Travelling By Train

We like to travel by train. We’ve always preferred the train. Trains are the least stressful things to get on in the first place, you usually just turn up and get on. And once you are on you usually have a fair amount of room to fidget in, much more so than an aeroplane and much more so than a car.

And unlike a car, you do not have to worry about keeping your concentration, that’s the train driver’s job.

Some people prefer the car because they say you can stop wherever you like whenever you like. Well, sort of, it depends where you like. Trains usually stop right in the centre of town and you don’t need to worry about finding somewhere affordable to park. Less stressful.

And when you do stop, with the train you can drink as much wine and beer as you feel like, if you happen to feel like it, and then carry on to somewhere else in the afternoon.

Some people prefer the car because they are isolated from the world, there is no chance of fellow passengers who are smelly, noisy, boring or any combination of all three. For Hilary in particular this might seem like it could be an issue, for the smelly, noisy, noisome and boring fellow-travellers could set up a situation that requires a clear and focused mind to cope with. It might, but actually, it seldom if ever does.

Trains, like all forms of public transport, can get delayed and you can miss connections. In unfamiliar stations – and even in the familiar to some extent – the person with Alzheimer’s should really have someone with them who hasn’t got dementia, for it can be confusing, when that happens.

Hilary, though and for all that, still prefers the train to the car because in a car she gets agitated that I stay awake while driving long distances and that at any time some idiot might do something idiotic – as indeed they might, in fact in Italy it is pretty-well guaranteed that they will. The train is the least worrying by far.

But we do try and book ahead. Knowing the itinerary is comforting, even if I do get asked what it is repeatedly, just so long as I can repeatedly give a clear and authoritative-sounding answer.

There’s a page about the virtues of train travel, dating from February 2015, especially relevant to travelling with someone with dementia, it’s in America but relevant pretty-much globally: What Long-Distance Trains Teach Us About Public Space in America