I loved Monisha Rajesh's Around India in 80 trains, and have been looking forward to reading this one. Unlike Phileas Fogg and Passepartout (from whom I stole my idea) I don’t have a bet to win: the journey is not a race. When I set off , my goal was to spend the next 10 months finding out whether the charm and character of India’s railways extends around the rest of the world.

Around the World in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh | Waterstones Around the World in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh | Waterstones

One can almost imagine the hues spread across the skies and smell the food that she devoured over the course of her journey. I had put this trip off, I felt like I couldn’t do it one book, no one had done an around the world train trip before! Then she dismisses the entire continent of Europe and the first 15 trains of her journey in one chapter and tells us how painfully dull and mundane it all was. This led to her next travel adventure circumnavigating the world on 80 trains, a 45,000-mile adventure. Definitely focus’ on the train travel aspect rather than the places she visited and descriptions of them - which is what I wanted.One of her predecessors on the long-distance train, Paul Theroux, has said firmly (in The Old Patagonian Express) that “to see, to examine, to assess, you have to be alone and unencumbered”. It would have given some interesting structure to a what was essentially a diary, made up of recollections.

Book review: ‘Around the World in 80 Trains’ by Monisha

It would be two hours to Verona, so I picked up my Kindle on which Tim Parks was teaching me about the fiddles and frustrations of the country’s railways in his book Italian Ways. My companion flipped off the switch and wriggled around below for a few minutes until his even breathing told me he was asleep. Additionally, the encounter with Toshiko Yamasaki, the daughter of Tsutomu Yamaguchi, the only victim to have survived being at ground zero of both atomic bombs is also thought provoking. Hanging a world map on the living-room wall, I punctured it with pins, and tied coloured string from one to another, watching the next seven months of my life unwind around the globe.Sadly, I found the book mundane and jaded, despite occasional attempts to inject some poetic context. Travelling on US trains is very eye-opening, you also learn a lot about the economy, life and politics.

Around the World in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh, review: a

Over the road, we found a seat on the wall of a fountain from where we could take in the full splendour of the art deco building and its clock tower. Packing up her rucksack - and her fiancé, Jem - Monisha embarks on an unforgettable adventure that will take her from London's St Pancras station to the vast expanses of Russia and Mongolia, North Korea, Canada, Kazakhstan, and beyond. It seems to be that no matter where in the world Rajesh and her boyfriend explored, people were willing to share their stories, knowledge, food and their company with few exceptions.A Eurail pass is worth it if you’re planning a series of long-distance journeys: it pays for itself in five or six train rides. While she doesn't go into much detail about this aspect, I would read the book just for her insights and anecdotes about this time. Leaning out of doorways, perching on steps and sleeping in the odd linen cupboard, I covered the length and breadth of the country in four months and was drawn into its warm embrace by the whole railway family – from her royal highness the Deccan Queen and the sleek and chic Durontos, to the puffing and panting toy trains and thundering Rajdhanis.