For Americans, nothing feels quite so foreign and exotic as a long rail journey. The U.S. simply doesn’t have much in the way of rail lines and, even in those places where we do, very few people use them.

I’ve traveled a good 4000 miles by train in my life and not so much as a mile of it was here in the States (unless you count subways, which I don’t). I wish the U.S. train system would get its act together, but until then, train travel is one of the many great reasons to go abroad.

For those seeking the ultimate in train travel, two epic rail journeys spring to mind — the Trans-Siberian railway and the Orient Express.

But there are many more than that and Matador Trips has a look at the world’s ten most spectacular train trips. Yes, both the Trans-Siberian and the Orient Express get a mention, but there are some other, lesser-known gems in the list as well.

For instance, Switzerland’s Glacier Express sounds intriguing:

the Glacier Express has a reputation for being the slowest ‘express’ in the world - but it’s also one of the most beautiful. Linking the two mountain resorts of St. Moritz and Zermatt in the Swiss Alps, the journey covers 291 bridges and 91 tunnels.

At its highest point, the Glacier Express reaches 2,033 meters (6,670 feet) in altitude at the Oberalp Pass as it travel through some of the most stunning mountain scenery Europe has to offer: alpine meadows, mountain streams, snow peaked mountains and glacial valleys.

For some more scenic train journeys, check out Matador’s list and if you have a favorite train route that didn’t make it in the Matador roundup, be sure to leave a note in the comments.

[Photo via Jsome1, Flickr]

So I’m back in Dubai after a week in Mumbai. I was there when the terror attacks happened; awful, awful, but I won’t get into a rant about that.

I got into the city last night, and I’ve already been at work a day. It all feels surreal, like I never took 3 years off, like I was in some sort of coma all this time. Did I really live in Spain for 3 years? Why am I back here now?

Over the last week of transition and traveling, although I’m not fighting my decision to end my living abroad experience, I am feeling like I’m nowhere and am not recognising who I am. I feel like I’ve become introverted, and am not being able to talk about all the things I am feeling or thinking, even though I want to. Probably because I’m not being able to put things into any concrete or comprehensible form.

I haven’t yet called friends to say that I’m back. I’m not in the mood to socialise (very unlike me).To those who have called me, I’ve not been able to talk beyond the small talk. I feel that there is a large gap between my life in Spain and my life here in Dubai. A gap I don’t know how to fill.

I’m neutral bordering sad, but not depressed or negative in any way. Maybe I’m confusing neutrality with numbness, the type that comes with leaving behind what you loved. I suppose it’s just a matter of time before I snap out of it and get back to my normal self, but till then I’m okay to be with myself as I resolve all my mental and emotional chaos.

Extended travel and continuous change, as exciting as they are, definitely take their toll. I like to call it personal growth.

Should I be worried that I’m already thinking where I’ll go to live next?

You’re living in a city abroad, and you have a free weekend coming up.  Where to go?  Trazzler, a website by the people behind Twitter and Blogger, sets out to answer that question.

A combination of social network and travelogue, it contains user recommendations of where to go and what to do. Trazzler is a cross between Facebook and Lonely Planet. In fact, they already have a Facebook application. They create a traveler profile of you and try to recommend trips you might be interested in, like art museums or adventure treks. The descriptions are a bit light on logistical details (addresses, prices, etc.) because the focus is on the travel experiences. You can also write your trip ideas and post them online.

I think Trazzler is a good place for would-be travel writers to hone their craft, as you’re supposed to capture the feel of a place in fewer than 140 words and provide a good photograph. Some of the pieces on the website are so well-written, they should be in guidebooks.

As the website itself says, you’re free to take your particular obsession, whether it’d be restaurants, hiking spots, etc. and create your own “beat.” Instead of stressing out over pitching topics to a travel editor, you can just do travel writing on your own terms. Trazzler wants to know about the cool places that you’d recommend to your friends. Trazzler’s Writing Guide also makes for an excellent primer on travel writing.

On a recent trip to Bohol, an island in the Philippines, I found myself riding at the back of a motorcycle in the mountains of Sevilla and Sikatuna. The roads were steep, stony, and unpaved. But the view held lush shades of green and the mountain breeze felt cool running against my legs. Knowing that an accidental move of a few inches would cause me to plummet to my death, I thought “This should be in the guidebooks.”

Many travelers have had similar experiences. When they research a destination, everyone tells them about the monuments, museums, restaurants, and the beaches. No one tells them about the lesser-known adventures that are waiting to be discovered. But they’re there. With a little effort, the diligent traveler can find them.

The easiest way to find uncommon routes and activities is by taking public transportation and, occasionally, getting lost. While there are some places where you shouldn’t take this risk, such as areas heavy with gang wars and armed conflict, there are many places where you can do this without feeling vulnerable. Look at your map and find the small towns that no one is talking about. Odds are, you’ll find something worthwhile there, something more fulfilling than yet-another-monument.

I find that it’s also useful to look for someone who isn’t new to the place, but isn’t native to it, either. Someone who is new to the area might not have the information you need, while someone who has lived there all their life might see everything as mundane and ordinary. You need to find the person in between - someone who has explored the place well, but with an eager perspective.

In-depth historical research also comes in handy. It’s always interesting to visit caves where revolutionaries hid, obscure cafes where famous people stopped by, and small rivers where early settlements flourished. Herds of tourists usually don’t visit these places, especially if they’re out of the way.

It may be easy to assume that just because a guidebook doesn’t mention a place, there’s nothing to see or do there. I actually find the opposite to be true. If you commit a little time and diligence to less popular destinations, they can lead to the most pleasant surprises you’ll encounter on your trip.

How do you find new and out of the ordinary places to visit?

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in the United States, a time when families gather together to argue drunkenly about politics, morals and all the other fine points of life over plates of bland turkey, over-cooked vegetables and tasteless mashed potatoes.

Okay, maybe it isn’t that bad at your house, but my family seems to span an alarmingly large portion of the political spectrum which makes holiday gatherings, uh, colorful.

Normally I try to lessen the political debates, not fuel them, but last night, at a little pre-Thanksgiving gathering, I got sucked into a hot-button issue for travelers — cultural relativism. Naturally thought I should give my fellow vagabonds a chance to weigh in (or add a little bit of controversy to your own Thanksgiving table if you’re into that sort of thing).

It’s all Wade’s fault really. The perpetual vagabond behind Vagabonding Journey recently posed the question: Are Some Cultural Practices Wrong?

Here’s how Wade frames the question:

Do you feel as if certain traditional and cultural practices can be called wrong? Do you feel that one culture should interfere with the actions of another because they feel their traditions are immoral? Do you feel that one culture has the right to extinguish the long-honed practices of another because they think it is wrong?

Or do you believe that all cultures and their traditional practices are relative? Do you think that certain practices only seem wrong or abusive because outsiders misunderstand them? Should all cultures be allowed to practice their traditions even if they hurt or kill themselves, animals, or the environment?

On the surface it seems pretty easy, obvious even, if you just consider the fringe cases. Most of us would tend to agree that certain cultural practices — forced female genital mutilation, Chinese foot binding, the death penalty for adultery, the old Hindu practice of Sati, to name a few — seem rather horrible even inside their cultural context.

The problem is, as always in moral debates, where do you draw the line?

If you believe that some cultural traditions shouldn’t be continued because they are, regardless of context, “wrong,” then where and by whom is the line between acceptable and unacceptable drawn?

And that’s where things get heated.

As a former philosophy major I can make my professors proud by arguing both points of view with pretty much equal conviction. In the end though I don’t actually think there is an answer. No one wants to be a cultural imperialist, but no one wants to condone some of the world’s more abusive cultural traditions.

Since vagabonds tend to miss holiday gatherings, think think of the comments form below as your invitation to the always-heated Thanksgiving table. I’m curious to hear from both side of this controversial issue.

Most of us probably have a healthy fear of common traveler nightmares — missing your flight, losing your passport and other such mishaps. I’m that guy that has to double check every ten minutes on the way to airport just to make sure I still have my ticket, my passport and the rest.

Strangely this paranoia doesn’t seem to affect other forms of transport. I’ve missed more buses, boats and trains than I can count. My logic is pretty simple, I generally only fly to a particular area and then use ground transport, and I’m all for the flexible approach to ground transport. But my greatest fear is missing the opportunity to get out of my home country, hence the paranoia about flights.

Of course that doesn’t mean I haven’t missed some flights (actually only one), but more often I find myself spending long periods waiting in the airport. But as all long term travelers know, there’s no such thing as “down” time, there’s just extra reading and writing time.

But it turns out that many travelers aren’t as paranoid about missing their flights as I am. Since it’s a holiday week here in the U.S. and no doubt many of you will be waiting around airports today, I though I’d point out a highly entertaining tale of travel mishaps — missed flights, lost passports and a powerful oil sheik who comes the rescue.

The story can be found over on the I Keep A Diary blog, where the ever-entertaining Brian Battjer Jr recounts the trials and tribulations of going from New York to Thailand via Dubai. After telling his boss that he’s taking a month off of work, subletting his apartment, and arranging to stay with a friend in Dubai, Brian and his girlfriend speed off to the airport, where they are informed that their flight actually left the day before. Whoops. And it gets even more complicated from there, be sure to read the whole thing.

If you enjoy that story also check out Brian’s trips to South Korea, Japan and more.

Oh and if you’re traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday, be sure to get to airport plenty early, not all misadventures have a happy ending like Battjer’s tale.

[via Kottke, Photo from I keep a Diary]

As you read this post, I’ll be somewhere over the Mediterranean Sea on my way to India.

About two months ago (when I planned those last two months in Spain), I foresaw myself being super busy. Teaching, doing 5 hours of intensive Spanish as a build-up to an exam (scheduled 2 days before I fly!), and blogging. Between that, I wanted to make sure I spend time with people close to me here. The thought was a bit overwhelming and it left me a bit low, thinking: I don’t have “quality” time to spend before I leave, I’m just too busy. But, oh my God, what a blessing in disguise.

If I wasn’t that busy, I think my last few weeks here would have been tragic. Too much time to think about moving (and packing at the same time) can get you down and sad, very sad. Being genuinely busy has kept my mind off the fact that I’m leaving and helped me skip, or better said, put aside, the “tragic” part, because I’ve had no time to be sad. Whatever little free time I’ve had, I’ve spent with close friends doing things we always do, and have been able to enjoy them.

I won’t deny that the last few weeks had lots of intense emotions floating around. My closest friends and I, had a couple of breakdowns together. But they only reassured us that this is not a goodbye, it’s merely a ’see you later’, and that we must have all the giggles and laughs we can before I leave.

So, when / if you choose to make changes like mine, I cannot emphasize enough the importance to stay busy and keep living like you always have been, till the last minute.

And don’t have a farewell party! If you have a party, have one a week or so before you leave, and don’t call it a farewell! Make up a reason; in my case it was the end of my Spanish exam. The point is to have friends together to have fun, not to tear up. And besides, it’s not a farewell!

The adventure of tasting local foods– exotic fruits, spicy street food, fresh juices, unrecognizable dishes– every meal is a new surprise. For me though, eating is just the beginning. I want to know the entire process from start to finish in order to bring the knowledge (and the good eats) home to share with my friends and family. I like to go to the local markets and learn about vegetables and spices that are unfamiliar and stock up on spices to take home just before leaving. I try to learn, taste and distinguish the spices of the region so I can later recognize and use in my own cooking. I find myself peeking into the kitchens at restaurants and observing which vegetables are used, which spices are being thrown in, and how exactly everything is prepared. And street food…I love it! Plus, it’s usually prepared right in front of you so you can also learn how to make it.

This week I’m staying at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India and spending time in the large kitchens that serve food 24 hours a day for up to 40,000 people in one day. Peeling and chopping carrots, flattening and rolling out chapatis and chatting with the local Punjabi men and women– it’s experience that will not be soon forgotten. Learning to prepare local foods is one of my favorite parts of travel. The varieties and styles of cooking astound me– there’s always something new to learn and every cook has something to teach.

Cooking classes are widely available in most places and well worth it if you’ll take advantage and use the knowledge when returning home. If you’re interested and doing a home stay or are invited into a home, ask if you can observe or help prepare meals– usually the request is well-received and the offer is appreciated. Many places, often temples (like Golden Temple), have large community kitchens where volunteering is easily possible. This is a great way to learn about cooking, meet wonderful people and direct your energy into something worthwhile.

Looks like trains could make a big comeback, according to this Associated Press report.  It’s a long article covering the different ways rail transit might be boosted in the United States in the future.  Some of the highlights:

–California is proposing a high-speed rail system to connect San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and other cities.

–State governments in the Midwest are going to try to link those states’ major cities into a regional train network.

–Congress passed legislation to grant Amtrak, the nation’s railway, US$13 billion over five years.

The California High Speed Rail Authority website has a cool video titled “High Speed Rail Around the World,” which gives a brief overview of how different countries developed their rail systems. As someone commented in a previous Vagablogging post (”Towards a better American rail network”), I wonder if it would be effective to let foreign companies like the French and Japanese build high speed trains in America?  They already have proven track records.

There are big obstacles, though. Most public transportation projects like these can’t support themselves on fares alone, and require massive government investment. It’ll be hard to muster enough political support for big spending in a time of economic crisis like now. Also expect intense opposition from car manufacturers, airlines and bus companies that will feel threatened by expanded rail networks.  

There are huge potential economic benefits. Being able to move people and goods more quickly would boost productivity. From an urban planning perspective, high speed rail could reverse suburban sprawl, and draw people back to the cities. Property development would cluster around rail stations, creating dense commercial and residential areas that would revitalize city centers.

I’m a big fan of efficient public transportation, so this is exciting news.  Europe and much of East Asia are well-connected by trains, which makes travel convenient and fun. Trains are also better for the environment than planes and cars, as well as less accident-prone. With airport security making air travel more and more unpleasant, it’ll be great to have a viable alternative.

Proposed California high speed train