Dejan, at the age of 19, after his first year at university, decided in summer 1990 to go with his girlfriend on a one-month train journey through Europe, on an “Interrail” ticket.
This was at a time of no internet, no mobile phones and a different currency in every single European country. And while most of the “Interrail” backpack travelers simply decided on the spot where to go, Dejan wanted to get something special out of this journey and see as many remote places as possible.
Therefore, when purchasing the “Interrail” ticket he also tried to get some info and finally found out that the Thomas Cook travel agency was publishing a train schedule for all European transnational connections. That was what he needed to have, and it took him quite some effort to find a place where he could purchase the guide.
But he got it and could make his plans for the journey – and what great routes did Dejan discover!
Instead of just ending up at the “hotspots”, where a lot of Interrail travelers went to, he discovered a train that took them from Stockholm on a 20h+ journey via the Scandinavian mountains to Narvik. Here, they experienced the midnight sun for the first time in their lives.
As they didn’t want to take any route twice, Dejan managed to find a route by bus from Narvik to Bodo, and then by train from Bodo to Trondheim, followed by another train from Trondheim to Oslo. This route gave them, all thanks to taking the effort of planning ahead, exotic experiences they wouldn’t have wanted to miss.
They also managed to find a train along the German North-Sea coast that brought them to Emden. From there they managed to make it to their first high-speed train experience on TGVs in France, from Paris to Brest on the Atlantic coast.
But of course, the best planning also needs to be coupled with spontaneous improvisation when circumstances change.
After the 3rd week of traveling, Dejan and his girlfriend were in Lyon, with plans to visit Spain and Italy. It was already really hot and they happened to hear from the TV that Spain expected temperatures reaching as high as 40°C. Being already really exhausted after 3 weeks of backpacking, they decided to skip Spain and try to go via Switzerland (they wanted to travel on the Glacier Express) to Rome and then home.
Thanks to Dejans’ train schedule book they found a connection from Lyon to Lucerne, from where they wanted to get to the Glacier Express. But when arriving late afternoon in Lucerne, their dreams were shattered: the Glacier Express was not part of the Interrail system and required a huge surcharge they couldn’t afford.
Staying overnight in Lucerne was also not possible, as the only youth hostel (crazy expensive) was full and any other available place to stay was far above their budget.
Now what?
Continuing straight to Italy would have required them to spend 5-6 hours of the night at the train station in Lugano. so This was not an option for them, and they felt like rather just going home to rest.
The only way to get out of Lucerne was to go to Zurich, so they decided to give it a try.
When entering the train to Zurich they realized that the last stop was not Zurich main station, but Zurich airport. So they got a crazy idea: what if they just tried to get a flight from Zurich to Vienna? At that time flying was expensive (and on this route extra expensive) but sometimes, airlines used to offer last minute discounted tickets at the airports.
So they gave it a try and indeed succeeded – the price for the flight ticket was not much more than for the accommodation for the night in Lucerne, and so finally, instead of spending the night on a bench of Lugano train station they ended up with the perspective to spend the night at home.
The whole thing brought also the funny story that – as they had their backpacks with a second pair of sneakers hanging on the outside of the backpacks – the staff at the check-in would refuse to take their backpacks, and after some discussion they were instructed to take the backpacks as hand luggage on board.
Dejan still vividly remembers the bewildered faces of the elegantly dressed businessmen sitting at the gate for the flight to Vienna, seeing next to them these two crazy backpackers with smelly sneakers dangling on the sides of their backpacks, waiting for the same flight.
So, by 10pm they arrived to Vienna, one week ahead of schedule, and called his girlfriend’s parents from a public phone (first communication after 3 weeks with them, except for occasional postcards). Unfortunately, they could not see their faces when they heard that they requested them to pick them up from Vienna airport – Dejan still remembers the very long pause on the phone when they heard the news. One of the best stories, all because of things having gone completely wrong in the first place.
Dejan learned a lot from this journey: the value of planning ahead, to always be ready to spontaneously change the plans when necessary, to be ready to think outside of the box when facing difficulties, and even if an option sounds crazy, to be ready to say “whatever, let’s do it”.
This journey remains one of the best journeys of his life.
