The art of travelling slowly...

I wrote this on the train a few weeks ago, but as there was no internet access, forgot to post it. Whoops.

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As I type this, I’m sat in the gallery car of a Canadian train. The engine is a few cars infront of me, pulling the long train through the narrow trail cut through the trees. Behind, the rest of the cars follow like a silver snake. A second gallery car follows, reserved for the passengers able to afford the sleeper cars. We’ve been travelling for 18 hours, through a constant vista of trees and lakes. It may be repetitive, but it sure is beautiful. It's a good thing I like it as there's 32 hours left to go...

I’m heading from Toronto to Saskatoon, a journey that takes around 50 hours on the train. The cost of my ticket (which includes a reclining chair seat but no bed) comes in at $160, probably marginally less than the equivalent flight. However, the flight would get me there in a few hours. A two day journey might not seem like most people’s idea of fun, but I love it. I also know that I have the luxury of having plenty of time on my hands, whereas if I only had a week of holiday, the train would seem significantly less convenient.

But I’m captivated by travelling this way. Canada is a big country, and travelling this way gives you a real sense of this. On this journey I am travelling through 3 provinces, and across thousands of miles. The journey takes two days because that’s how far it is from Toronto to Saskatoon. The scenery changes – leaving behind the big city of Toronto, travelling through the lakes and forests that typify Ontario, into the grasslands lands of the prairies. This method of travel seems to honour my journey and this landscape.

Since May I’ve travelled from the east coast in Nova Scotia, to Saskatchewan, so about two thirds of the way across the country. I’ve passed from the fishing villages and painted houses of Nova Scotia, PEI and New Brunswick, to the rolling hills of the Eastern Townships in Quebec, through the forests and lakes of Ontario and across the rolling prairies of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. I've travelled by rideshare, train, bus and hitchhiking so far, and hope to finish my trip without flying (except to get home again!).

And some of my favourite moments have been while travelling. Watching some awesome folk musicians on the train to Halifax as beautiful scenery whizzes by, sharing band recommendations and good music with a rideshare heading to New Brunswick, seeing an incredible sunset from the bus in Saskatchewan, putting the world to rights while driving round PEI and picking our future houses. Not to mention the number of books I've read along the way and countless hours spent staring out of the window at the beautiful scenery. Canada is a constant amazement to me - I come from a small country that you can travel across in a matter of hours, where the scenery varies but never changes to such extremes. So part of my experience of Canada has been seeing these views out the window - these bits in between.

And my plans continue in a similar fashion. From here, I have another long train journey to get through Alberta to northern British Columbia, and then I'm heading down the coast to Vancouver Island and the surrounding Gulf Islands via ferry. Lots more windows to stare out of yet...