I´m beginning the longest train trip I´ve ever embarked on. Budapest to Valencia, Spain. Schedule says about 30 hours on the train, with 3 connections. Sounds daunting, but I´m excited.

Tonight I´m on a night train. I walk into my sleeping cabin, but there are 2 other people there. Seems crowded, and there are empty cabins. I re-assign myself. The steward, however, wants me in my assigned cabin. The woman has left, apparently she was in the wrong cabin. But still, I think what a waste to have these empty cabins, and this thought wakes me up in the middle of the night, along with the odor from the man´s socks sleeping across from me.
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Coming from America, a melting pot so relatively young, I’ve always been drawn to Europe; it’s patchwork of preserved cultural identities and old-world mystique. So many ideas, so many peoples, within a day trip from each other.

I’ve flown around here before to study, to trace family lineage, and to vacation. But never have I traveled Europe in perhaps the way it was designed to be traveled: By train. Border-by-border, culture-by-culture, perception-by-perception.

For the past seven years, I’ve toiled in the modern media world of New York City. While on Fellowship, this is my year to explore the pulsating vibe of everything new in the old world of Europe.

As I go along, I’ll update this blog with travel insights and Train Tips to spur the thoughts of those of you on-board, and those of you dreaming of getting on-board.

This is my Journey. What’s yours?