ABOUT ME My name is Helmut and I was born in 1980 in Graz (Austria). Trains were my hobby since childhood. My 2nd hobby is travelling. During my trips I always combine those hobbies. I also like nature, mountains, hiking and so on. My hobby is also my profession - since 2007 I work at the Austrian Federal Railways. I had the idea to travel to North Korea by train already since some years. I especially like long, transcontinental train trips, and the idea to start such a trip at the next train station to my home and then reach a distant place only by using trains (or sometimes also other means of public ground/sea transportation). During such train trips over thousands of kilometers I have the time to slowly adapt to another country, to another culture and mentaility - without the hassle of crowded airports, jet-lag and the discomfort of long-distance flights. I like the feeling of having a sleeper-train-compartment as my living- and bed-room for some days. It gives me a different sense of time and it is the perfect way to escape from the hectic everyday life. Time get's a new meaning. In our Western everyday life time is scarce. Time is luxury. And my trips for me represent some kind of luxury - the luxury of having time, whereas I'm not interested in the luxury of 5-star-hotels. A decent hostel is OK. Of course just sitting on the train for days isn't enough. An interesting destination and some interesting intermediate stops are also necessary for a good trip. My preferred destinations are not the usual tourist hot spots. I like to go to places, which are not so well known. I'm especially interested in Eastern Europe and the countries of the former USSR. Also Asian countries raise my interest and I'm also planning trips to the Middle East. Of course I also have the idea to travel across the other continents by train somewhen in future, but right now there are still much places to discover on Eurasia. THE IDEA - NORTH KOREA BY TRAIN I don't know exactly when North K...
First seen: 2025-05-19 18:55
Last seen: 2025-05-20 03:57