Fed up with the unfriendly skies? For a happy break from frenetic and increasingly unpleasant air travel, check out the award-winning “Man in Seat 61” a sophisticated, encyclopaedic website for travel by train, track-by-track, almost anywhere on the planet. This colossal collection of routes, prices, timetables, and even ferry connections generates fodder for heart-poundingly inspirational travel.
Hang out with The Man in Seat 61 for a fun jaunt like Moscow to Beijing via Kazakhstan. Or, for more fun, he says, “It’s easy to travel by train all the way from the UK to Belgrade in Serbia, to Skopje in Macedonia or Podgorica, then to Bar in Montenegro.”
We love his “Beginners Guide to train travel in the Ukraine.” Malta anyone? Kenya? And/or even a choo choo in Morocco? No prob. Delve directly into the details of even more far-flung tracks in Bangladesh (Dhaka to Chittagong e.g.) or in Australia: from Perth on the west coast to Adelaide, then south to Melbourne and ferry to Tasmania!
He seems to have worked out every route and permutation on earth. Last one: The weekly Nile steamer links Aswan inEgypt with Wadi Halfa in the Sudan, and then a weekly train will deliver you directly to Wadi Halfa with Khartoum. This page explains not only how to make the journey, but also what it’s like.
We are crazy about that Man in Seat 61 who, in real life, is one Mark Smith, an energetic Englishman and international railroad encyclopaedist who is not as mysterious as his moniker.
To know more, click (and save this site for a rainy day): http://www.seat61.com/index.html.
Aaaall Aboard!
Here you go — the most exotic and exciting expedition on earth and surely a peak experience of two lifetimes. Drive the Silk Road from Venice to Beijing in a caravan of Land Rovers (fitted with GPS, maps, GMRS Radio Walkie-Talkies.) This is their sixth year. Operated by AAST only once a year, this year from April 7 to June 25, 2012 – a total of 80 days, 12 countries and almost 12,500 miles. The trip is divided into 3 sections and travellers can participate in one or more sections.
Brave hearts, start packing! And prepare for sensory overload as you shift gears through Venice, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China, through deserts, over mountains, on rivers … visiting bazaars, gardens, mosques, and meeting the locals inmany unspoiled places.