Hops Trains and Backpacks

Category: Odyssey

  • Bucket List: Chicago to New Orleans by Pullman Sleeper

    Bucket List: Chicago to New Orleans by Pullman Sleeper

    Photo: Pontchartrain Club and Dome cars, Pullman Rail Journeys Update (Sept 2021): Sadly, Pullman Rail Journeys’ site is down and it appears service has been suspended. Amtrak’s City of New Orleans, however, still runs daily with sleeper accommodations. Imagine coasting your way down from the Great Lakes to the Gulf coast on a day-long train…

  • Bucket List: EuroStar from Paris to London

    Bucket List: EuroStar from Paris to London

    Featured image: Fraselpantz at en.wikipedia [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons The high-speed EuroStar train crosses the English channel en-route between the French and British capitals. It is blindingly fast, direct, and happens to link the last two destinations of our planned summer’s trip to Europe. If there is a single simple two-hour train ride that I’m…

  • The Way to the Top of the World

    I’ve enjoyed staring at maps since I was a little kid, pulling the inserts from National Geographic. I’ve always been curious what was out there at the fringes, at the distended top and bottom of the map, rotating close to the poles of the globe, out there at the edges of the country, the continent,…

  • Dream Trip: Mongol Rally

    A road rally (video) beginning in England, passing through Prague, and continuing through Europe and across Asia to Mongolia. There are only three rules: You can only take a farcically small vehicle You’re completely on your own You’ve got to raise a £1000 for charity This idea of the Mongol Rally (official site) has been…