Ever since childhood I’ve always had a love for trains, weather it be playing with and collecting Tyco HO / O Gauge sets, watching freight trains down at the yards or taking them from Philly to South Carolina to visit family in the Summer time. As an adult, that love is still there and I still get rather nostalgic about taking them. The major difference is now instead of Amtrak, I get to take them internationally weather it’s Thalys from Amsterdam, Deutsche Bahn in Germany or the Shinkansen in Japan, rail travel is usually less stress than flying. But as I sit hear writing this, I’m having a WhatsApp convo with the Philly homie Yo_Rnc_snaps who is out in Europe at the moment seeing the sights and presently taking Thalys from Amsterdam to Paris and isn’t necessarily having that same peaceful train experience which is a far cry from my past weekend Bullet train from Tokyo to Kobe to play the Tricolour party. I always use riding this route as a moment away from the world moving at 300+ miles per hour to read, write and most importantly, sleep. And one of the best things about the train is grabbing your bento box, sandwich, green tea or beer for the 2hr at the station before boarding.