Trains are fun. And if the reports on travel sites as disparate as the Guardian and The Daily Telegraph and the “how to” sites like the incomparable Man in Seat 61 who all say that the rail journey from Bar to Belgrade is one of the most scenic in the world, who am I to argue?
Ferry: A great alternative to flying I like journeys, and I enjoy the feeling of travelling; of actually going somewhere. A ferry journey is wonderful, and the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas are alive with them. Airlines may be expedient and do their job well, but given the option of a train, ship, car or bus, […]
I only went to Trieste to leave it, and it was not even my first choice of departure points. Bari was, but the ferry to Montenegro has been suspended, and thus access to the train from Bar to Belgrade, one of Europe’s finest, I am led to believe, meant some imaginative preparation was necessary. Let […]
Berlin’s Tegel airport is a strange and almost dystopian experience Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL) is a complete disgrace. It is not that it is old, I am too as are many of my friends and favourite ports, it is that it simply couldn’t care less. Yes, it creaks under the load. Yes, it is being […]
Bored in Berlin? Head to Poland for Lunch The Decision in Berlin Unsurprisingly, there is no tourism office in Rzepin. There are no tourists, and from a brief wander through the town, this is hardly surprising either. Coming here was a good idea. Dining at a lovely little local Bulgarian restaurant in Berlin last night, […]
Astana, now branded as “Nur Sultan” is the capital of Kazakhstan, and a completely surreal place to visit. I loved it Tourists in Kazakhstan are, it may surprise you to know, less than common in November, and Canadian tourists in Astana are particularly thin on the ground. The early winter winds show their face in […]
Dakar, Senegal is a most curious place Travelling in West Africa is complex because West Africa is complex. The last leg of my journey was a short hop from Guinea to Dakar. This 450-mile leg is as Dallas to Kansas or San Francisco to San Diego, yet we flew over four international boundaries. Had we […]
The Shosholoza Meyl train is a gentle introduction to private trains! Private Railways Private railway travel evokes some rather splendid images; The Orient Express and The Golden Eagle are but two of the companies offering the most luxurious of travel on board their private railway carriages. And wonderful they are too, to which I can […]
Aeroplan is changing; are we? The Aimia/Aeroplan saga trundles along as it will for some time to come, with a regular diet of smiles and positivity coming to us all from Aimia. This, of course, is to be expected, but there are certain elements of the future that are far from defined, and far from […]