Monisha Rajesh returns, Train Travel Special
The Travel Diaries
Holly Rubenstein
4.6 • 758 Ratings
🗓️ 29 July 2025
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today I’m so pleased to welcome back someone who you all loved the first time around on the podcast - the brilliant author and travel writer, Monisha Rajesh. Her passion for trains, and for the way rail travel slows you down and opens you up to new worlds, was just infectious. And I’m so excited to say that she’s back with a gorgeous new book called Moonlight Express, which takes us deep into the magical world of sleeper trains. In this new adventure, Monisha journeys across Europe, the Americas and beyond, trading airports for railway platforms and following moonlit tracks through some of the most cinematic landscapes on Earth, which we have the pleasure of chatting about today.
From the soft snow and candlelit calm of the Norwegian night trains to the fairy-tale villages of Transylvania, glimpsed at sunrise through the window of a creaky couchette on the Dacia Express. Or to the pastel-painted streets of Savannah, Georgia, in the US, reached on Amtrak’s Silver Meteor. She takes us high into the Andes too, aboard the luxurious Belmond Andean Explorer from Cusco to Arequipa, where the train carves through deserts and towering peaks, so close to everyday life you feel like you could touch it. And back in Britain, she celebrates her mum’s 70th aboard the Royal Scotsman, sipping whisky in the observation car as the Highlands go past.
She reminds us what makes train travel so unique: the romance, the community, and the chance to simply sit by the window and watch the world roll by.
Destination Recap:
- Oslo to trondheim, Trondheim to Buda, Norway
- Transylvania, Romania
- Finland
- Peru - Belmond Andean Explorer - Cusco to Arequipa
- Belmond Royal Scotsman
- Caledonia Sleeper Train, London to Edinburgh
- Cornish Riviera train
- Silver Meteor - Orlando, Florida to Savannah, Georgia
- Savannah, Georgia, USA
Moonlight Express: Around the World by Night Train by Monisha Rajesh is published by Bloomsbury (28 August).
With thanks to Airbnb for their support of today's episode.
Thanks so much for listening today. If you want to be the first to find out who is joining me on next week’s episode come and follow me on Instagram I’m @hollyrubenstein, and you’ll also find me on TikTok - I’d love to hear from you. And if you can't wait until then, remember there’s the first 14 seasons to catch up on, that's over 155 episodes to keep you busy.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the Travel Diaries podcast. |
| 0:10.5 | I'm your host Holly Rubinstein and here each week I'll be speaking to a very special guest about the seven chapters in their life's travel diaries. From their all-time favorite |
| 0:23.2 | destination and their hidden gem to their worst travel experience and what's at the top |
| 0:29.0 | of their travel bucket list, we'll be uncovering their adventures around the world and the travel |
| 0:34.5 | experiences and destinations that have shaped their lives. |
| 0:38.8 | Well, today I am so pleased to welcome back someone who you all really enjoy the first time |
| 0:44.7 | around on the podcast, the brilliant author and travel writer Monisha Rajesh. |
| 0:50.0 | I'm so excited because she's got a gorgeous new book called Moonlight Express, which takes us deep into the magical world of sleeper trains. |
| 0:58.0 | In this new adventure, Manisha journeys across Europe, the Americas and beyond, trading airports for railway platforms and following moonlit tracks through some of the most cinematic landscapes on earth, which we then have the pleasure |
| 1:11.9 | of hearing about today. From the soft snow and candlelit calm of the Norwegian night trains |
| 1:17.6 | to fairy tale villages dotted through Transylvania, all wandering around the pastel painted |
| 1:23.0 | streets of Savannah, Georgia in the US, reached on Amtrak's Silver Meteor. She takes us high into |
| 1:29.2 | the Andes too aboard the luxurious Belmond, Andy and Explorer, from Kusko to Araquipa, and back in |
| 1:35.6 | Britain, aboard the Royal Scotsman sipping whiskey in the observation car as the Highlands roll by. |
| 1:41.3 | I think she really reminds us what makes train travel so unique, |
| 1:45.2 | the romance, the community, and the chance to just simply, you know, sit by the window |
| 1:50.1 | and watch the world roll by. I spoke to Manisha about a month or so ago at the Sea Containers Hotel |
| 1:56.2 | on London South Bank, one of my favourite London hotels, and we recorded the episode in one of their stunning new suites, |
| 2:04.2 | looking out over the London skyline. |
| 2:06.7 | They've got four new suites there, all inspired by different eras of time. |
| 2:11.7 | We stayed in the kind of 80s-inspired suite, which was so fun, |
| 2:16.0 | like all-white leather, OTT-Jazzy, Fasarci-esque decor. They're very cool. There's an Art Deco one. There's an Edwardian one. Anyway, check them out online. They're very fun. But before we dive in to today's episode, I wanted to share a little bit about a place that we've just come back from. I mentioned it a few weeks ago. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Holly Rubenstein, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Holly Rubenstein and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.