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…
Tag: Schengen
REVIEW | Lufthansa Business Lounge Schengen and Lufthansa Senator Business Lounge Satellite Schengen at Munich Airport Terminal 2
August 2025. We’re travelling to the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and more specifically their respective capitals Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. Are they interconnected by rail? Yes, but not in the most straightforward or userfriendly way possible. The Rail Baltica project should remedy this. Unsurprisingly though, this megaproject faces political and budgetary hurdles. It…
A London-bound Eurostar terminal at Antwerp-Central? Highly unlikely!
A new use is being sought for the vacant space of Plopsa Station, located at the rear of Antwerp-Central Railway Station. Belgium‘s national train operator NMBS / SNCB owns the space and says it is open to all ideas. For Antwerp’s Alderman for Tourism and Mobility, Koen Kennis (N-VA), this opens the door to an…
Antwerp-Central all but ruled out as a stop on the Amsterdam to London Eurostar route
The City of Antwerp would love the Amsterdam to London Eurostar to include Antwerp-Central Railway Station as a stop. The 2025-2030 Government Agreement says so. But independent railway commentator Jon Worth doesn’t see it happening.
REVIEW | ITA Airways The Hangar Lounge Rome
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…
5 September = Benelux Day
Did you know 5 September is Benelux Day? For only the second time, the Benelux countries are officially celebrating Benelux Day, an annual occasion that highlights the deep-rooted partnership between the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
United Kingdom and Germany are aiming for a direct London – Berlin train link
On 17 July 2025, the United Kingdom and Germany signed a landmark bilateral treaty that could pave the way for direct train services between London and Berlin within the next decade.
REVIEW | Brussels Airport Diamond Lounge at A-Gates
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…
Introducing the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
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…
Hamont – Weert on foot, because the train connection still isn’t there
Dutch rail infrastructure manager ProRail counts the Weert – Hamont rail connection as one of the future links between the Netherlands and Belgium. But while there are tracks, there is still no (passenger) train connection. So I walked it it on a February 2025 Wednesday. Also, crossing a border on foot has a lot of…