Today is the National Holiday of Belgium. On 21 July 1831, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha took the constitutional oath to become King of the Belgians.
Tag: Alps
France welcomes 102 million visitors and earns €77.5 billion from tourism in record-breaking 2025
I turned 45 in June. I have this tradition – when possible – of not being in Belgium for my birthday. From Sweden in 2013 to the Châteaux of the Loire Valley in 2014, Lake Orta in 2015, Rome in 2016, London in 2018, North Carolina and Virginia in 2019, England in 2022, and Rotterdam…
Italy welcomes more than 185 million visitors as tourism surges 7.1% in record year 2025
Italy’s tourism industry reached another historic milestone in 2025, with more than 185 million arrivals recorded across the country as international demand for Italian culture, cities, beaches and cuisine continued to grow strongly. New figures from the Italian Interior Ministry’s ‘Alloggiati Web’ system show that total arrivals increased by 7.1% compared with 2024, rising from…
GERMANY | Cologne Cathedral or Kölner Dom
November and December 2017. During my solo trip to Taiwan – the vacation which was a catalyst to start Trip By Trip – I met Ugo. Fast forward to August 2025. Ugo is touring Europe and we decided to meet up. Showing him Antwerp was an option, but fitting the metropolis into his itinerary was…
Travelski Night Express to serve French Alps from the Netherlands and Belgium for 2026-2027 ski season
A (new) overnight train service connecting the Netherlands and Belgium to the French Alps will begin operating this winter, offering skiers and snowboarders a sustainable alternative to traditional travel methods. The Travelski Night Express, a collaboration between Travelski, a subsidiary of Compagnie des Alpes, and Pegasus Trains, will provide weekly services from Amsterdam to Bourg-Saint-Maurice,…
Brussels Airport to Milan Malpensa with Brussels Airlines, operated by Air Baltic, ft. the 2025 check-in and boarding software hack
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…
#CROSSCHANNELRAIL | Expanding UK-Europe train links most realistically leading to Switzerland
A new independent analysis has laid out the most comprehensive roadmap yet for expanding direct high-speed rail services between London in the United Kingdom and mainland Europe. The #CrossChannelRail Final Report, published on 17 November 2025, is the result of an unusually detailed investigation that included visits to sixty-three stations across the continent, technical assessments…
Italo targets the German high-speed rail market
Germany’s long-distance rail market is about to see a shake-up. After decades of dominance by Deutsche Bahn, Italian private high-speed operator Italo is preparing to challenge the ICE with its own trains.
AUSTRIA | Introducing Vienna, hosting the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest
Austria’s capital Vienna (Wien) has been selected by host broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to host the 70th Eurovision Song Contest in May 2026.
London St Pancras Highspeed and Getlink aspire to to triple train services to France, Belgium and the Netherlands and add services to Germany and Switzerland
High-speed rail travel from London in the United Kingdom to mainland Europe is poised for a major expansion, with plans to introduce direct routes to Germany, Switzerland, and beyond. London St Pancras Highspeed (LSPH), the company overseeing St Pancras International and the high-speed rail link to Folkestone, has partnered with Getlink, the French operator of…