This summer I took the ferry from Hirtshals, Denmark to Seydisfjordur, Iceland. 2 full days, over 48 hours of travel time. And back.
Relatives and friends thought my wife and I were crazy - or at least eccentric. Why would you waste 4 full days (+ 2 days to get to and from Denmark by car).
Turns out, travel time is still travel. And what a beautiful time that was!
There is no stable Internet conncetion on the ferry itself (no cell connection AT ALL at sea), plus you have to pay for it a pretty hefty fee. So from observing other people, +95% did not have Internet access at all.
The ferry itself is not huge, it is not a cruise ship. But large enough to be entertaining and fun to explore. Kids had a few attractions, including a tiny cinema. They sold popcorn though, that's all kids cared about besides the Minecraft movie.
For us, adults, there were a few bars, restaurants to hang out. Even a little library, a corner with board games, couple shops.
Because people were not glued to their phones, you could actually meet and talk to other people, have non-trivial conversations. People would read books, have a sip of coffee, walk around.
Not once did I get bored, not once did I not know what to do. Sure enough, I would pull out the iPhone from my pocket only to see it is completely offline. What was also fun: if I went out with the kids, there was no way I could let me wife know we would be late or any other matters. Same the other way.
Life felt slower, but somehow more real?
Anyway, I can only recommend a travel experience like this, at least once in your lifetime. For us, it became part of the memories we made, besides visiting Iceland itself. I can imagine the same being the case if you travel long distances by train.
Took a train from NYC to Chicago and it was so nice. Similar amount of time, about two days I think all in all. And just rolling on the plains, got myself a bunk, was more expensive than the plane ride home but 25 times more enjoyable and fulfilling.
Ditching my phone as much as possible has been the best decision I've ever made. Life always feels a little slower when you're not constantly inundated with outside noise.
I still pay attention, but instead of constantly paying attention and doing nothing, I pay attention a good amount, and do things instead.
I was a little taken by the state of American trains if this was true. Two days would mean at least 36h for me and that in turn would mean that the trains would have an average speed of 20mph.
But it turns out that it takes 20h, so twice that speed. Still not fast but better. With that duration it also seems unlikely that the speed is kept artificially low to allow some sleep on the train, as is very common in Europe.
I've done a number of long distance walking holidays now. Weeks straight of walking every day. Pilgrims walk ~800km in ~6 weeks on the Camino de Santiago in Spain throughout the year. I've done shorter routes both in Spain and elsewhere. It's really a great way to switch off. Your whole life becomes the Way. How far do you have to walk? Where are you going to eat? Do you need to carry food? What's the weather looking like? Going back to being stationary afterwards is quite jarring actually.
As a sort of counter anecdote - we took a ferry from Portsmouth to Bilbao once, it was also just over 2 days on the sea. But oh boy, I regularly take ferries from UK to Netherlands, but I've never seen sea as rough as this. We were pretty much stuck in the cabin, sea sick, for the entire two days. I decided to brave the neausea and attempt to go for some food, but in the main buffet plates were literally sliding off the tables.
On the way back we decided to drive through france and skip the ferry.
But yes, on the Newcastle to Amsterdam crossing my favourite thing is being completely cut off from the internet, can finally sit down with a book without the compulsive need to check my phone every 5 minutes.
Can only agree on that: took 5 ferries this summer from 5 to 18 hours, and it's almost always a very nice experience. You have to be ready for "rough" seas though, may be a problem for some. Even the wait time before getting on the ship can be a good time to chat with other travellers. And you see things you wouldn't see from land.
I took the train from Copenhagen to Stockholm a few years back. I remember getting on the train and then all of a sudden we were boarding a boat, and got kicked out of the train while they transited the across the ocean.
I really liked it, was a cool experience, and an easy way to get on a boat. IDK if it's still like this. I hope it is.
I had checked google maps before the trip and saw a bridge so figured the train would go over that, but looks like it's car only bridge. Was a pleasant surprise.
The Øresund Bridge is a combined road-rail bridge.
(As an interesting aside, the Swedish railroad system drives on the left, while the Danish one drives on the right, so the trains have to cross to the other side after crossing the strait.)
What you described reminds me that travel isn't just about the destination, it is the time in between
Yeah, if you actually walk around outside of your cabin. I took this ferry last summer, pretty much didn't leave the cabin (except to look at Shetland Islands), only just before arriving. Having plenty of food, movies and games with me... yeah
If you take this ferry, make sure to do the stop in Faroe Islands, it's absolutely amazing.
I plan to sail this route again next year.
Side note: was it just me or this ferry or route is particularly rough? I crossed Baltic like 20 times by ferry (18h crossing), never got sea sick, until this one.
I think you miss out on lots of attractions if you spend the entire trip hibernating in the cabin ;)
My wife got a bit sea sick on the 2nd day on our way back, I didn't notice any difference. But sure enough, depends on how steady your stomach is...
Which part of the Baltic takes 18 hours to cross?
Anyway it wouldn't be too surprising it's less rough than the North Atlantic given the Baltic is closely wrapped in land.
Nynäshamn - Gdańsk. I've also did shorter routes like Ystad - Świnoujście and Helsinki - Tallinn
Stockholm - Helsinki, for example.
The funny part of this is, you just described not only travel, but all of life prior to about 2003ish (at least in the United States). This is when, in my social circles, we transitioned to most people having cell phone access and the ability to "let people know if you would be late." Still a long time before smart phones became ubiquitous.
So this was "just life" in the 90s and beforehand. The upside you describe was also sometimes the downside. E.g. my mother was traveling for work when one of my brothers was injured in a way that required a trip to the ER for stitches (he's fine). My dad was getting us all (4 kids under 7) into the car as she called from her hotel and he basically had to answer and say that we were on the way to the hospital, and she just had to wait for an update once we got home many hours later.
And yet, I would still agree that "Life felt slower, but somehow more real?" and that we haven't yet found the right equilibrium for always being connected in a way humans were never able to be before. I'm glad experiences like this are still possible.
This summer I did Paris to Istanbul by train, through Vienna and Bucharest, it was wonderful!
That sounds pretty cool. How many separate train connections did you have to book? Any problems with delays or canceled rides?
It was mostly direct trains, or at most one change between each city (eg Paris -> Vienna, Vienna -> Bucharest, Bucharest -> Istanbul)
Only issue is that some legs can only be booked last minute at the physical train station, and not online, hopefully this will change
Was it a normal train or the famous "Oriental Express"?
The Orient Express stopped running in 2009 (after it had already been successively cut back to just Strasbourg-Vienna), although it was a "normal train" in most senses (it was a regular EuroNight service, not really any different to ride from less famous ones like the Cassiopeia or Jan Kiepura).
The train you may be thinking of, a luxury train that imitates a historic one, is mimicing the the Simplon Orient Express which did not run through Vienna (and also it rarely goes beyond Venice).
I was in fact thinking of the luxury version. I was not aware it was an imitation.
It's been indeed renovated, and it does London -> Venice and London -> Istanbul, but is outrageously priced (20k eur for Paris -> Istanbul if I remember)
I did the same "route" but took some random night trains between each city, which is much more affordable
Paul Theroux talks about this a bit in one of his books, about how it’s about the journey and not the destination basically. I think it was The Old Patagonian Express.