28 trains, 14 countries: Singaporean makes 21,445km journey home from Scotland by rail
Nicholas Chua, a 25-year-old student from Singapore, completed a 46-day, 21,445km rail journey home from Scotland. His trip involved traveling through 14 countries and navigating complex border crossings, including a challenging transit between Estonia and Russia.
Why it matters
The story highlights the logistical and geopolitical complexities of long-distance international rail travel in the modern era.
SINGAPORE: In June, Nicholas Chua found himself standing in a snaking queue at the land border between Estonia and Russia. He had waited about 10 hours, unable to step away even for a quick toilet break or a meal.
He had taken a three-hour train ride from Estonia’s capital, Tallinn, to Narva, a border town on the country’s eastern edge, hoping to cross into the Russian border town of Ivangorod the same day.
Experienced travellers on the online forum Reddit had warned of long queues, as well as strangers approaching those waiting in line to offer a place closer to the front in exchange for payment.
Chua, 25, a third-year electrical engineering student at the National University of Singapore (NUS), experienced such an offer first-hand but declined it.
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