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The Antipodean Express: A journey by train from New Zealand to Spain
An epic journey from New Zealand to Spain, celebrating the enduring romance of travel by train. The journey of The Antipodean Express takes in 89 days of travel, on 33 trains, through 19 countries. It begins in New Zealand's North Island, weaves past the volcanoes of Java, through East Asia and on into Europe. From hilarious miscommunications in China to cultural immersion at the Bolshoi Ballet, there are stop-offs with half a world’s worth of impressions, people, history, food, music and culture. Hill also describes most of the great trains of the Eurasian hemisphere, from New Zealand’s Northern Explorer to the Eurostar, and everything in between. The culmination is a day spent in the obscure Spanish village of Alaejos, locating the exact antipode of the author’s living room. The perfect end to a vast adventure.
284 pages, Paperback
Published May 1, 2024
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September 1, 2024
For many years I've been fantasising about doing a trip from New Zealand to Spain by rail, road and sea, without flying - and about documenting it in writing (and/or video). So when I stumbled across this book recently, I was equal parts excited and disappointed. Excited to read it, because you could hardly ask for a book more precisely tailored to my interests; but disappointed I'd been beaten to the publishing punch.
With this as background, the urge to armchair-quarterback the book is strong ("That's not how *I* would have done this...") but I'll do my best to resist that urge.
The book represents an epic journey between two spots on exactly opposite sides of the planet - from Wellington, NZ through Asia and Europe to Alaejos, Spain - and the many different lands and cultures encountered along the way.
The author has recently retired, while his wife is still working and had to fit the trip within limited leave - and as reasonable as that is, it does make a big mark on the book. For one thing, they broke their own loose "no flying" rule between NZ and Australia, and Australia and Indonesia; having tried to plan trips between these destinations without flying myself, I get it, these are by far the two hardest bits of the trip to do without flying - but it's not impossible and it did feel a bit like cheating.
More to the point, the trip as a whole was an absolute whirlwind. The couple barely stayed anywhere more than a day, which just isn't long enough to really get a feel for a place - or to pass that feeling onto the reader. Again, I get it - when you're actually doing the trip, rather than just planning it on your computer, you have to face the realities of limited leave from work and so on - but it still did leave me wanting a lot of the time.
This wasn't always the case, though. They spent quite a long time in China, heading out to Tibet and looping back again, and this section (and the Russian section) were very interesting, and were relayed in the level of depth I was seeking.
Overall the book is well-written, and the author's anecdotes from a lifetime travelling with the orchestra gave a nice personal touch - not a world I'm at all familiar with, but interesting and humanising.
The book is relatively short - less than 300 pages, even with a lot of photos and a very large font - and this combined with the whirlwind nature of the trip itself did leave me wanting a bit. But overall I really enjoyed it, and despite the geopolitical difficulties that have arisen since he travelled in 2019 that would make the trip harder, it's made me even more keen to do a similar trip at some point in my life - which I think is all you can ask of a travel memoir.
With this as background, the urge to armchair-quarterback the book is strong ("That's not how *I* would have done this...") but I'll do my best to resist that urge.
The book represents an epic journey between two spots on exactly opposite sides of the planet - from Wellington, NZ through Asia and Europe to Alaejos, Spain - and the many different lands and cultures encountered along the way.
The author has recently retired, while his wife is still working and had to fit the trip within limited leave - and as reasonable as that is, it does make a big mark on the book. For one thing, they broke their own loose "no flying" rule between NZ and Australia, and Australia and Indonesia; having tried to plan trips between these destinations without flying myself, I get it, these are by far the two hardest bits of the trip to do without flying - but it's not impossible and it did feel a bit like cheating.
More to the point, the trip as a whole was an absolute whirlwind. The couple barely stayed anywhere more than a day, which just isn't long enough to really get a feel for a place - or to pass that feeling onto the reader. Again, I get it - when you're actually doing the trip, rather than just planning it on your computer, you have to face the realities of limited leave from work and so on - but it still did leave me wanting a lot of the time.
This wasn't always the case, though. They spent quite a long time in China, heading out to Tibet and looping back again, and this section (and the Russian section) were very interesting, and were relayed in the level of depth I was seeking.
Overall the book is well-written, and the author's anecdotes from a lifetime travelling with the orchestra gave a nice personal touch - not a world I'm at all familiar with, but interesting and humanising.
The book is relatively short - less than 300 pages, even with a lot of photos and a very large font - and this combined with the whirlwind nature of the trip itself did leave me wanting a bit. But overall I really enjoyed it, and despite the geopolitical difficulties that have arisen since he travelled in 2019 that would make the trip harder, it's made me even more keen to do a similar trip at some point in my life - which I think is all you can ask of a travel memoir.
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