Lonely Planet Asia — April 2017

GLOBETROTTER

A recently opened walking trail combines the very best of

Australia’s big landscapes and indigenous wildlife. Covering 38 miles

over five days, the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail provides possum- and

roo-spotting opportunites before emerging onto the remote coast of this

large island off South Australia (kangarooislandwildernesstrail.sa.gov.au).

SOMETHING TO DECLARE:

Wake up to the joy of the sleeper train

When was the last time you

woke up and didn’t know

precisely where in the world you

were? It’s a strange sensation,

generally experienced by people who are

hung-over, kidnapped, senile or sleeping

around (or on very rare occasions a

combination of the above). But in no

circumstances is it more exquisite than

when you wake up as a passenger on a

sleeper train: when you reach from your

berth to open the thin curtains – like a

present on Christmas morning – and

through bleary eyes witness dawn breaking

over the Swiss Alps; or morning sunshine

glittering on the South China Sea; or rush

hour traffic in a city whose name you don’t

yet know.

Being transported across continents in

your own tiny capsule makes the sleeper

train the world’s greatest mode of transport.

I’m a big fan: I’ve fallen asleep to a choir of

snorers on a Vietnamese sleeper. I’ve

snuggled up in warm sheets on the

Trans-Siberian while the temperature

outside the window slipped below -40°C.

I’ve even had a Serbian border guard boot

me out my berth and take me off the train

for questioning (all while wearing my

jimjams).

Sadly in Europe, at least, the sleeper

train is becoming an endangered species.

France just axed almost all of its sleeper

services, following similar moves in

Germany and Italy in recent years.

Abundant budget airline routes, faster

daytime trains and high running costs are

• like the passengers on Agatha Christie’s
  Murder on the Orient Express – one-by-one
  sticking the knife into the sleeper train.
  But there is still no more stylish way to
  travel. James Bond could not have seduced
  women on the Megabus. Hercule Poirot

FRESH HORIZONS