Warsaw - Vilnius

Marcin walks into the cafe, tucked into the warren of tunnels underneath Warsaw central station. Piotr knows him from work and calls him over. I buy Red Bull in case I start to drift off. Thankfully I know that I can interview Marcin for starters though he is only going as far as Bialystok. On the train he gets most animated when we talk about his band, which is the reason he is heading out of Warsaw where he works. One of the band members is deciding where to move and he wants to convince him to come to the capital so that they can practice more often and he is taking the early train so that he can do it in person. The band play prog rock that Marcin says is inspired by the flowing forested landscape of their home town Suwalki in the far North. Our train will be passing through there later today.

I meet Matt Gash after Marcin has got off. He is sitting on the last seat in the carriage, his book beside him, with long hair and tattoos poking out from under a leather jacket. The book is in English so I ask where he is heading and he answers Vilnius. Oddly for an American, Matt Gash not only has a passport but has used it frequently, as I come to understand from his description of his trip so far, which has taken in many European countries since Brussels, including Serbia and the barely fortnight old Kosovo. This however is the tip of the Matt Gash iceberg, as he is planning to visit not just these countries, but every country in the world over the course of four years, of which one and half have passed. Matt Gash is fast. In South America, he made 22 flights in 17 days, including one over the Andes where severe turbulence sent the plane into a dive that had him thinking terrified thoughts about snow and cannibalism.

We change trains at Sestokai and on our next train, which feels authentically Lithuanian, we meet Bruce and Ashleigh, two Australians who have been living in Finland. In an attempt to further break with stereotype they wait a full five minutes before ordering a beer. It transpires that the beer tastes like a mouldy honey sandwich.

David was briefly visible on the first train from Warsaw, carrying his small German shepherd cross puppy, with its larger male counterpart following behind. His clothing is well worn and his hair is shaved in a vaguely buddhist style, leaving only a pony tail at the back, so he can be pulled up to heaven. He is Lithuanian but has been living in Italy for several years but is returning now to renew his passport. Then he plans to take the dogs overland to Nepal, to study Buddhism. When he talks it is occasionally hard to understand for a few moments, then he will burst forth with a phrase of such eloquence that you think he must be reading from a book of poetry. This morning he was ejected from Warsaw Station after the puppy made a mess on the floor. The big dog is called Bear.