
Distance : 430 km Travel time : 6 hours My 15 day rail pass was nearing its expiration date, and given more time I would have made my way back across Northern Europe to the UK. Instead, I needed a final destination where I could get a cheap flight home – and that meant heading…

Distance : Ljubljana to Lake Bled – 55km Travel time : 1 Hour Just about everybody I’d mentioned my trip to insisted that I must visit Lake Bled in Slovenia. And my AI assistant provided a perfect solution. In theory I could take the trains s far as Lesce Bled and then connect to a…

Distance : 94 km Travel time : 3 hours For visitors from the IUK, Ljubljana is potentially one of Europe’s most underrated destinations. And yet it’s extremely accessible, not least ifyou’re travelling by train. There are multiple connections from neighbouring Croatia (Zagreb), Austria (via Salzburg and Villach) and from my current destination of Trieste in…

Distance : 383km Travel time : 6 hours Lucca is so well connected with railway lines, you can travel in and out one of three ways. The most popular is from Pisa, but to the west the line stretches out to the pretty coastal town of Viareggio, and to the east it follows the sceni…

Distance : 205 Kilometres Travel time : 7 hours 6am is no joke of a time to start a day while you’re on holiday, not least when it’s 1st April. Numerous emails from Corsica Ferries had urged me to check in in good time at the ferry terminal in Bastia – and given the process…

Distance : 339km Travel time : 14 hours Marseille had been a delight and it was well worth spending a whole day there before my next move. I’d originally thought about going to Italy through Cannes and Nice by rail, but my AI research threw up and alternative; hopping across the Med via the island…

Distance : 662 kilometres Travel time : 3 hours The Gare de Lyon in Paris is a vast array of concourses, escalators, walkways and noise. The first time you encounter it, it can be overwhelming. But after a couple of visits you soon get used to the general chaos. There are three main halls with…

Distance : 477km Travel Time : Apporx 4 hours The travel cubes worked – kind of – I’ve been able to get almost everything required into the drag-bag, as it will be known from now on. When I say almost, it’s a tighter squeeze than usual for Mr Mutt. Still, he’s getting old now and…

It doesn’t take very long to become addicted to the joys of rail travel in Europe. Not only is it sustainable, it’s a no brainer. Which got me thinking : what would happen if we removed the human brain from the planning process? Sure, it can be fun using apps and websites to chart out…