Amsterdam to Hong Kong
William McCartney
16,000 kilometres
41 days
18 trains
13 countries
11 currencies
6 long-distance taxis
4 taxi apps
4 buses
3 sim cards
2 ferries
1 tram
0 medical events (surprisingly)
Episode 4
Whether the Sofia-Istanbul Express really qualifies to be called an express is debatable, but it’s another one of those likeably old and slow trains that offers single sleeper cabins, and most of the fifteen hour journey happens at night, so you get your money’s worth from your bed.
When crossing a border on a train, you get a double hit of bureaucracy. The train stops at a station before the border, where you have the pleasure of being processed by the bureaucracy of the country you’re leaving. Then the train continues over the border itself to a station in the country you’re entering - the distance might be might be two kilometres; might be twenty kilometres – where you do it all again.
