Monisha Rajesh, Train Travel Special
The Travel Diaries
Holly Rubenstein
4.6 • 758 Ratings
🗓️ 10 October 2023
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today, we're embarking on a special adventure – a voyage through the enchanting world of train travel. Our guest today is a true connoisseur of locomotion, travel writer Monisha Rajesh. In 2010, Monisha spent four months travelling around India by rail recounted in her debut book, Around India in 80 Trains. After India, Monisha took on the world, over seven months and 45,000-miles, on an adventure through the global rail networks, which later became her next book, the brilliant Around the World in 80 Trains.
Today, we’ll hear Monisha’s train travel diaries, from her earliest train travel memory being carried across the train tracks in Switzerland by her parents, to falling in love with train travel on a journey from Mumbai to Goa and her all time favourite journeys, to suit all budgets. From journeys that last just a few hours to those that last several days, Monisha brings to the life the unique perspective that travelling on a train can give us as travellers, the romance, the camaraderie, the excitement, unparalleled vistas, and a deep connection to the world around us. She evokes it so beautifully in our episode today. I think this is one you’re going to love.
So, all aboard, and let’s get started, with Monisha.
Destination Recap:
- Switzerland
- India
- Mandovi Express, from Mumbai to Goa, India
- US Amtrak
- Delhi, India
- Cannes to Ventimille Train, France to Italian border
- Canadian railway Vancouver to Toronto
- European Sleeper Brussels, Belgium to Berlin, Germany
- Rome to Palermo, Italy train
- Norway midnight sun train Oslo to Trondheim and Trondheim to Bodø
- Skeena Train, Jasper to Prince Rupert, Canada
- Transmongolian Railway
- The Santa Claus Express from Helsinki to Rovaniemi, Finland
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Thanks so much for listening today. If you'd like to hear more from the podcast don’t forget to hit subscribe, or if you use Apple Podcasts to press follow so that a new episode lands in your podcast app each week. If you want to be the first 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 Threads and TikTok, I’m also @hollyrubenstein - I’d love to hear from you. And if you can't want until then remember there’s the first nine seasons to catch up on, that's over 100 episodes to keep you busy there. Don't forget that all the destinations mentioned by my guests are included in the episode show notes here on your podcast app, and listed on my website, thetraveldiariespodcast.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the Travel Diaries podcast. |
| 0:08.9 | I'm your host, journalist 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. |
| 0:18.8 | From their earliest childhood travel memory and the first place they fell in love with |
| 0:23.3 | to their hidden gem and what's at the top of their travel bucket list, |
| 0:27.6 | we'll be uncovering their adventures around the world |
| 0:30.1 | and the travel experiences and destinations that have shaped their lives. |
| 0:35.6 | Today we are embarking on a special adventure. |
| 0:39.2 | A voyage through the enchanting world of train travel. |
| 0:43.8 | Our guest today is a true connoisseur of locomotion, travel writer Monisha Rajesh. |
| 0:50.0 | So in 2010, Manisha spent four months traveling around India by rail, and she recounted this in her debut book Around India in 80 Trains. |
| 0:59.2 | After India, Monisha took on the world over seven months and 45,000 miles on an adventure through the global rail networks, which later became her next book, The Brilliant, Around the World |
| 1:12.7 | in 80 Trains. Together today, we're going to explore why slow travel and train travel have |
| 1:18.8 | become not just important, but just so enjoyable in our fast-paced modern world. You know, |
| 1:24.5 | train travel has always held this degree of intrigue and romance since |
| 1:28.0 | its first golden age. But we talk about whether we're now entering a new golden age of train |
| 1:33.5 | travel because it's this winning alternative for climate conscious travellers who are looking |
| 1:38.5 | to minimise their carbon footprint, reduce their air miles. And when we're in this era of, |
| 1:43.9 | you know, jet set vacations and the constant rush to get from A to B, |
| 1:47.2 | we so often overlook the magic that can unfold outside our windows when we choose the railways to travel. |
| 1:53.1 | It offers us this unique opportunity to savour the journey itself, to relish the landscapes, the cultures and the stories that unfold along the way. |
| 2:02.0 | And Manisha brings us to life so powerfully today. |
| 2:06.1 | We'll hear her train travel diaries from her earliest train travel memory being carried |
... |
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