It was a heartfelt wish of mine. To travel by train through Europe for three months and uncover some of the #BlankSpots on my map. I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to take this trip. Even more so, given that it was unclear whether the trip would be possible for personal reasons. Since I don't want the trip to end, I hope you don't mind if I celebrate by sharing a summary with statistics and pictures. Perhaps it will inspire others. (2/16)

Apart from the first three weeks, #BlankSpots was booked more or less spontaneously, bearing in mind my 'must-dos'. I would do it the same way again, even though I couldn't fit in everything I wanted to do, such as visiting Eastern Europe. But my FOMO would have kicked in anyway — you can't fit everything into three months. And sometimes, fully booked trains or overpriced accommodation offered the opportunity to visit beautiful places I hadn't heard of before. (3/16)

Why am I posting about my #BlankSpot trip here? It involves a lot of work, though! Well, partly because I want to encourage people to travel by train. It's a great, ecofriendly way to travel. I'm well aware that I have a lot of time now, and as someone living in Switzerland, I'm in a good position to begin with. However, discovering intermediate regions is a great part of it in any case. In addition, I hope that those who already travel by train a lot could take away some new inspiration. (4/16)

However, I decided not to post about the overly touristy destinations of #BlankSpots, as they are well-known enough. This made me think about overtourism, which I have experienced in many places. I try to reduce my global impact by avoiding air travel and animal-based products. However, my local impact remains the same on site. I am one of (too) many. This is also why I sometimes opt for smaller, lesser-known destinations. (5/16)