Since I was a child, I’ve always had a tremendous fascination for trains and stations.

We used to travel between the south and the north of Italy a couple of times a year, usually on a night train that would take almost 12 hours. Each and every evening during the weeks prior to our travels, my brother and I spent hours fantasizing about the coming adventure. We could recall details of each station from our previous travels. The lights, the signs, the technical stuff along the tracks, everything had a mysterious charm. When the night of our train adventure came, we couldn’t sleep a minute. Instead, we stood in the aisle and admired the night passing by and becoming a new day. Even the thought of the typical smell of the stations still gives me the goosebumps.

I guess that has something to do with my love for trains. No train journey is too long. And the Trans-Siberian is surely worth repeating.