Travelling by train you feel right in the landscape of a country, the routes tend to be less built over than road routes. Riding through the snowy mountains of Bulgaria and Serbia with the thin firs coated white on one side just a few feet away is almost tactile. It’s like you can feel it as well as see it.
Night time in a worn out little sleeping car is less fun. It can be claustrophobic to have nothing to look at but the tatty walls and your own face reflected back at you in the darkened windows.
Once it’s light, the vista opens up again. With the day you are right back in the frame and at a human level. You can see the people on the platforms, see their mouths move as they say and kiss goodbye.