Czechia 2026 - Day 01 - Monday 25th May 2026 - Polyglot Gathering 2026 - Day 01/09 - Rotterdam to Prague
- eusts6
- Jun 8
- 2 min read
It was already 30°C and I was sore from gardening on Sunday. The weeds had pretty much taken over and it was a good workout. I’d invited my colleague Wilbrand over for some beers afterwards so I was also a bit hungover. My train was scheduled for 21:21 but I felt like I could do nothing all day.
I cleaned up the house and had some lovely Austrian cheese with some bread and did some last minute packing. I had bought some food items for the culinary event in Brno. Rather than lug all the suitcases and camera gear onto public transport I decided it would be better just to order an uber to Rotterdam Centraal. I am always terrified of delays which meant I was a full hour early, and I spent most of that hour stalking to my cousin Hilary as my auntie Mary had passed away just days before age 94.
As I chatted away I watched the Eurosleeper "Praha" move up the time display and with 15 minutes to spare I said goodbye to Hilary and made my way up to the platform, platform 14 to be exact. It was strange and exciting to see signage for national trains and then "Praha" displayed proudly. The train arrived and it reminded me of my interrail days in the 1990s, the doors had handles you turned to open, and their were compartments of six with sliding windows and a corridor also with sliding windows. I found my compartment with a group of teenagers from Delft, I quickly befriended them and with chatted away with the nice cooling breeze from the open windows which was very welcome.
It was very satisfying to see the train pass first through my home city of Schiedam, then Delft where I work. There was the most beautiful sunset jut before we entered Den Haag HS. Finally as it was getting dark we pulled into Amsterdam where a lot of people boarded and also got off as the train had originated in Brussels. Throughout the journey I snacked on some salted nuts and sipped on water, I had consumed two litres and still did not need the toilet indicating just how dehydrated I really was.
We stopped in Amersfoort where it was already dark, we had pulled out the seats like I remember from my interrail days and we tried to sleep, shoes off and legs all over the place we seemed to have become comfortable with each other. Some train guards broke the peace and we all shifted to make room for a Romanian guy who explained in German that he was going to see his pregnant wife!
All through the night we tossed and turned trying to get a bit of sleep.
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