Scenario: “Europe on Track” – Intersectional Travel Edition

You are boarding Europe on Track Express, a special cultural exploration train going from Lisbon to Istanbul. You will be traveling for one week, sharing a couchette with three other people you have never met from the list below.

You’ll be asked to:

1. Choose the three people you'd most like to share a compartment with, and

2. Choose the three people you'd least like to travel with.

Passenger List

1. A wheelchair-using student from Belgium who is active in climate and LGBTQ+ protests.

2. A world-traveling hitchhiker and storyteller with a heavy backpack and a “natural” scent.

3. A tired Albanian mother with a toddler and no English skills.

4. A quiet German man with ragged clothes and a strong body odor, formerly homeless.

5. A hard-of-hearing Indian programmer who travels while working remotely.

6. A Roma woman from Romania who recently began art school.

7. A skinhead from Sweden ostensibly under the influence of alcohol.

8. A stylish Estonian influencer always filming and vlogging.

9. A very overweight Swiss financial broker.

10. A Syrian refugee studying medicine in Sweden, who draws his journey in a notebook.

11. A blind Latvian activist traveling with her guide dog.

12. A wealthy, loud Spanish tourist bragging about his travels.

13. An African woman selling leather products.

14. A Finnish student with autism who’s obsessed with birds and train systems.

15. A queer Turkish writer with bold fashion and big energy.

Instructions

1. Individually select your three first choices of the people you would most like to travel with and the three you would least like to travel with. You have 15 minutes to do this.

2. In groups, share your choices of the 3 best and the 3 worst companions, and discuss the reasons which led to your decisions.

Then try to come to a consensus on a common list of the three most favoured and the three least favoured companions. You have 30 minutes for this part of the activity.

3. In plenary, each group presents its conclusions followed by a debriefing and evaluation of the exercise.