Let's be honest, planes these days are kind of awful. But I'll take the tiny alcove on my nonstop to Europe – headphones in, blanket burrito, world shut out for 8 hours – as long as it gets me there in one piece. Once that's over? I want freedom, baby.
The freedom to feel the wind in my hair while cycling around an alpine lake. The freedom to drink bad train coffee while glaciers trundle past the window. We did this crossing of Alaska by rail, and I still think about it. The freedom to watch dolphins jump through the wake on a ferry, which is exactly what happened when my son and I loaded our bikes onto a boat at Fort Morgan and rode across to Dauphin Island. He was little. The dolphins jumped. Core memory unlocked.
My colleague Rachel Lewis recently returned from a trip where she took the Eurostar from London to Paris, and, my friends, her life changed.
I love that a plane can get me across an ocean. I just don't need one for anything after that. Here are eight ways to prove the same thing to yourself – in Europe, without ever touching an airport.
