Good morning from the Dacia Express. This is the day 2 thread!
Had a decent sleep although two times interrupted by police who came in to check passports and the train stopped a few times.
The best part was waking up: love to stare outside and see the cloudy landscape pass by.
I will be on this train until 4pm. Then I have 4 hours in Bucharest to get a proper meal and find the bus terminal. Keep following as I’m going to explore this train today.
Just went to the @_DiningCar. Looks pretty neat. Sadly they don’t take cards and didn’t have time to take out money so I’m surviving on some peanut bars my mom gave me. I thought they would come in handy.
This is the ride im on since yesterday. Dacia Express
Vienna - Bucharest
Departed: 19.50
Arrival: 15.47
Duration: 19h 05m
Trip cost: €109 (sleeper wagon)
Photo of the lovely @_DiningCar. I just learned they are not serving hot meals because of corona. Only snacks.
Throughout mostly the whole route through Romania I had fast 4G connectivity on my phone. Way better coverage than in Germany. German trains have wifi though, this one hasn’t.
The sights here in Romania (and especially the Transilvania part) are stunning. Lovely to see it changing slowly.
Although I like slow travel, this Dacia train does extremely low speeds. Annoyingly slow sometimes honestly.
Now between Busteni and Sinaia. Amazing sights here
Beautiful sunset over Ploiesti. Train was to arrive in Bucharest one hour ago. I don’t think it’ll be there before 6. My next bus is at 7.30 and need to travel to bus station and definitely get a meal. Only had a few health bars today.
At Gara de Nord. Wish I had more time here. First food
Took out money. Rushed in a cab to restaurant. Had a quick lamb stew, absolutely delicious! Thanks for the tip @tvanderelsen! Out in 21 minutes, quickest meal I ever had. Rushed to store for water and Oreos and made it to bus terminal 30 mins before departure. Perfect.
Next leg: bus from Bucharest to Istanbul. I love public transport but dislike busses. This one takes 10 hours crossing Romania and Bulgaria, arriving in Istanbul around 6am. Cost: €50.
Normally there is a train but doesn’t run right now because of Covid.
Crossed the Turkish border around 3am. First fuel station after the border, spotted a Dutch van.
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Just jumped off the Mauritanian Iron Ore train and what an epic ride it’s been. It all started two weeks ago with my Interrail adventure from the Netherlands, a journey that now seems worlds away compared to the raw and rugged experience I've just had.
In Mauritania, iron ore is a lifeline, accounting for half of the nation's exports. Every day 3 of these colossal trains leave from the mining town Zouerat to the port of Nouadhibou.
The journey of 704km takes 17 hours and the trains are huge. They can be up to 3km in length and each train carries 17,000 tons of ore, enough to build an Eiffel Tower. Making them among the longest and heaviest trains in the world.
HNY!
I'm starting 2024 with a new adventure: taking the train from Netherlands to Mauritania to hop on the Iron Ore train, a long ride straight through the Sahara. With my @Interrail pass in hand I will travel through southern Europe and Morocco. #interrail #GoOneStopFurther
This is the route of my trip. It will take me about 14 days to reach Zouerat, the starting point of the "Sahara Express."
Doing 1 overnighter in Barcelona, a few stops in Morocco to enjoy the country and finally exploring Mauritania. Going back in the same way.
For more info on the Mauritanian Iron Ore Train I highly recommend this excellent film: vimeo.com/225516052
Preparing the return home Dubai - Amsterdam. Completely without flying. Majority by train, some parts by bus. Iran has some beautiful train rides, unfortunately they were mostly sold out.
This time will do Istanbul - Bucharest by train instead of the bus.
I was supposed to leave last Thursday, because of bad weather the ferry from Dubai to Iran got postponed until this Monday and today I heard it won't be before Wednesday. Should be home around March 10.
For the people who are just joining in. On the 3rd of Jan I left Amsterdam for Dubai. Wanted to do the route basically as shown above but because Omicron I couldn't enter Iran and had to divert via the Arabian Peninsula. Which was very interesting, adventurous and enjoyable
Had fun sharing my earlier adventure and lessons today at the WFES. For the ones who recently started following me: here's a thread about what I did before.
A few years ago I challenged myself to drive without money and in an electric car from the Netherlands to Australia.
To make it to Sydney I asked people to "Plug Me In" with energy. On my website plugmeinproject.com people could select their location and offer me a meal, place to sleep or electricity for the car.
Thousands of strangers signed up and so the route of the journey was determined. I travelled from plug to plug. From the Netherlands to Italy, from Italy to the Northcape and down again via Russia and eastern Europe.
People started to call me the "Forrest Gump of Automotive."
Day 14. My hotel offered a late check out. I took some quality time for myself and prepared my talk. It’s only 2 days until I’m speaking at ADSW. There is no public transport in Riyadh. You really need a car here. I walked around in my area. Can really enjoy Arabian architecture
Loving these Arab toilet signs
I’m at the bus terminal for my ride to Abu Dhabi. Trying to find the right platform.
Day 11. In my original plan, I would arrive in Dubai on day 10. I prepared less for plan B, meaning from today I have to wear my underwear inside out. Yes, you're getting all the details.
Now getting ready for the bus Amman - Hail (Saudi Arabia). Step for step I'm getting there.
Waiting for the bus to depart. I’m travelling on the famous German ‘Nichtraucherbus’
Funny, the girl who sold my ticket yesterday just came to me to thank me. Apparently she was on trial and her manager saw her speaking English with me yesterday and that got her the job.