The Right Track

Seven months, 45,000 miles, three continents. Through an incredible train journey across the world, author Monisha Rajesh explores the glory and luxury of slow travel.

Bundling up my blankets, I wriggled to the foot of my berth and gazed up at the millions of white stars sprayed across the dark Canadian skies. It was almost 3:00 a.m. and my fellow passengers had long since nodded off, lulled into slumber by the sway of the old train. Comforted by a hearty dinner of bison steak and a bottle of Merlot, I breathed in the smell of new sheets and old dust, hearing nothing but the sound of wheels on steel. In the clean, cloudless sky, shooting stars flashed then faded and Mars glowed red, like a private show staged for me. The Rocky Mountains loomed by the tracks, their shadows falling across the train as it thundered through British Columbia, its horn wailing into the night.