Jelto Makris, PhD in the GO-Chains research cluster, attended the ECPR conference in Thessaloniki, Greece, and the Oslo Summer School in Norway this summer. Unlike many others, however, he did not fly, but traveled overland.
His main motivation was to reduce emissions. But he also enjoys slow travel. “You always experience something, it's more comfortable, you meet new people or learn about Europe and see new places.”
We asked Jelto what he experienced on his travels, what reactions he encountered, and what new experiences he gained as a PhD student at the ECPR conference and the Oslo Summer School.
Jelto's travel reports
Hamburg - Oslo
I was supposed to leave at 6 a.m., but of course I overslept and just barely made it onto the train at the last second—unfortunately without breakfast or snacks and with a 12-hour train ride ahead of me. Luckily, a generous 14-year-old boy was sitting next to me. He quickly noticed that I didn't have any food with me, so for the rest of the trip I was provided with fresh lahmacun and coke and lots of nice conversations with the family.
On the Malmö–Oslo route, we got stuck in a train station in the middle of nowhere, in a ghost village on the Swedish-Norwegian border, because of a storm and a fallen tree. Fortunately, everyone was in good spirits: the train staff provided us with hot chocolate, and a group of French people brought out bottles of red wine and pastis. So we spent the evening enjoying good conversation and some Norwegian folk songs. I arrived in Oslo at 1:30 a.m. – six hours late, but inspired and with new acquaintances.
Jelto wasn't the only one who chose sustainable transportation to get to the summer school in Oslo. Participants from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark also traveled by train. At the ECPR conference, however, he and his research colleague Janosch were among the few who did not fly. Since the rail connection was discontinued, Greece has been difficult to reach by land, and for many, the Flixbus is simply a nightmare. So most participants were very surprised that he spent two and a half days traveling just to attend a four-day conference and three-day summer school.
Hamburg – Thessaloniki
The journey was even longer: he left Hamburg in the morning, arrived in Vienna in the evening, then took the night train to Bucharest – in a 6-berth compartment, traveling at a snail's pace of 50 km/h through Romanian villages.But I was in good company: a Frenchman from the WWF who also works on supply chain legislation (you network in the most unexpected places), and a Romanian history student who told us about the history and political divisions of the places we were passing through. So I lay on my bunk, looked at the Romanian landscape passing by, discussed EU policy in Romania, and worked on my conference presentation.
We arrived in Bucharest the next afternoon. After exploring the city, I met up with a colleague who was also traveling to the ECPR by land. After a pleasant dinner together, I said goodbye to my traveling companion from France and boarded the Flixbus to Greece with my colleague. After a rather unpleasant overnight bus ride, I arrived in Thessaloniki and had half a day to rest and prepare for the start of the conference.
Conference and summer school as a place for mutual exchange
Participating in both the ECPR conference and the Oslo Summer School provided Jelto with many valuable insights and ideas for his research.
The Summer School allowed him to engage intensively with his field of research—political economy and supply chains. He met authors whose papers he had been following for a long time and received valuable feedback on his own work. In addition to the exciting exchanges, there was also time to enjoy the city and its surroundings and to talk to others about the ups and downs of PhD life.
In Thessaloniki, he also encountered an open and stimulating atmosphere that quickly dispelled any nervousness. “You feel like you're part of a small research community” and can stay up to date with the latest research through exchanges, which is particularly helpful in such a dynamic and rapidly changing field as supply chain law. Through the discussions, Jelto was able to gather a lot of feedback and new perspectives on his research and meet PhD students from all over Europe.
Looking back
Jelto gained a lot of new experiences at the Oslo Summer School and the ECPR conference this summer, while also demonstrating how it is possible to travel across half of Europe using sustainable means of transport.
His tip: “Interrail is a great way to travel across Europe cheaply and without a lot of organizational effort. So always buy an Interrail pass when it's on sale. That way, you won't be tempted to fly.”
