being on a train is a great opportunity to really take some time for things you normally wouldn’t get around to. it shouldn’t just be about passing the time but about using it and not wasting the unique mood a trip with a train can create.
before boarding the train, buy a magazine you have never read before.
while preparing for your trip upload some new music to your ipod and use the time on the train to make yourself familiar with a new band or album.
write a real letter using paper and a pen to an old friend you haven’t talked to in years. tell them all about what happened since you last met, what you are up to now, what matters to you, what still makes you think of them.
for every stop of the train, imagine what it would be like to get off here. where would you go? who would you call? what would you do? what would it feel like?
take a book that you know you can read entirely during the length of your trip. don’t look up from it once. let yourself drown completely in the story.
learn a poem by heart. everyone should know at least one.
read an old diary. ideally one from exactly 10 years ago. try to remember what things were like back then. what has changed? did you expect thing to turn out the way they did?
write a list of things that were great about last week.
write a list of things to look forward to in the next six months. if that list is to short for your taste think of things to do that you would be able to look forward to. make plans.
write a short story starting with the words: „i was on a train on my way to see xxx. we hadn’t met in more than five years…“
write a short piece about something you know more about than most other people.
make a list of things you want to get for your spring/summer wardrobe.
make up stories about the people living in the houses you pass or sitting across from or next to you.
write a letter to your future self. what do you want to accomplish by this time next year?
make a playlist of your favourite songs to listen to while on a train.
go through the contacts on your mobile phone and text the people you feel you haven’t been in touch with enough.
look out the window, listen to classical music (i really like haydn!) and imagine you were living 100 years ago travelling somewhere on a train. where are you going? who are you with? what is your story?
try to start a conversation with the person next to you, maybe they have something interesting to tell you.
so what do you usually do when you’re on a train? or a plane? or a bus?
theaterstücke lesen ist anstrengend. da macht dieses keine ausnahme. und worum es geht habe ich auch noch nicht ganz verstanden. aber der titel ist so vielversprechend, dass ich schon sehr gespannt wie es weitergeht.
If you want to do all those things you’ll have to take the Trans-Siberian ;)
On my last journey to Leipzig (the ride takes a little more than four hours) I slept a lot and laughed about those things that /always/ happen on trains. For example, that dude sitting in front of me: first he let his cell ring and ring and ring before he picked up. Then he shouted: „I can’t understand you, I’m on the train…“ Oh yeah? I’m sure this happens about a thousand times a day. Moreover I typed some emails and watched the world going by in the dawn, thinking about stuff.
On the way back home I read a book by Kundera. As always, I borrowed many books from the friend I visited. She can’t pass a bookstore without buying anything, so she always has new interesting books lying around.
I suppose, next time I’ll go to Hamburg I will be working the whole time, but I prefer reading just for fun.
On my journey to Sydney – and it was a bloody long time – I watched all the films they had, ate all they food they had, drank a lot of water cause that´s what you are supposed to do and it´s important! Besides that I tried to sleep but this didn´t really work since I was so excited and went through a lot of scenarios in my mind of what I will be doing during my stay.
But most of the time I actually stared on the screen in front of me watching the plane move on the map very, very slowly…