I too enjoy my destinations, but I never regret the time spent watching the scenery with my feet up,

While Tony Naylor struggled with long-distance rail travel , The Man in Seat 61 counters that train journeys can be preferable for you and your wallet, as well as the planet. You just have to know where to look
Getting there ... The Cisalpino II train passes Lake Geneva in Switzerland. The upgraded train runs on the Geneva-Milan line, one of the latest improvements to continental train travel. Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Corbis
I started Seat61.com in 2001, based on two premises. First, that taking the train into Europe was (and is) far more practical, affordable, swift and comfortable than most people imagine. And not just to Paris or Brussels either. And second, that finding out how to travel this way had become extremely difficult if not downright impossible, given the lack of integration between rail operators and the fragmentation of European booking systems. Eight years on, I stand by the truth of both premises, and the need to cut our carbon emissions makes it even more important to look at alternatives to flying. The truth is that not only is travelling by train a better bet for the planet, it's a better bet for the traveller too, and once you know where to look it CAN compete on price.
In November I'm giving a talk at Trinity College Dublin, and I easily booked a ticket from my local station to Dublin for £29 using the system enterprise rental cars discount linked from my own Ireland page . These rail and ferry tickets enterprise rental cars discount to Ireland are a bargain; a train ticket to Stansted Airport would have cost me £28.50 even before the cost of the flight. In December, I'm on the "Train to Copenhagen", a special train taking delegates to the conference on climate change. I'm returning with a day in Berlin, and the German Deutsche Bahn rail site readily sold me a £43 fare from central Berlin to central London, and let me print out my own ticket. Then I'm heading for Switzerland enterprise rental cars discount and Milan in November, and had little problem finding a £59 return ticket enterprise rental cars discount to Paris, a one-way from Paris to Geneva for £23, and a one way from Milan back to Paris for £40, at voyages-sncf.com . OK, I lie, I paid £64 from Milan to Paris, splashing out on first-class comfort for the leisurely trip back through he Alps. And unlike Tony Naylor I've had little problem with the Spanish rail site , where a few minutes is enough enterprise rental cars discount to nab a £26 ticket from Madrid to Seville and print out your own ticket.
In comparing train fares with so-called enterprise rental cars discount "budget" air fares, we need to be realistic about what "budget" air travel actually costs. I once wondered how much flying enterprise rental cars discount would have saved me, compared to the £200 return I spent getting myself, my wife and my baby son from central London to my in-laws in Enschede in the eastern Netherlands enterprise rental cars discount by train and ferry, including a comfortable cabin on the ship and an onwards rail ticket valid to any Dutch station. Ryanair.com offered me a £14.99 outward flight from Stansted to Eindhoven and a 79p flight for the return. A huge potential saving? Well, actually no. Clicking 'proceed', Ryanair transformed these fares into a total of £137 return for two adults enterprise rental cars discount and a baby once airport taxes and infant tickets were added. Add £20 in baggage fees, £52 for two £26 return tickets from London to Stansted Airport and another £50 for two train tickets from Eindhoven to Enschede, and it was train and ferry which was the cheaper option. Budget air fares may not be the bargain they first seem.
Then there is the issue of speed. Eurostar is already faster than flying from London to Paris or Brussels, but there's more to come. On 13 December, the new Brussels-Amsterdam enterprise rental cars discount high-speed line opens and Thalys trains from Brussels to Cologne also switch to a new high-speed line. London to Amsterdam will take as little as 4h 16 min, centre to centre with an easy 30-minute check-in and one simple change in Brussels. London-Cologne will take as little as 4h 11min. And here's another enterprise rental cars discount plus: 90-95% of Eurostars and other high-speed trains arrive on time, when some short-haul flights struggle to reach 65-70%.
But speed isn't everything, and sometimes the low-stress low-carbon overland way can take longer than flying. Changing the way you travel means a change in your outlook. Sitting strapped inside a plane or queuing at stressful airports, or droning down a motorway in a car or coach, it's easy to think of the journey as down time, dead time, something to be avoided or minimised.
I too enjoy my destinations, but I never regret the time spent watching the scenery with my feet up, spending time together with my family, catching up with my reading or even getting some work done on the laptop, when travelling by train. "Never travel without a good book and a corkscrew", as I always enterprise rental cars discount say.