Travel Stuff
-
North to South – Narvik to Stockholm
Narvik is Norway’s northernmost railway station, and only exists because of the country’s vast reserves of iron ore. Produced in abundance, Norway had a problem; how to export the stuff, and so the Ofotban railway was constructed. Today, Narvik is the starting point for the touristy Arctic Train, which takes passengers around 50 kilometres just…
-
North to South – Narvik
Sunday morning in Bodo and I am among the first people on the street for the 0715 bus to Narvik. It’s 300 kilometres further North, and will mark the true starting point for the journey in the opposite direction towards Barcelona. It’s an oddity that while Bodo marks the official northernmost part of the Nordland…
-
North to South – Bodo
The flight from Oslo to Bodo – in Norway’s far north – takes a little over an hour. The pilots of the SAS (that’s the Scandinavian Air Services airline as opposed to the British special forces) are highly experienced in navigating this region, but tonight’s strong winds prove to be a challenge. The aircraft is…
-
North to South – Introduction
In recent years a lot of my traveling has been around Europe. Some routes were more ambitious than others. The Baltics and Scandinavia trip was especially memorable because of the variety between Eastern and Western Europe. So, having traversed the continent sideways, I’ve decided this time to do it lengthways – a North to South…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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,…
-
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,…
-
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…
-
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…
TravelCaster 