The spirit of adventure might best be embodied by the iconic hobo of yesteryear traveling clandestinely by rail.

There is no way of knowing how many people continue to travel this way, but I suspect the numbers have dwindled dramatically.

Rail travel has always attracted me, perhaps inspired by these itinerant adventurers, but I have journeyed considerably less as a vagabond and not yet as a perennial traveler.

My train trips in Russia, Mexico, Peru, Vietnam, India, China and Europe, varied in length, accommodations and experiences, but all, and others, were extraordinary in their own way. Communication never proved to be problematic, even while sharing a compartment in which there was no common tongue.

Trains afford me the mobility to freely walk around, converse  or just relax and watch the scenery pass by. I enjoy listening to the droning sounds and being lulled to sleep by the swaying of a train’s motion. And I don’t mind very much when the wheels screech or there is the occasional unexpected lurch .

Trains continue across plains,  alongside oceans,  above and through mountains, through forests, cities, villages and towns.

Trains continue to lure me.