About this site

I’m James, and I'm the uneasy handler of a Peruvian finger puppet. I love rail travel, and I'm old enough to know better.

There. I’ve admitted it. Acceptance is the first step to recovery.

I don’t own an anorak yet, but I do have a waterproof, convertible, three-season jacket with detachable padding and dedicated puppet pocket, so the full-on descent into "enthusiasm" is probably inevitable. I've already bought a lunch box and a Thermos, which were warning signs I ignored. I also own a packable poncho.

My love of rail travel started in the early noughties when I moved to France and discovered that travelling by train could be enjoyable. For years, I commuted back and forth to Paris from the provinces – dreamily gazing into the alluring Renfe Trenhotel on an opposite platform in Limoges Bénédictins every Thursday night as I changed onto the last train home – but it was always something of a routine experience. Occasionally, I'd escape from Paris for the occasional long weekend on a Eurostar or a Thalys, and I used to dream of taking the City Night Line to Berlin but somehow never got round to doing it.

Fast forward to 2019 when, after a few years of drudgery, I finally made my first ever Interrail journey – why did it take me so long? It confirmed what everyone else suspected: that I am something of a late bloomer in the “oooh, train” category of travel, and that one day, I will own a clipboard.

This blog started during that trip as a way to avoid the hassle of having to find, write, and send postcards to my mother while Companion and I were dragging roller-bags around Europe. This freed up time for shopping for essential supplies (wine) for on-board picnics as we ventured further east.

Since then, I've kept it going, mostly for my own amusement, as a way of remembering trips as I have a dreadful memory for such things. But it turns out that other people like it too and if you're one of them, welcome aboard! The more, the merrier.

You appear to have brought a puppet

Puppets have been a part of storytelling and performance since ancient Greece in the 5th century BC.

They entertain audiences and help bridge cultural gaps and, let's be honest, make everything more fun. Peruvian finger puppets, in particular, have a rich history rooted in traditional craftsmanship, and are typically hand-knitted or handwoven by skilled artisans (often women) in the highlands of Peru.

This particular puppet stowed away in my luggage after a work trip to Lima in 2010. After years of languishing in pencil cases or tagging along to the office, Companion and I decided it/he/they (we have no way of knowing its pronouns but its adjectives are small, angry and ruthless) should join us on our Interrail adventure because it’s funnier than a selfie and far more photogenic.

It/he/they has been ruining perfectly good travel pictures ever since.