1. There is no better way to see a country than by train.
2. It's so civilized. You turn up 20 minutes in advance — not two hours.
3. That is, if you can read the times correctly.
4. There are no restrictions on the amount of liquid you're allowed to bring on board.
5. You can go to the bathroom whenever you'd like. And use your phone all the time.
6. The train is pretty relaxed in general.
7. Sometimes too relaxed.
8. Gazing out of the window is contemplative and relaxing.
9. You can bring all your own food and drink.
10. And the dining car makes you feel like you're on Downton Abbey.
11. As your peer out of the window, you can try to read the station signs as they skip by.
12. And some of the station names are incredible.
13. There's an air of mystery to train travel — who might you meet?
14. There is no sound more soothing than the train chugging along on the tracks.
15. It's better for the environment too.
16. Sleeper trains are incredible. You can fall asleep in the fields and wake up in the mountains.
17. And you meet interesting people on them too.
18. There are train routes so legendary that people plan their holidays by them
19. And train routes you wish were real.
20. Inter-railing around Europe would not be the same if you flew.
21. You arrive in a city centre — not an airport.
22. Nothing beats the feeling that you are making a journey that has been made 100 years before you.
23. Why see the top of the mountains when you can drive past them?
24. And why fly over the sea when you can drive beside it?
This is the journey between Exeter and Newton Abbot.
25. Trains forever.
