around India in 80 Trains, but was attracted to the seriously good looking cover of her second (non-fiction) book Around The World in 80 Trains (see what she did there). The title really says it all. Monisha and her fiancé Jem set off on a round the world trip using minimal planes and not 1, not 10 but 80 trains. There was the sublime (the Orient-Express) to the ridiculous (drinking Nescafe cooked on a gas stove on a train en-route to North Korea) taking in a grand total of 45,000 miles. That’s nearly round the circumference of the world twice!
The people, the places
Sit on a train for 5 days (yep, she did) and you are bound to come across a tale or two. That was exactly what Rajesh had in mind and the book is full of little anecdotes from the weird and wonderful people she met. Robert Di Niro even made an appearance! There were also some fascinating insights into parts of the world less known. North Korea and Tibet were clearly the books highlights but I particularly loved reading about Kyrgyzstan. Rajesh also fills you in on some pretty mind blowing railway related stuff such as the Death Railway in Thailand and the railways involvement in Hiroshima/Nagasaki. Like all good non-fiction, I definitely came out feeling like I had learned something.
All aboard
As with all travel memoirs (a genre I love) you really need to like the person you are reading about and in some ways agree with their take on the world. I totally get the method of train travel having done a tiny bit after uni. I’m not sure I would have picked the same route but I certainly picked up some interesting insights along the way. Where I struggled was some of Rajesh’s observations about the places she visited and the people she met. It’s difficult to review something so personal though and overall, whilst I didn’t come away with wanderlust (which I totally thought I would have) I came away with a deeper appreciation for parts of the world I have never experienced and possibly never will. I really hope Rajesh keeps on traveling. Train journeys with children can be taxing but I hope her and husband Jem find a way to make it happen. 3 Trains and a baby? Around Africa in 80 Nap times? I’ll stop now.
