Unforgettable train journeys

India serves up travel on a massive scale. The journey from northern Ladakh to the tip of Tamil Nadu covers 3214km (2000 miles), and it’s a 2933km (1822-mile) trip from the western edge of Gujarat to the eastern border of Manipur in the Northeast States.

Now that we’re collectively becoming more and more aware of how commuting by way of airplane is not exactly a sustainable travel option to be indulging in all the time, a trip via train is becoming much more appealing—and honestly, so many of us are quick to jump on an international flight to far-flung destinations, sometimes it’s nice to get to know our neighbors.

Riding the rails is one of the greatest joys of any India adventure, whether you’re trundling high up into the hills aboard a Unesco-listed miniature train or clattering along the sun-drenched, coast-hugging Konkan Railway.

I've had the luxury of sitting underneath glass-dome windows as my Rocky Mountaineer train barreled between Colorado's mountains.

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For the second time this year, I have taken a European high-speed train to Paris in lieu of a flight from a neighboring country.

At least once a year, I fly from my home in Edinburgh to visit my in-laws in Berlin. But all of these plane rides have increased my climate guilt and decreased my bank-account balance.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Megan Batoon . The following has been edited for length and clarity.

We might not have a Kardashian-level budget, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have an equally luxurious vacation to Morocco. And the “Red City” of Marrakech is the perfect place to start. With over a million people calling it home, and millions more visiting every year, Marrakech is one of Morocco’s most popular cities. The city’s culture is reflected in its architecture, which includes traditional Islamic designs as well as influences from Europe and North Africa. This extends to the city’s luxury hotels. From riads — a traditional property set around a central garden or courtyard — marble clad opulent palaces accommodations, to big-name hotels, there’s an impressive collection of stunning properties scattered across the bohemian city. To help you make an informed decision about your vacation to Morocco, here is a list of some of the best Marrakech hotels.

Unlike the Eurostar that takes passengers from London to cities on the European continent in record time, The Ghan, one of Australia’s four luxurious trains, is not something you book because you need to get from point A to point B. It may sound like the biggest travel cliché there is, but in this case it’s true: Riding The Ghan is all about the journey and not really about the (albeit lovely) destination. You go on the Ghan because you want to see and experience parts of Australia you’d never get to go to otherwise, at a slow pace, and in the comfiest, most lavish setting you could find.

There are high-speed trains and then there are high-speed maglev trains. While there are plenty of examples of the former (in the UK, in Spain, in France and even in Florida), only one of the latter is in commercial operation today: The Shanghai Maglev Train (SMT), also known as the Shanghai Transrapid Maglev Train. This unique train runs between Shanghai Pudong International Airport and the Shanghai’s financial district every 15 minutes and is the fastest commercial train in the world.

One of the most exciting things you can do in India is to take the train – which is saying a lot, considering the large country offers everything from Bengal tiger safaris to trekking in the Himalayas to jungle-covered tropical islands. Rail lines crisscross the nation, carry millions of travelers every day. They’re an intrinsic part of the cultural flavor of India.