Moonlight Express: Around the World By Night Train
Monisha Rajesh returns with another captivating expedition, this time fixated on the allure and unpredictability of nocturnal rail travel. The author steers readers through an intoxicating world where locomotives chug through darkness, travellers board after dusk and disembark before dawn, moving like ghosts through narrow sleeping quarters. The nocturnal train holds an irresistible magnetism for Rajesh. Its appeal sparked an audacious global adventure brimming with starlit vistas, intimate berths and unforgettable strangers. She bounces between Austria's Nightjet and Scotland's Caledonian Sleeper, hunts for the legendary Santa Claus Express and rekindles the mystique of the historic Orient Express route. Along the way, dishes like reindeer stew materialise in Scandinavian diners. Pisco cocktails materialise aboard Peru's Andean Explorer. Sunrise breaks spectacularly over the Potomac as the Silver Meteor speeds towards New York. Once dismissed as relics facing extinction from budget carriers and express routes, these trains are staging an unexpected comeback. Travellers now yearn for unhurried movement and lower carbon footprints, breathing new life into the sector. Rajesh's account swings between tender moments and laugh-out-loud escapades, capturing why sleeping cars remain endlessly compelling. It's a portrait of wanderlust painted entirely from the window of a moving train, complete with that bittersweet farewell as platform lights fade behind you.
- Author: Monisha Rajesh
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
- Genre: Cooking & Culinary Arts
- ISBN: 978-1526644183
- Pages: 336 pages