Plane vs. train... For me, the train wins hands over when it comes to the London-Europe commute. It’s better for the environment, stress-free and perks range from no weight allowance on luggage to easy-to-reach station locations on both sides of the journey. It was the first time I'd been on a Eurostar since the pandemic and I opted to take the non stop journey from Amsterdam to London. Ticket prices seem cheaper than I remember - starting from £60 - and in a bid to ride home in comfort I bumped up to business. Arriving at the Amsterdam Eurostar terminal, which is located at the end of plat...
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Flying to Amsterdam is pretty swift but the hassle of getting to the airport can turn the 45 minute flight time into a 4 hour venture, by the time you've travelled to the airport, waited in the terminal and flown to the other side. In a bid to test a less stressful method of transportation (not to mention more environmentally friendly), I recently ventured to Amsterdam from London via the Eurostar. I can testify that the journey - just under 4 hours - is pretty seamless and you feel a lot perkier not being subjected to aircraft cabin pressure! The Eurostar hub is inside the wonderful London...
Read more →It’s a great concept, the catered ski chalet. Imagine your house, but dropped in the mountains, tantalisingly close to the slopes. Lush the place up, with big sofas everywhere and a steaming hot tub on the terrace; add some of your best friends, a chef to conjur up dinner with unlimited wine and staff to serve you. If you are organising a holiday for a big ski group, this home-from-home concept is arguably the best way to go. You don’t find catered chalets in every ski resort, however. This curiously British invention has only been exported to certain parts of the French, Swiss and Austr...
Read more →Forget airport queues, tedious transfers or long drives. The road less travelled is actually a railway track – and from St Pancras it can lead you to some of the best resorts in the Alps. Many skiers overlook rail travel because they imagine that the Alps must take to long by train. Indeed, when I first started skiing, rail travel didn’t even occur to me as an option. But actually, door-to-door, the train can often rival the plane for speed - and smash it for comfort. Going by train, you and friends can sit around and relax as the scenery glides by. In fact, on a trip to the Alps with a group ...
Read more →Think of slipping off to a sandy beach somewhere and the chances are you think you need to fly. But reaching some great coastline in Europe doesn’t always mean you need to shuffle through airport queues. A geeky peek at the brilliant European Rail Map shed some light on the options. Il de Ré is island located off the west-coast town of La Rochelle. Parisians like to slip off to the island to dose up on sunshine, moules and oysters, but not many Brits have heard of the place. It sounded like it needed exploring. We slipped out of St Pancras at midday on a Eurostar. The total journey time ...
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