Hotel koji se kreće dok spavaš

Postoji hotel u kojem zaspiš u jednoj zemlji, a probudiš se u drugoj. Zove se noćni vlak, a Europa ih ima na pretek. Ukrcaš se navečer na velikom gradskom kolodvoru, pronađeš svoju malu kabinu sa sklopivim krevetom i ljestvicama, i negdje oko ponoći peron ti nestane iza leđa. Izazovi prijatelja da ovo isproba s tobom umjesto leta.

There is a hotel where you fall asleep in one country and wake up in another. It is called a night train, and Europe is full of them. You board in the evening at a big city station, find your tiny cabin with its fold down bed and its little ladder, and somewhere around midnight the platform slides away behind you. Dare a friend to try this with you instead of a flight.

Zamisli prizor. Cipele su ti ispod kreveta, karta ti je gurnuta u džep uz jastuk, a cijela soba se nježno njiše poput broda. Kroz pukotinu na zavjesi hvataš komadiće noći: osvijetljenu seosku kuću, naziv stanice koji prebrzo prolazi da bi se pročitao, crne obrise planina. U jednom trenutku ispod tebe prođe granica, a ti to prespavaš.

Picture the scene. Your shoes are under the bed, your ticket is tucked into the pocket by the pillow, and the whole room rocks gently like a boat. Through the gap in the curtain you catch pieces of the night, a lit farmhouse, a station name flashing past too fast to read, the black shoulders of mountains. At some point a border passes under you, and you sleep straight through it.

Ujutro te osoblje probudi kucanjem s kavom i toplim pecivima, a ti podigneš roletu na potpuno novi svijet. Snijeg na vrhovima, magla u dolinama, krave koje očito nikada nisu nikamo žurile. Legao si u glavnom gradu, a probudio se unutar razglednice Alpa. Nema aerodroma, nema reda čekanja, nema izgubljene prtljage. Samo krevet s vrlo dobrim motorom.

In the morning an attendant knocks with coffee and warm rolls, and you lift the blind on a completely new world. Snow on the peaks, mist in the valleys, cows that have clearly never hurried anywhere. You went to bed in a capital city and woke up inside a postcard of the Alps. No airport, no queue, no lost luggage. Just a bed with a very good engine.