Travel by train on your next vacation
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It suggests another era, doesn’t it? Leisure travel, luxurious dining cars … not to mention the relaxed pace.
I fell in love with rail travel when I was just a child – then rediscovered it about ten years ago and today, if I have a choice, it’s the train for me.
These days, it’s possible to travel almost anywhere by train. One day, it’s going to be a train trip in East Africa for me but tours are available throughout Europe, in Asia, India to the Arctic…
What a romantic way to travel and what wonderful places to see.
I believe that we’ve become so accustomed to air travel these days that we tend to forget just how uncomfortable it can be. The actual flight isn’t too bad, if you can overlook the lack of legroom, the crying babies,the terribly inadequate view and the mediocre food.
The horrors of air travel start when you have to get to the airport.They are invariably somewhere remote.Parking your car is expensive, the traffic is dreadful and if you’re like me, you’ll get lost.
Train stations, on the other hand, are usually in the centre of the town or city you are visiting.
The rigmarole of standing in line for hours at the airport absolutely exasperates me. Then there are all the security checks and eventually you are free to while away a couple of hours being overcharged in the departure area’s restaurants and bars.
But on the train you can relax in your comfortable seat,watch the scenery as it goes by, browse through magazines, drink a glass of wine, try to remember how to play cards … then stroll to the dining car for an excellent lunch or dinner. With, I hasten to emphasise,proper china, real silverware and glasses that are not plastic thimbles.
When nighttime falls, snuggle up in your couchette and when you awake in the morning, see a whole new vista right outside your window.
A train journey is a vacation in its own right.
See fabulous rail vacations here
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