Start speaking a new language in 3 weeks with Babbel 🎉. Get up to 60% OFF your subscription ➡Here: go.babbel.com/t?bsc=usa-influ-eg-dt-1m&btp=default&KZfaq&Influencer..Jul-2024..USA-TATAM..1200m60-yt-tomthornton-jul-2024 Thanks for watching! :) Let me know if you have any questions about this trip, in case you're planning your own one, and I'll see you very soon for my next adventure.

Thats actually amazing customer service from that ticket booth lady.

As a Tunisian🇹🇳 this video makes me proud of my country

By getting on a doorless train, you can say you got the complete Tunisian experience😂🙌

I love how you tell your stories and that's what sets your videos apart from every other travel channel. People are kind to you because you are kind.

The fact that you have been warned not to take the train but still takes it , you are a legend

I lived and worked in the Middle East for 15 years on and off and was constantly amazed by the hospitality, delicious food, rich culture and language. Your vlog brings it all back again. Thank you 🙏

Tunisia is still a country in development, with one of the worst economic situation across northern africa. The fact that the railway system still "works" is incredible. I hope it gets better in the future.

The funny thing is that he considers getting to Sfax as a journey to desert, while we (As Libyans) consider most of Tunisia as a lot greener country overall than the real desert (with a an exception of the tiny desert surrounding Borj Al-Khadra and Mareth)

Tunisians are incredibly warm and helpful, and will go out of their way to assist you if you need help. In the two years we have been here I have grown to admire them greatly on a much deeper level than just those initial friendly and helpful impressions. Enjoy your travels!

Wow this series is great - I'm loving your anecdotal interactions with helpful Tunisian railway staff. I've been thinking about a solo trip across North Africa a lot recently but was unsure as to the feasibility so these videos are really helpful offering first hand insight into the ups and downs of this adventure. Keep up the good work!

I had the opportunity to be 2 month in Tunisia, helping prepare a boat to cross the Mediterranean. People are amazing, they will get really out of their way to help you. The villagers, that saw us work pretty hard on the boat, helped us so much: preparing us homemade snacks and tea, some organised a sardine barbecue on the port to present us their kids, they teached us a bit of arabic, and even gave us rides to the beach, the supermarket or other places around the villages that they wanted us to see. Incredible.

Your videos have gotten so much better over the years. I discovered this channel recently, so I've been watching the videos one by one, starting with the most recent ones. And I ended up with the most popular video from America, which just isn't nearly as good as your newer videos.

Every time I went to Tunisia I rented a car, It's way better experience to drive around the country and explore at your oun speed without waiting for public transport, I loved every minute of Tunisia, such an amazing country ❤ Greetings from Libya.

You speak in such a positive note that made me excited about visiting Tunisia

Travelling by train in Tunisia is definitely on my list. Such a fascinating country.

Your videos are honestly really enjoyable. And respect for constantly going out of your comfort zone, in every video. Awesome 🤟🏼

I had to smile at how someone use to British Rail is overly satisfied when travelling on an african railway 😆

You complain about the toilet....but it reminds me of the toilets on the trains we had in the north of England in the late 80s / early 90s that I just about remember as a child.

I really love your travel content. you have such a calm and insightful way of constructing your videos, it's really a joy to watch your adventures. I look forward to seeing your channel grow in the future, I know you're going to take off

Great vid - nicely shot and narrated. And what great customer service - that totally makes up for the inconveniences. Never seen a train report for Tunisia before!

Being from southern France, Tunisia has been on my bucket list for a while, and I was actually doing research on their trains a few days ago. Needless to say, your video gave me a few concerns, but at least there will be no language barrier for me.

Sounds like a wonderful place to visit! People are what makes everything good.

What an amazing opening story. You told it so well. Thank you!

Thanks for this wonderful report. Tunisia looks to be such a beautiful country.

You've been surrounded by absolute angels, and you are so brave to navigate all of that. I could never! Is Sfax where you encountered Karim?

Lol i'm now in Tunisia and took the train to Sousse. In second class 😅, not the most comfy experience but I enjoyed it, even without AC

I just moved to Tunis a month ago and would like to explore the country in a more local way. Your video has been very helpful

Not gonna lie the trains in Tunisia are disastrous, we didn't invest a dime in the rail infrastructure nor the rolling stock in 30 years. Did you notice that they were painfully slow? It's because the rails are poorly maintained. Anyway I'm glad you had fun. Hope you visit again.

I was just thinking about visiting Tunisia a few days ago, and now your video pops up. Perfect timing! I've been following you for years and love your content.

I've noticed this plenty of times in your travel videos, but am just getting around saying it. Your narrative is so captivating! You should write. And then write some more. Watching your videos and listening to you talk about the history of the places and your experiences is so enjoyable, so thank you!

These trains are in way better conditon than Albanian trains. Train from Elbasan to Plazh was without any lamps, many broken and open doors, completely broken windows (without glass, and trees come inside the train when you pass the bushes). Price is just 140LEK which is exactly 1,40€ and you are still in Europe. There will be soon day when in Albania they do reconstructions and new trains start to operate. They already are building new rails from Tirana to Durrës.

Thanks for a really entertaining video. It's nice to see you travelling outside the comfort zone for most people and not only surviving but thriving.

This makes me want to take this trip! Also, since we live in Germany, we are used to the train being late. Best to take a breath and go with the flow 😉 🚂

Great video Tom, incredible service from the railway staff in Tunis! I'd love to do more trips by rail...

The colosseum of El Jem is amazing, looking forward to watching your video. I visited it earlier this year and I was literally the only foreign tourist there ! I loved Tunisia ❤

Well done Tom! Keep up the good work! Your videos are insightful and enriching thanks for sharing your challenges and adventures!

Thanks. Your postings are so stress relieving for me. You are calm. Helps me remain calm.

What an adventure! And yes, your videos have absolutely made me want to visit Tunisia.

as a tunisian , i wannna say if anyone wants to visit tunisia feel free to reach out to me and ask for anything or any recommendations or advice you need ! i absolutely loved the video and the enthusiasm

thank you for visiting

Love your evocative descriptions. Great video!

I had been taking the train almost weekly in Tunisia more than ten years ago, as a student. I loved my trains trips, it was my preferable means of transport in Tunisia (more than the louage). I didn't feel unsafe, even as a girl. Though, I always took the first class and I never used (or thaught of using) the toilet in the train. Yes there were some delays specially bcz of strikes and big accidents. Trains can be overloaded even in 1st class specially in holidays. But overall it was easy. And back then, there were all new modern faster trains, I dont know the situation of those trains today. I still prefer the old ones if they took good care of them, hopefully. I really hope the situation of the railways in Tunisia gets better. As well as many other things.

in my experience Tunisia is a indeed very chaotic in a lot of ways but the people are incredibly friendly and most of the time very eager to help, especially if youre a foreigner.. just dont expect everything to be a "Western" standard when it comes to reliability or punctuality... If had one person try to sell me an item for more than it actually was and some locals that stood in line with me got SO ANGRY at the guy.. i only speak pidgin french but even i understood that they were embarrassed by his behaviour.. 3 or 4 people spoke english and apologized for his behaviour profusely. And talking about late trains.. Im German so I expect trains to be late as a standard 😂

Ferroequinologist: a train enthusiast. See also: Tom Thornton. 😂

We did this 2 months ago. Quite the adventure

Great video! You really captured what it is like travelling solo through Tunisia. If you really wanted to cross Tunisia, take the train from Tunis to Gabes. It takes you all the way south in 7+ hours and is a real experience I can say

Such an excellent post! Thank you for sharing your very unique journey!

Welcome to Tunisia 🇹🇳🤝 i am so happy

Great storytelling

"My train has no doors." "Then how does it smell?" "Whu... what?" "Never mind."

Good video. I travelled on this train from Sousse to el Jem. The train was quite comfortable but arrived late at Sousse.

Really enjoy the simplicity of your travel process and the richness of your storytelling

Have a nice stay in Tunisia mate As you are now in Tunisia try to learn tunisian arabic that's our mother tongue why not ❤️

Amazing Video as always Tom, thanks a lot!

your ability to connect with your viewers is unmatched!

You are a great storyteller, i can watch an hour of this content ❤

I went from Tunis to El Jem and back in 2014 following the advice of the Man in Seat 61. Didn’t know trains in Tunisia were supposed to be dangerous!

My mother and I traveled with a group through Tunesia, but due to schedule constraints we skipped the last few days on the beach and took a train from Gabès to Tunis by ourselves on Jan 1st, 2004. It may have been the same train cars back then. I had no problem getting tickets in French. Funny story: on the first day, the tour guide asked me for some help to include a trip with Le Lézard Rouge, a museum railway, into the schedule, which worked out great.

How did this one slip by me? Can’t wait to catch up with this adventure! 🚂

love your vlogs Tom. 1 tip: maybe slow down the narrative a bit as it might be hard to grasp for non-native speakers of English

Loved the video and narration! :) I had the exact same café car in egypt on the line between cairo and luxor and boy, was it in use!! (hoardes of guys smoking cigarettes and drinking beer), so you had the right hunch! I was lucky to be able to go there with an Egyptian lady who was my seat partner as a solo female traveler. Thinking about Tunisia next and of course will try the trains!

This level of care and customer service for foreigners reminds me of places like Brazil and Colombia. They really want to make their country feel as comfortable and safe as possible

Always a pleasure to watch your videos!

Incredible video. Thanks so much for sharing! If you do end up spending a bit more time in El Djem, they have an incredible Roman Amphitheatre there that is more impressive than the Colosseum!

I've travelled to Tunisia about 10 years ago.

Cracking video. And nice to see someone Vlogging travelling trains outside of the anglosphere, and their comfort zone. Was Sfax any good?

The ladies selling tickets were so nice!!! 🥲 and the food at the end looked amazing 😊

Your videos encourages me to go out there and expereince new cultures. Im guite the scaredy cat so this helps a lot!

Lovely to hear about the kindness you got from locals. Recently I was in Morocco, travelling with an American woman I didn't know that well. She was gobsmacked by how kind, helpful and friendly everyone was as she'd heard she'd encounter distrust and active dislike. Everyone is kind (pretty much), I've found. Looking forward to your next adventure.

Love your storytelling and music choice to the footage. Its so calming and adds almost a meditative aspect to the video :D It really helps in romanticising the tips even more!

I always love these types of videos, they never fail to be entertaining-and also entertaining, how consistently you end up facing such weird situations lmao

Nice story. Nice people.

Another terrific video Tom!

I am about 95% sure the first train carriage is originally run for MÁV (Hungarian State Railways) and I used to travel on the type when I was a kid.

I visited Tunisia 30 years ago, and then I spoke fluent French and a bit of the wrong dialect of Arabic. The tourist guides have warnings about trains but a local told me that they're really about 1st class in the international trains, particularly going to Algeria. I never had any problems. I only rode Tunis to El Jem; I don't think the other lines carried tourists, then.

great video man, keep it going

Funny, 3 days ago i was also in Tunisia and ride alone with the train. It was one of the scariest things i did in my life. The train was delayed from Sousse for 5 hours and i arrived in Gabes nearly midnight. The ride was horrible but at one point, i tought i will made it and that made me really happy. Luckily my travel angency send me a car to Djerba. I arrived at the hotel at 3 AM and went to a saharatrip at 6 AM. I was so tired but also very delighted.

I've managed pretty well with pocket phrase books and the helpfulness of locals.

Definitely loving your videos and has surely whet my appetite to visit this country.

That was a really fun video and story and nicely presented. Thanks!!!

thers is a new train will be from tunisie to alger plus prcis annaba north fo algerie this summer will start working i think you can try it if you love travel by train

In UK, on two occasions some folks were very helpful to me and I speak very good English. I can’t say the same about Paris metro where I was robbed and the staff was just horrible to talk to and show the lack of civility compared to what you see in Arab/muslim country😊

Seeing this as a Tunisian who's experienced it all in our public transportation and to be specific the trains 😂 I feel for you. I gotta say I admire how optimistic you were all while going through all that despite the heat of summer but well you're quite lucky since it wasn't very crowded I remember how I once had to sit in those gaps with a door open sandwiched between people along with my family of four we had to literally sit on our own bags in that little space and it was summer 😂 We were in sfax and the destination was to Tozeur (now there are no trains to there however) and it was so hot 😂 everyone were very angry since we also waited for about 2h just to end up with no seats that's why I've been more or less traumatised from using the trains so I rarely did 😅

Kindness is universal. It's simply the luck of the draw. I once ran out of gas in Turkey (don't ask!) and was assisted years b4 Google Translate.

The ticket number of “4205” seems to suggest quite a few are sold. Assuming they have been numbered from “1” of course

Really nice one, I've been considering a holiday in Tunis and around, and this encourages me even more

Louages are better and faster options for traveling across Tunisia

I've been to Algeria quite a lot and once tried to take the train from Algiers to Oran. Couldn't because the drivers were in strike.

What an adventure!

In tunisia, when u choose to go by train,it’s better to be in a group, cuz so boring to be by ur own self!!

No doors - experience the thrash more 😎

I definitely want to visit Sfax now thanks to your solo trip. I'd duplicate your mode of transport too! Thank you and well done!

bro when you going to visit mahdia , we waitin for you

great video! the food at the end looks incredible wow

When I saw the episode where you took the ferry there! I wanted to go. An amazing country. I love your videos

I'm actually in Tunis right now

“Odd English tourist” is a great pseudonym for this channel. 😉

Wonderful and good sharing Tom 🎉 i still have plenty balkan country to visit next year but this sharing made my mind 2026 might be the year 😂

Love watching your adventure!