August 2025. While staying at the Radisson Collection Astorija in Vilnius in Lithuania, we want to order something from the breakfast menu. But the table next to us, populated by a ‘very present’ group of eight or ten people gets priority. They’re treated as being important.
Author: Trip By Trip
ITALY | Rome and Sicily
March 2025. We’re embarking on a train trip to Sicily. We fly from Brussels Airport to Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport with ITA Airways. Then we take an Intercity Notte sleeper train by Trenitalia from Roma Termini Railway Station across Italy to Syracuse. Yes, the train is loaded on a ferry to cross the…
GERMANY | Dessau – Weimar – Coburg – Kassel railroad trip
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…
2025: Overtourism overdose?
On 1 January 2024 we wrote about how rising prices affect travel. Not only the price of flights, but also the price of activities. Pricing was a topic the year before, 2023. In 2024, conventional and social media dug into the issue of overtourism. Articles about locals protesting, Instagrammers posting about big crowds in Japan…
2023 ANDALUSIA WHIRLWIND TOUR | Climate change travel habits, roaming by train and top hospitality mentality at hotels
Six days. Five overnight stays in five cities in Spain. Lunch in Paris. Stopover in Barcelona. Then Córdoba, Seville, Granada and Málaga. An Andalusia Whirlwind Tour where we visit the Mezquita and the Alhambra. We’re touring Andalusia in October 2023 to follow the trend of travelling to hot spots outside summer, as we did with…
Dinner Train in Belgium postponed to September 2024 or to never?
Monday 13 May 2024, early morning. Coming Saturday, we are due to experience the Dinner Train from Namur. But as this post is published early morning, we have not received conformation of our ride. Which coach, which seat? We don’t know. And honestly we don’t expect the ride to go ahead as we know from…
Canada 2023
In May and June 2023, we travelled from east to west across Canada. From Halifax in Nova Scotia to Montreal in Quebec, to Toronto in Ontario, to Vancouver and Whistler in British Columbia. Along the way some night trains and commuter trains, the Niagara Falls and – imagine this – a bus journey. A true…
Dinner Train in Belgium canceled without informing customers
In January we announced enthusiastically Dinner Train would come to Belgium. Dinner Train’s product is very straightforward. A fancy dinner on board a train consisting of restaurant coaches and kitchens. Dinner Train has been successful in the Netherlands, so this is – or as you can already guess – wás something we looked forward to.
2024: rising prices affect travel plans and vacation activities
On 1 January 2023, we wrote 2023 would be a year of coping with staff shortages and industrial action. While both themes were present in 2023 – and still will be in 2024 – they felt less pressing. Perhaps we learned to live with staff shortages and strikes and not dramatize them (anymore). But it…
Riding the Kersttram or Christmas Tram in Antwerp
As they did in 2022, heritage tramway organisations in Flanders scheduled tram rides in the Advent to Christmas 2023. In Antwerp, this is done by VlaTAM, the Vlaamse Tram- en Autobusmuseum or Flemish Tram And Bus Museum. It’s called Kersttram or Christmas Tram.
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