Travel & Fear
Traveling Through France During the 2024 Railway Arson Attacks
And refusing to give into fear
This past July 26th, on the day of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, it’s estimated that around 800,000 passengers were affected by a sabotaging act of arson on the French railways. And I was one of those passengers.
A few days earlier, I’d managed to snag a deal with Eurostar via a connecting train from Strasbourg to Paris and then Paris to London. My lifelong dream to travel through the European countryside by rail was finally coming true. And what budget traveler doesn’t welcome a bargain when they can swing it?
Not quite a complete plebe, I knew the Olympics were coming but did I know I was traveling on the same day as the opening ceremony? Had no clue. Having in the last few days taken a bus trek up from Montenegro through Serbia, Hungary, Austria and Germany, I’d gotten caught up in the joys and stresses of slow travel and dealing with assorted problems here and there. Plus, keeping up with the news can be trying on the mind as there is often so much negativity and obsession with politics.
Would it have been beneficial to know, however, that a few months prior on May 8th, during the arrival of the Olympic flame in Marseille, there had…
