Cheap vodka and giant castles: the joy of Interrail

Is the railway rite of passage really under threat, as Nicky Morgan suggests? Not likely, says one former train-powered adventurer
My baptism as an independent traveller began, aged 18, in July 2007 with a 36-hour train journey from London to Budapest. I left with three friends and, flanked by dozens of other school leavers, travelled across the continent with the help of the few hundred quid we had saved and an Interrail youth pass.This week, this beloved rite of passage – a month of almo