Thursday 1st August 2024🚂

Day 1

At 5:30 19 backpack-loaded rangers and leaders arrived at St Pancras International Station and promptly began to clog the pavement. After allowing the oncoming foot traffic through and taking a few pre-departure photos, we boarded the Eurostar! Spirits were  high (and generally smelling of Macdonalds breakfast muffins).

After around 2 hours we made it to Belgium! However this excitement was short-lived as we sprinted through the station to catch our connecting train. But, through the power of Girlguiding, and sheer number, we successfully delayed the train until we got on! Once again settling in for a couple of hours, with much tote-bag decoration and somewhat aggressive games of Exploding Kittens taking place. We did have a brief run-in with the police as we saw a random man running down the train, but they seemed to fix things and the train continued on to Cologne.

With the minutes counting down to our next connection, bags were pulled down from luggage carriers (with great difficulty) and put on, all rangers lined up in the aisle for a sprint start off the train. Once the doors opened, we moved as fast as 19 people with heavy rucksacks could (not very). Despite these setbacks, we made it on time to the next train and sat down once again!

A few hours into our journey, it turned out that we were unable to pass through Hanover Station, meaning an hour delay. The air was heavy with despair, until it was announced free snacks and drinks were available for compensation! So a few of us trekked up to the cafe carriage and took an entire box, much to the confusion of the other passengers. I would like to give a special mention to Lilien, who walked backwards through 8 carriages carrying 19 cartons of water - and did not fall over.

After a longer than planned journey we finally arrived at Berlin Central Station - to get another train. It took a while to get tickets, but Izzy J entertained us all with a round of campfire songs! We were also spotted by some Brazilian scouts, who wished us a good trip as well. Eventually we got onto the final train and all went smoothly until we lost Aimee and Leanne on the way out of the train station, but finally we got to the hostel. We quickly dropped our bags and headed out to dinner.

After dinner we returned to the hostel and some headed down to the karaoke night! 

Until next time 

Team Inter-Rail 2024🚂

~Saskia