Around the World in 80 Trains: A 45,000-Mile Adventure

by Monisha Rajesh

‘We have a word in Dutch, gezellig, which means that there are no boundaries and that everyone is sharing and getting along with everyone else.’

The human capacity to hurt one another was so great and unstoppable that we were doomed forever to make the same mistakes.

To my mind, there is no point in leaving home if the intention is to take home with you. To recoil from anything new and unnerving is to do a disservice to your hosts, but more so to yourself. Being willing to try another person’s way of living is the first step towards developing a spirit of empathy.

A spritz of cloud hovered in the blue and my bare arms began to warm as I absorbed the stillness.

‘I learnt that fascism is a very bad thing. Each country should be left alone to live as they want to. And big countries always want to make small countries adopt their culture. It is bad.’

‘Being unable to forgive or forget does nothing but

stunt your own growth.

‘In Life, It’s Not Where You Go – It’s Who You Travel With’,