PHOTOS & REVIEW | The Izu Teddy Bear Museum in Izu-Kōgen

Autumn 2025. We – Sam and Danny, Michel and Wille, and Timothy – are travelling to Japan for a quite classic tour of the Land of the Rising Sun. We are flying separately as we used miles. On the planning: Tokyo, Kanazawa, Shirakawa, Osaka, and Expo 2025, Hiroshima, Himeji, Miyajima, Kyoto, Nara, Nagoya, Hakone, and…

Belgian Mobility Minister wants to revive direct train service to Switzerland

Belgium’s federal Mobility Minister Jean-Luc Crucke (Les Engagés) wants to make a direct train connection between Belgium and Switzerland possible again, Gazet van Antwerpen and Het Nieuwsblad report. In his latest policy note, Minister Crucke argues that a direct rail link is necessary and says he intends to give instructions to prepare a relaunch of…

NORTH CAROLINA | Walmart Supercenter Leland

Easter 2025. I’m visiting my uncle and aunt in Leland, North Carolina. It’s my first trip of two to the United States in 2025. I haven’t seen them live since February 2020 just before the first lockdown and I haven’t travelled to this area since 2019. I’m flying with SAS and Delta. The itinerary: Brussels…

NETHERLANDS | Arriva will not launch the Groningen to Paris service in 2026

Dutch private railway operator Arriva, which has been planning to launch open-access services between the Netherlands and Paris in France, via Brussels in Belgium, will not put this project into operation in 2026. The information was first revealed by Thibault Lapers on his Mobilithib blog, based on statements from the company itself.

ANTWERP | New-build Technical Cluster North ready at the end of 2027

On the Havana site in the north of Antwerp, the City of Antwerp is constructing a new logistics centre. In the future, this large energy-neutral building will become the base of operations for 600 employees from various municipal operational services. It is scheduled to be taken into use at the end of 2027, if everything…