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🚠 Spain Training

2 november 2023 - but posting this on 8 december because I neglected the logging zone for a long time

I wanted to become a better writer and so I started practicing on trains in Spain. (And I thought I might as well learn html while I'm at it. I thought they could be like little gears keeping eachother in mβš™οΈtiβš™οΈn).

You could say I have had a lot of training when it comes to taking the train in Spain. The last three weeks During my Spain trip back in october I have taken exactly 14 different trains (not counting subway trains and kabelbaantjes). It really does feel like training, because it takes a while before you really figure out the best ways to plan, book, prepare and enjoy high speed long distance train rides.

Rotterdam πŸš‰ Antwerp πŸš‰ Paris πŸš‰ Perpignan πŸš‰ Barcelona πŸš‰ Madrid πŸš‰ Valencia πŸš‰ PuΓ§ol πŸš‰ Valencia πŸš‰ Barcelona πŸš‰ Montserrat πŸš‰ Barcelona πŸš‰ Lyon πŸš‰Brussels πŸš‰ Antwerp πŸš‰ Rotterdam

There were a few moments during Spain Journey that I secretly looked at plane tickets, one time I even got close to booking one. It is tempting: you get there faster, often cheaper, and booking tickets online is somehow way easier. But, when I remembered that I am in absolutely no hurry, that I have saved enough money, and that (provided that I’m not in hurry) I quite enjoy losing myself in online quests for the best possible train route to my desired destination, I luckily stopped myself and closed that browser tab for good.

I have been thinking a lot about trains versus planes since that moment of plane-temptation. Not about the environmental discussion that of course quickly comes to mind when comparing the two, although that does play a role for me. But trains versus planes has become a more symbolical theme these days.

When I was in the mountains, after having been in cities most of the time, I reflected a lot on the differences between being in the mountains and being in cities.

How I feel in cities How I feel in the mountains
stimulated calm
overstimulated at ease
everything I could possibly want is closeby I will have to work with what I can find
I am surrounded by people, but I am alone there are very few people, but I feel connected
Google Maps is my compass the mountain is my compass
in awe of what humans created in awe of nature
I should do things no one is expecting anything from me
immersed in life secluded
part of a society isolated
free to move in many directions but not welcome in many places dependent on paths but free to go off them

I realized that for me, being in a train aligned with being in a city, and being on a plane more with being in the mountains. Not just because mountains are closer to the sky, although that definitely plays a part.

In a train you are literally down to Earth, and in a plane you are literally floating in clouds.

And maybe the question is not which one is better, or to choose one. Maybe it is: which one serves me best right now?

I just learned how to code tables...

☁️
Floating
πŸ›€οΈ
Down to Earth
Camila cities
bookstore restaurants
museum Airbnb
private sea in Puçol Guusje
mountains train rides
spirit animal rooftop party charging my phone in a Starbucks

Planes can take you straight to your destination. But that only works for me if I have a clear destination. With trains, you can just get on, transfer wherever, and get off at any point. I think that is what I need right now. But I will probably take a plane again at some point in my life, a metaphorical one and also a real, polluting, scary airplane. Did I mention I have a mild fear of flying?


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