Travel Stuff
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A Baltic Blast – Part 2
With so many cheap flights to Riga from the UK, it’s little wonder that the Latvian capital is a popular destination for a weekend getaway. But the country has so much more to offer – and much of it is within easy reach by train on bus. And so it was, on a freezing Saturday…
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A Baltic Blast – Part 1
The last time I visited Latvia was back in 2009. Then, it was June. The sun was shining, and the Baltic Sea looked almost inviting from the white sandy beach at Jurmula, just north of the capital Riga. Two days before my February 2026 trip, the night time temperature was minus 17 celsius – and…
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A Highland Adventure
Journey overview 153 years ago, the North British Railway pioneered a service that was to become a benchmark for travel across the UK, in Europe and many other parts of the world. And for the first time this year, you’ve been able to embark on it from Birmingham, rather than the more glamorous locations of,…
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Benelux Adventure – Leuven
For the final part of my journey, I’d been initially looking to stay in Brussels so I could connect with the Eurostar train back to London. But being such a compact country means there are plenty of better, less busy and cheaper options nearby. I’d previously ticked off the tourist towns of Bruges and Antwerp,…
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Benelux Adventure – Dinant
One of the joys of using a rail pass is the ability to stick a pin in a map and choose a fairly random destination. I knew little about Dinant in Belgium, other than it looked very picturesque. From Metz, my route involved going briefly back into Luxembourg which wasn’t an entirely pleasant experience. I…
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Benelux Adventure – Metz
Departing from Luxembourg should have been a relatively easy task – there are frequent direct trains to Metz in France, just 63km to the south. But the French railways company, SNCF, doesn’t like to make life easy – ever. Even with a rail pass, there is a mandatory reservation fee of at least €12. But…
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Benelux Adventure – Luxembourg City
When choosing a location for a journey, I’ll often look for a place I’ve not been before. It’s amazing just how many locations are relatively close by, yet almost always overlooked. Luxembourg was one of those places. It always seemed like a small place – it covers just over 2,500 square kilometres and has a…
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Benelux Adventure – Mechelen
Discovering three cities in a single day isn’t usually achievable, but in designing this trip I’ve opted for destinations that aren’t too far apart. So, after the briefest of looks around Utrecht and Gouda, it’s s lunchtime departure for the two and a half hour journey to Mechelen in Belgium. It’s just half an hour…
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Benelux Adventure – Utrecht and Gouda
Regular readers will know that in recent years my travels have turned towards Europe and sustanability, namely using rail as my main form of transport. So perhaps it’s not that surprising to find myself in the Dutch city of Utrecht. Because this is the home of Eurail, the company that sells rail passes to people…
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Polish Adventure Part 3 – Warsaw
Wednesday is bin day in the Polish city of Lodz. I know this because I am woken at 5am by a noisy dumpster being wheeled down the alley outside the Stare Kino hotel. But breakfast is tasty enough and today’s travel time to Warsaw is just 90 minutes. Lodz Fabryczna station is eerily quiet during…
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