- Editorial:
- NICHOLAS BREALEY PUBLISHING
- Año de edición:
- 2014
- Materia:
- Viajeros Contemporáneos
- ISBN:
- 978-1-85788-625-2
- EAN:
- 9781857886252
- Páginas:
- 301
- Idioma:
- ANGLES
SLOW TRAIN TO SWITZERLAND
In the summer of 1863 seven people left London on a train that would take them on a trip of a lifetime. They were the Junior United Alpine Club and members of Thomas Cook’s first Conducted Tour of Switzerland. For them it was a thrilling adventure across the Alps; for us it was a historic trip that changed the world. A century and half later, travel writer Diccon Bewes is standing at the same station about to embark on that same three-week trip. His quest: follow their itinerary, stay in same places, see the same things and so discover how much has changed. And how much hasn’t. His guide along the way is one of the original participants, a spirited lady who wrote a diary as she travelled. A diary that was lost for decades but survived to become a unique record of that pioneering tour. Slow Train to Switzerland is the captivating account of both trips from London to Lucerne and back. It’s a revealing look at the early days of tourism, when going abroad meant 18-hour days and wearing the same clothes for three weeks. And no toilets on the trains. It’s also the story of how a nostalgic rail trip made an expat author see his new homeland in a different light. And discover an unexpected connection with the past. That first trip saw the end of travel for just a privileged few and the start of tourism for the masses. It helped transform Switzerland from a poor country into one of the wealthiest on earth. And now it gives us a second chance to experience travel the way it used to be: slow.