Category: Travel

European Travel Sustainably

As a keen environmental blogger and geographer, I often refer to ways that can help reduce our carbon footprints. Having a love of travel means I have to confront this quite a lot.

As far as my research suggests, aeroplanes are by far the most polluting method of transport, mainly because they pump pollutants directly into the upper atmosphere where they can become trapped and rapidly contribute towards temperature change.

So I travel by train these days, as much as I possibly can. Sometimes I use buses and boats too. However I travel, it is never by air these days. My last flight was from Vegas in 2014.

Over time I am building up an audience for a little podcast which discusses issues and experiences related to travelling by train into Europe.

I would really appreciate you taking a moment to listen to a minute of my latest episode and follow on Spotify, to help get me started.

Lovely Lille

This week I talk about the incredible city of Lille, which is packed with things to do and home a to a northern French cuisine which is very satisfying.

I will leave you with both the Spotify and Apple podcast links:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/european-travel-by-train/id1438968666?i=1000700979618

Glorious Colmar

I love the way the light caught the town – my photo

 In December, my winter travels took me to the Alsace region of France. After deciding to stay in the Capital City of Christmas, Strasbourg, I also wanted to spend a day in Colmar, which is widely advertised on Instagram and TikTok.

To find out more about my visit to Strasbourg, have a look at this:

View at Medium.com

Christmassy Colmar

Realising that Colmar was just a half an hour train ride away from Strasbourg, I decided to spend New Year’s Day there. The scenery on the way was beautiful, with a flat valley surrounded by mountains on either side. As a geographer it interested me that the valley floor was so wide.

On arrival, it was a ten minute walk from the station to the Old Town and I could see the remains of the Christmas market which had ended just a few days prior. When we reached the bridge, we were blown away by the views in both directions. There were some colourful, historic buildings and the Christmas decorations added sparkle to this idyllic place. It was just as picturesque as Instagram had suggested.

Many people suggest that Colmar was the inspiration for the village where Belle lives in Beauty and the Beast. It wouldn’t surprise me as the whole place definitely gave me Disney vibes.

After walking through the colourful streets, we turned over another bridge and could see a Big Wheel in the distance. There was a large food market, mainly undercover, so we went and tried Alsatian hot dogs and had a lovely pretzel which was covered in white chocolate.

Colmar was very inviting and cosy. The restaurants and cafes were busy as it was a holiday. I loved roaming around, taking in the wintry atmosphere and enjoying the stunning architecture. If you are ever nearby, it is certainly worth visiting this fantastic town.

 

New Travel Podcast

My Little Passion Project

A tram gliding through Geneva – my photo

A few months ago I experimented with the idea of creating a travel podcast. Sharing my ideas about travelling by train was the main impetus for this project.

After a few false starts, mainly due to workload, I have now decided that I will consistently make an episode every fortnight.

Having over a thousand impressions already, I figured someone must be listening and I appreciate that.

So far I have covered the following topics:

Episode One: The Eurostar

Episode Two: Beautiful Belgium

Episode Three: Perfect Paris

Episode Four: Scenic Switzerland

Now my latest episode has just come out. Please check it out and follow the podcast if you can.

This week I discuss visiting Antwerp in Belgium at Christmas time.