hughesjennie

Meander round Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium: part 2

Jennie, Ian and the team at 196Destinations.com are promoting train travel stories to make it easier to travel by train. If you would like to donate or contribute a story to our train travel promotion mission, please DM us on Twitter. In the meantime, enjoy the second part of Helen’s adventures through Europe. Part oneContinue reading “Meander round Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium: part 2”

The Importance of Being Earthbound

In 2019, a group of French rail enthusiasts decided there was only one way to get to the Tokyo Olympics, and that was by train. With all those wonderful places en route, why not? 2020 put a dent in their plans like they did in most people’s, but the organisation they founded, Once Upon A Train,Continue reading “The Importance of Being Earthbound”

Copenhagen to Malmö

²Boarding the 029 Øresundståg train, I briefly wondered if I’d accidentally stumbled into first class, but it turned out that Scandinavian trains are just incredibly posh.”

Armenia to Ukraine Part 4: Odessa to Lviv

“You’ll love Odessa,” my Ukrainian friend Krystyna said, when I described the plan. “You’ll wish you had more time there.” She wasn’t wrong – it’s now yet another on my list of places I have to go back to someday. She also told me that Odessa is famous for two things – the sea, andContinue reading “Armenia to Ukraine Part 4: Odessa to Lviv”

Armenia to Ukraine Part 3: Ferry, cross the Black Sea 🎶

Wandering through a goods yard was not exactly the way I had expected my voyage on the UkrFerry sailing to Odessa to begin, but that was precisely what I found myself doing. Picking my way across the rutted mud between truck cabs, I searched for signs for the passenger terminal. A man with a backpackContinue reading “Armenia to Ukraine Part 3: Ferry, cross the Black Sea 🎶”

Armenia to Ukraine Part 2: Tbilisi to Batumi by not-quite-sleeper.

“I’ve never heard of that,” said my Georgian host, Saba, from the other side of a large khachapuri. This was not good news for my attempts to book the elusive sleeper train from Yerevan to Batumi, which supposedly stopped in Tbilisi along the way, and which I was supposed to be boarding in a coupleContinue reading “Armenia to Ukraine Part 2: Tbilisi to Batumi by not-quite-sleeper.”