Looking for practical advice, feedback and inspiration for your next train journey? Make yourself comfortable and put your headphones in your ears: board now for “Je t'offre un rail?”, the podcast that will get you hooked on trains, produced with the support of SNCF Connect!
In this episode, we welcome Fanette, 50, a train travel enthusiast and adventurer at heart. After years of raising her children alone, she decided to embark on a 10-day solo trip to Scotland to explore the Scottish Highlands and Islands. Her goals: to take her time, rediscover herself and enjoy the trip from a different angle.
“There's a real sense of freedom: disconnecting from the everyday world to better reconnect with yourself and nature” she explains. For Fanette, going off on her own at 50 is a liberation. It's an opportunity to refocus on oneself and stop putting off one's travel dreams until tomorrow.
“There's a big difference between being alone and being lonely. I've never felt lonely. Ever! At any time.”
“Inverness to Sursaut, I think it was the most beautiful train ride I've ever done in my life.... It was absolutely fantastic.”
“At 50, you're able to listen to yourself more, to take your time. Travelling alone then becomes a luxury.”
“On the train, you can afford to arrive at a station and say: wait, there's a departure in an hour.... Let's go. ”
Then a train journey through Scotland, on trains “totally clean, with absolutely fantastic scenery on the North Coast, from birds to deer!”
When she ventures north of Scotland in the middle of summer, Fanette discovers that the sun never really sets. “There was a guy who went to watch the sun set over the sea. He waited for a long time and then came back, a bit puzzled!”
It's a moment she describes as magical, with a clear, soft light that envelops the region until midnight and begins again at 2am.
Fanette has discovered a unique space of freedom in the hostels. “In hostels, no one asks questions about identity, name, age.... We simply ask each other where we're from."
An anonymity that allows for more authentic and spontaneous exchanges. “I spent some time with a Dutchman and an Australian, and we found ourselves on the same route several times, without ever giving each other our names or our age.
Fanette's favorite? The Inverness to Sursaut line, which she describes as “the most beautiful train ride” of her life.
“You ride along the sea and the wilderness, with animals approaching the tracks. You're immersed in the landscape, as if the train were part of the scenery. It's absolutely fantastic.”
With this magnificent solo trip, Fanette proves (if proof were needed) that there's no age limit to adventure. It's a superb way of finding yourself and refocusing on yourself, while letting yourself be carried away by discovery, encounters and freedom.
She's now ready for her next trip to Norway, by train of course. Thank you and bon voyage Fanette!
To make sure you don't miss a single episode and get inspired by our guests, don't hesitate to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite listening platforms. Thanks to our partner SNCF Connect, the reference app for trains and sustainable mobility, which accompanies over 15 million users on their journeys in France and Europe!
