Belgium’s tourism industry showed signs of solid recovery and stability in 2024, with a total of nearly 45 million overnight stays recorded across the country.
Month: May 2025
COBURG | Ehrenburg Palace
October 2024. During a week-long whistle-stop tour of Germany, we visit Dessau-Roßlau in Saxony-Anhalt, Weimar in Thuringia, Coburg in Upper Franconia (Bavaria) and Kassel in Hesse. Smaller cities, yes. But each with their own significance. Untouched by overtourism. We’re avoiding using the white trains of DB Fernverkehr, Deutsche Bahn‘s long-distance section and opt to use…
European Union plans high-speed rail push, but can it get past France?
As the European Union ramps up its ambitions for continent-wide high-speed rail (HSR), a widening gap is emerging between strategic vision and operational execution.
BRUSSELS PRIDE 2025 | Forbidden Colours calls out EU pinkwashing as Commission participates in pride but abandons LGBTQIA+ in Hungary
Brussels Pride returns on Saturday 17 May 2025 under the theme ‘Unite, time to protect our rights‘, as tens of thousands prepare to fill the streets in celebration and protest. Organisers expect around 200,000 people to take part, echoing last year’s attendance. The event caps off Pride Week in the capital of Belgium, which began…
GREAT BRITAIN | Network Rail tests steam locomotive with digital ETCS safety system
April 2025 has seen the start of testing at speed for the world’s first operational steam locomotive to be fitted with European Train Control System or ETCS technology. Tests are being done by Network Rail, the railway infrastructure (the tracks) in Great Britain. So England, Scotland and Wales. Not Northern Ireland.
TRAINS IN LUXEMBOURG | CFL’s Alstom Coradia Stream HC ‘Série 2400’
We haven’t travelled to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg since 2018 and 2019, but in January 2025 we returned to get a taste of the Alstom Coradia Stream HC which the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois (CFL) runs under the name Série 2400. The Coradia Stream HC was a candidate to become NMBS…
RAINBOW EUROPE MAP AND INDEX 2025 | United Kingdom, Hungary and Georgia drop dramatically on LGBTQIA+ rights ranking
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has dropped six places on this year‘s ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Map and Rainbow Index, as Hungary and the Republic of Georgia also register steep falls following anti-LGBTI legislation. The data highlights how rollbacks on LGBTI human rights are part of a broader erosion of democratic protections across…
London to Switzerland direct train moves a little closer with new bilateral agreement
A new step toward a direct train link between Switzerland and the United Kingdom was taken last week, as Swiss Federal Councillor and Transport Minister Albert Rösti (Swiss People’s Party) and UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at London St. Pancras Railway Station.
GYEONGJU | Daereungwong – Cheonmachong – Cheomseongdae Observatory – Banwolseong Fortress – Anapji Pond – Woljeonggyo Bridge – Gyo-dong
Autumn 2024. Ten years after my first trip to Seoul in 2014, I am returning to the Republic of Korea, better known as South Korea. Not solo this time, but with Oriol, who has never been to Korea. On the itinerary: flying with Qatar Airways to Incheon via Doha, the capital Seoul, the historic city…
Pride Express links Ghent, Brussels and Antwerp to Pride Amsterdam on Saturday 2 August 2025
Under the name Pride Express, a train is chartered to bring pride-goers from Ghent, Brussels and Antwerp in Belgium to Amsterdam in the Netherlands for Pride Amsterdam and its Canal Parade on Saturday 2 August 2025.
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