Starline reimagines European rail, but can it deliver?

A sleek, deep-blue train gliding across Europe at 400 km/h. Passengers board in Helsinki and arrive in Berlin just three hours later. Freight bypasses congested motorways. New architectural landmark stations double as concert halls and cultural hubs. Welcome to Starline—a ‘metro-style’ high-speed rail vision that aims to redraw the European map.

TALLINN | Estonian History Museum at the Great Guild Hall

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…

TALLINN | Lennusadam Seaplane Harbour Estonian Maritime Museum

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…

REVIEW | Swissotel Tallinn

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…

There’s more than one way to enjoy a cruise

July 2024. Steve and I are cruising on the Norwegian Getaway, a Breakaway class ship by Norwegian Cruise Line or NCL. Interestingly, our stay on board happened shortly after the Getaway paid a visit to the dry dock for some refurbishments. The route? Piraeus, which is the port of Athens in Greece; followed by Mykonos;…

Europeans visit other European countries over 7 nights on average

In the COVID-19 pandemic stricken year of 2021, tourism trips made by residents of the European Union to another EU Member State had an average duration longer than one week – 7.9 nights – ranging from 4.3 nights for trips to Czechia and Luxembourg to 11.3 nights for trips to Romania. 

Gay pride calendar 2020

While 2019 commemorated, celebrated and misused the Stonewall Inn Riots of 1969, 2020 actually marks the 50th anniversary of (gay) pride.