UK Tourist Attractions

As the summer finally approaches, people across the UK will be getting increasingly excited about the prospect of a variety of activities traditionally associated with the season. From barbeques in the back garden to basking in the sunshine in a vast, green field - the simple joys of summertime can lift your spirits immeasurably.

What's more, the summer months provide the most opportune time to travel around Britain. And whether you're going to a music festival or you simply want to explore certain parts of the country, there's one mode of travel that's sure to reign above all else: coach travel.

Travelling by coach could be a real benefit when you're trying to get from one place to another this summer. For starters, you'll avoid overcrowded and overheated train services, which are often delayed due to the expansion of rail tracks in hot weather. Furthermore, coach journeys often take breaks in rest areas, so you'll be able to stretch your legs at regular intervals and visit the toilet frequently.

Modern coaches even have free onboard WiFi access - so if you take your laptop on your coach journey you'll be able to surf the internet at your leisure. And while it's true that coach travel often takes longer than train or air travel, coach travel also allows you to appreciate the sights you pass during your journey, particularly if you're travelling during the day. A daytime coach journey from Glasgow to Manchester, for example, would provide for stunning views of the Lake District, England's beautiful north-west and the charming Scottish borders.

The frequency of coach journey timetables also means that you'll be able to maintain flexibility and travel when it suits you; an overnight coach journey from London to Edinburgh, for example, means that you can leave the big city at midnight after a full day's activity and arrive in Scotland in time for breakfast, having had a complete night's sleep on your coach.

Coach travel is sure to make your summer excursions that little bit easier. Take a coach to the Glastonbury festival in June for convenient transport to one of Europe's most anticipated musical events. Or if you want to take a short shopping break in one of Britain's best shopping cities, like Birmingham or Manchester, coach travel is the way to go.

If you're going on holiday this summer, you can also get a coach to the airport in order to ensure the convenient, hassle-free transport of you and your baggage. Some coach companies in Britain also provide coach travel overseas; National Express, for instance, offers special services to ski resorts around Europe with their Eurolines service, as well as offering travel to major European destinations - including Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin.

When you are planning your next trip to the United Kingdom, make sure you take advantage of the travel savings for United Kingdom tourist sites. These sites might include visiting the hundreds of British castles and stately houses, through which tour packages will give you the best price. The sheer number of people will give you the savings, and the sites will give you the history.

The British Tourist Authority will point the way to the choices in travel savings for United Kingdom sites. They offer quick links to flights and transportation sites in Great Britain that will take you to such airports as the famous, Heathrow International Airport, where travel to other points of interest are available.

There are terrific travel savings for United Kingdom sites offered in the many forms of transportation that is available in Great Britain. The British Tourist Authority has all of the links that will conveniently take you to all available public transportation sites, rental car sites, taxi companies, and companies that will transport you direct.

When you can travel the best routes between all tourist destinations to be found in Great Britain, then the travel savings for United Kingdom sites will be found in reduced rail ticket costs, and rental car costs, because you will know where you are going and will not have to spend money on petrol unnecessarily.

Sightseeing offers great travel savings for United Kingdom sites, because you see more of Great Britain than you would ever think possible. Convenient city maps can be obtained that will give the placement of every castle in the United Kingdom. If you do not care to drive, you can use the public transportation and save money in the fares that are cheaper than any other travel mode being offered.

Some of the unofficial guides to Great Britain will give you a hint about the travels savings for United Kingdom sites that will give you a first-hand perspective on what things there are to do at these sites, because these unofficial guides are written by people who have done the travels already. These people might be Londoners, or people from Peoria, Illinois and any other location in the world.

By learning from their personal experiences you will know of other unadvertised travel savings for United Kingdom sites that cropped up from conversations with proprietors of local pubs and eateries that were on your list of attractions to visit while you were in Great Britain.

At attractions such as Buckingham Palace, you can get travel savings for United Kingdom sites from the tour guides. They know the best places, with the best deals for all your needs that are within walking distance of the Thames River, and the business districts. There are millions of people that in Great Britain. See where they go, and how they bargain for prices. Some of the ways will surely delight you.

The locals are the best source of information about travels savings for United Kingdom sites. Talk with them, and you might even get some advice about the local delicacies such as fish and chips, and which size lager is proper for a lady to drink. The United Kingdom is full of friendly people who do not mind pointing out a good place to eat at a reasonable price.

Train travel is an ideal means of transport in the UK and the rest of Europe. Rail travel is fast, practical and convenient in both urban and more rural areas. Railway stations often allow for car hire services if you need access to a car or perhaps need to venture to an area not accessible by train.

Rail travel is often convenient even if you have flown partway to your destination. Train travel works well for personal or corporate travel, and can be an economical way to transport staff to a conference, event venue, or meetings. It can also be a luxurious and comfortable way to transport clients quickly and efficiently. Train travel is a viable option for conferences, annual meetings and other events throughout Europe. You may be pleasantly surprised to learn that you can easily opt for rail travel to or from the UK and mainland Europe.

Booking rail travel is easy thanks to online interfaces that offer planning, scheduling and trip organisation services. Both personal and corporate travel arrangements can be made easily and practically online. Whether you need to simply book a rail ticket or opt for a full package, both can be done with little effort. Corporate travel to events including annual meetings, conferences, and other events can be planned quickly and easily. Many online trip organisers even allow you to book airline tickets, car hires, rail travel and accommodations in one step. A well planned trip can be especially important for group travel, or for corporate travel arrangements. Discount on rail fares are even available for groups of more than ten.

Eurostar services offer fast check in and a short trip between London and Paris or Brussels. Eurostar allows you to travel in high speed comfort, with champagne, drinks, and food available at your seat in Leisure Select and Business Premier Classes. Business Premier may be an ideal choice for corporate hospitality or business travel to general meetings, conferences and PR events. Business Premier offers even faster check in services as well as additional business amenities. Standard class offers affordable and practical travel between London and France. Eurotunnel can also offer those travelling by car a helpful and cost effective rail option as you simply drive your car onto the shuttle and make a short 35 minute trip via shuttle to Calais, France.

Train travel is ideal in many ways as a corporate travel option, or even for corporate hospitality events. Comfortable rail travel is convenient and practical, and some train travel routes even offer wireless internet access and charging capabilities for laptop computers. If you are transporting important clients for PR events, product launches or exhibitions, rail travel can be an excellent choice. Train travel is an ideal choice for corporate hospitality, allowing your clientele to use their travel time for business needs or work.

While train travel works well for shorter trips, it is also ideal for longer trips. Sleeper cars are available on some train routes, allowing for a comfortable night's sleep. While train fares can be quite economical, first class seating in the UK and Europe will allow travellers an enjoyable and relaxing ride to their destination.

Britain's Prime Minister, pointing to the high levels of greenhouse gas emissions from planes, canceled plans to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport and said he would refuse to approve new runways at Gatwick and Stansted airports.  The government has announced it is determined to meet its goal of curbing aviation emissions.  Britain's 2008 Climate Change Act requires a minimum of a 34 percent reduction in total emissions by 2020 vs. a 1990 baseline.

Britain believes that the approximately 220,000 flights that would accompany the opening of a third runway at Heathrow would make it difficult, if not impossible, to meet its emissions reduction target.

In the U.S. business priorities have usually prevailed over concerns about climate change.  New runways were opened in ‘08 at Chicago O'Hare, Seattle-Tacoma and Washington Dulles airports.

In the past, airport expansion plans have sometimes been changed or canceled out of concerns over noise or ground level pollution.  Britain is the only country to date that is restraining airport expansion based on climate considerations.

It is believed that emissions from air travel are responsible for 2 to 3 percent of global emissions.  However, the proportion is higher in developed countries and emissions from aviation are growing faster than those of any other sector.

Britain believes that aviation emissions accounted for 6 percent of the country's carbon dioxide emission in '06.  However it forecasts aviation contributing up to a 25 percent of those emissions by '30.

The number of general aviation hours in the U.S. is expected to grow by almost 3 percent a year, and be 60 percent greater by '25 than it is now.

Known as ‘The Rock’, Gibraltar is a little bit of Britain in the Mediterranean. The ownership of this tiny piece of land has long been a sensitive issue with the neighbouring Spanish. In Greek mythology, Gibraltar (Calpe) was one of the Pilars of Hercules marking the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. The north coast of Africa is just 14 miles away and can be seen from Europa Point, making Gibraltar a place of strategic importance. Britain took control of the Rock in 1713 and it was formally declared a colony in 1830. It was also here where the HMS Victory underwent repairs after the Battle of Trafalgar before returning back to Britain with Nelson’s body. In 2002, there was a referendum where the locals overwhelming rejected any involvement by Spain in their government.

The locals are proud to be British citizens and while on the Rock, you are under no illusion that it is anything other than British. Street names such as “Winston Churchill Avenue”, the cash machines churn out £10 notes (proper ones, not like ones from Scotland), familiar high street names like Marks & Spencer, pictures of the Queen in the hotels, pubs such as the “Lord Nelson”..you get the idea. The one concession that has been made is that traffic flows on the right hand side of the road on the narrow, badly signposted one-way system of Gibraltar.

The airport at Gibraltar is owned by the Ministry of Defence for use by the Royal Air Force as RAF Gibraltar. Civilian flights share the runway which dissects Winston Churchill Avenue. This means every time a plane lands or takes off, the main street has to be closed to traffic for around 10 minutes. While this feature of Gibraltar is part of its charm, it also means that only a few flights a day can land / take off without causing severe traffic disruption. A new airport is planned which will give the airport a large increase in capacity and a tunnel under the runway which will reduce tailbacks and delays. Once completed, the new Gibraltar airport will give both Gibraltar and the Andalucia region of Spain a better air link.

There is a still a big military presence in Gibraltar with the very upper part of the rock out of bounds to the public. For the tourist, the majority of the attractions are in the Upper Rock Nature Reserve. If you have a car, you can drive the route yourself otherwise there are plenty of companies who are willing to take you. Once you’ve paid your entrance, the first point of call are the spectacular St Michael’s Caves. Around 300m above sea level, they are one of Europe’s most natural grottoes.

Next stop is Apes’ Den. The most famous residents of Gibraltar are the Barbary Macaques and they roam freely throughout the nature reserve. Despite giving the impression they are tame, visitors must remember they are wild animals who will bite. They aren’t shy about stealing food or other belongings and will almost certainly try to get into your vehicle if given the opportunity.

The Great Siege Tunnels were excavated by the British Army during the siege of 1779-1783. Visitors can’t fail to be impressed with this defence system which gives a fantastic view from the rock over the airport into Spain. The military theme continues at the Military Heritage Centre where there is an array of artefacts housed in Princess Caroline’s Battery.  The City Under Siege Exhibition demonstrates the appalling conditions the British soldiers had to survive under during the Great Siege and there is graffiti dating back to the 18th century.

The final point of interest on the Upper Rock is the Moorish Castle that dates back to the 14th century. It is located on the north-western slope and its Tower of Homage dominates the only land entrance to Gibraltar. Your entry ticket to the National Park also gets you into one more place; the 100 Ton Gun which is located down in the town. This fearsome weapon had a bore of 17.72 inches, fired a 371 kg shell which was capable of piercing 16.3 inches of mild steel at a range of 2,000 yards.

Gibraltar is well worth a visit as it is a unique place for the curious traveller either as a short break or part of a longer trip to Andalucia.

Some of the greatest travel writers had no idea they would be travel writers. They were engaged in other careers and then went on to be the foremost chroniclers of the places to which they were posted. These days, because of the internet and that associated fiction, that we do not need to be anywhere but at our computers, this phenomenon has practically left our screens. But we have been left with a recent legacy of great travel writing, balancing on the back of sometimes lackluster other careers.

In the case of Lawrence Durrell, his urge to travel emerged from the nature of his family, who loved to wander, but primarily from his experiences in the diplomatic corps. He achieved world fame with his tetralogy The Alexandria Quartet (he resided in Alexandria, Egypt, which inspired the setting for the book) and his oeuvre is in fact considerable, including many titles now almost totally forgotten except by collectors and specialists in his work. But travel and examinations of time and place are common threads that run through them all.

Durrell was a contemporary of diplomat and thinker Harold Nicolson, author of The War Years, Congress of Vienna, Public Faces and Some People - among others. Lawrence Durrell had a spell in the diplomatic corps and out of those experiences arose written classics of time and place: Esprit de Corps - Sketches of Diplomatic Life with its perfect depiction of life in Yugoslavia early in the 20th century. But grave and serious the book certainly was not. Critic John Connell wrote: 'Uproariously funny & shrewd; it is as if Sir Harold Nicolson had gone into partnership with P. G. Wodehouse'.

Others in the genre of diplomatic travel literature Durrell produced were Sauve Qui Peut and Stiff Upper Lip set in some of the seamier outposts of the world. These three classics of time and place are tales of diplomatic misadventure by the British Foreign Office, accompanied by memorable and witty drawings by Nicolas Bentley. They are magnificent introductions to the countries they depict, despite the fictitious character, the deadpan, loopy Antrobus who populates all the stories.

His writings based on his diplomatic corps experiences were by no means his only travel books. There were also Prospero's Cell: A Guide To the Landscape and Manner of the Island of Corcyra, Reflections on a Marine Venus, Bitter Lemons of Cyprus, Blue Thirst, Sicilian Carousel, the Greek Islands and Caesar's Vast Ghost. So much was Durrell a traveler that this expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist and travel writer resisted affiliation with Britain and preferred to be considered cosmopolitan. 

It was suggested after he died that Durrell never had British citizenship, but in fact he was classified non-patrial in 1968 due to the amendment to the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962. Hence he was denied the right to enter or settle in Britain under the new laws and had to apply for a visa for each entry. This travel writer was forced by law, then, to be a permanent itinerant.

Britain has much to offer in its history. It is known for its stately and historic homes. Many are open to the public and you can get a glimpse into the lifestyle of Aristocrats, Lords, Ladies and the wealthy.

Many Historic houses offer guided tours with an interesting story to here in nearly every room. Traveling as a group you should normally be able to get group discounts at most destinations. Some stately homes may lay on events and attractions at certain times of the year.  This may include battle re-enactments through to shows and fates. To give you some ideas of places to visit there are a few ideas listed below:

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace is a magnificent work of art and is the ancestral home of the 11th Duke of Marlborough and offers a memorable day out.  It is set in 2100 acres of beautiful parkland landscaped by ‘Capability’ Brown, the exquisite Baroque Palace is surrounded by sweeping lawns, formal gardens and the magnificent Lake. It offers corporate and private events and offers its beautiful state room which is perfect for weddings and events.

As well as a visitor attraction blenheim Palace is a huge resource for a wide variety of education uses, available to any education group, national and international. This includes Pre-school, School and Youth Groups, Colleges and Universities, Language Schools and School Language Exchanges.

Leeds Castle

Leeds Castle is considered one of the most ancient and romantic of all castles within Great Britain. This 500 acre piece of history is surrounded by water and a dense forest which inspires the imagination. If your group would like to take a hike, there is no experience like that of walking along the water in the morning mist or play a round of golf. If indoors is more of your thing, you can wander the halls of this unforgettable castle. You can even plan your wedding here if you have the desire.

Knebworth House

This 250-acre parkland is straight out of a gothic ghost story. It can capture the imagination and give a much-needed release from the outside world. There is also a three star hotel on the grounds for anyone who would like to stay there for a number of days. For anyone interested in gardens, you can request a tour through the remarkable works of art that have been created specifically for the garden.

Hever Castle

Hever Castle, most recently made famous yet again by the movie “The Other Boleyn Girl”, was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. This particular house has been updated and added on to in the last hundred years to provide the finest in comfort to its guests. It is a truly luxury home that should not be missed by your group if you have the time to stop here. Also visit “The Tudor Village” which is right next to the castle.

These four locations are among the dozens open to the public for viewing. Great Britain prides itself on the national endeavor of restoring its national heritage and all visitors can expect an enjoyable experience.

The golden age of transatlantic marine delivery and traveling started prolonged following Columbus' attempting to prove that the earth was round. Following that time, marine sailing vessels traveled to the new globe on a rather infrequent schedule. It was not till the initial sea steamship, the paddle steamer "Savannah" crossed the Atlantic Underwater in 1819 that a new era in journey heated up. Given that that time, underwater cruises and marine liners have turn out to be a factor of beauty and romance.

By the end of that century, and commencing into the 20th century, marine ships experienced established themselves as a status symbol for their businesses and their nations on the underwater. A "battle" for marine supremacy - Possessing the newest, largest most extravagant sea liner afloat - acquired begun!

Cunard Lines previously, in the earlier 1900's two great boats referred to as Mauritania and Lusitania sailing the sea. In purchase to increase the White Star Line's (by this time owned by International Merchant Marine) underwater liner position to the best, director Bruce Ismay made a decision to develop not two, but 3 fabulous boats. One particular of these monster boats became the most infamous underwater liner in the planet. Titanic would enter the scene as the biggest and most stylish marine cruise trip liner. Her sister ship, the marine liner Olympic truly entered assistance just before Titanic. These two boats place White Star Line yet again on top of the sea liner heap - albeit really short lived as we all know the fate of Titanic.

Marine Liners to Voyage Ships

The age group of the jet aircraft all but completed the era of trans-sea voyage boats. As the pace of business got more rapidly, so did the travel requirements of passengers to cross the ocean. Transatlantic sea crossings by plane meant hours rather of days by marine liners. There became a require to locate a new objective for the existence of the ships. Enter the get older of luxury cruise ships.

The story of one particular specific marine liner possibly sums up this modify. In the earlier element of the 20th century, the Canadian Pacific Railway Co. previously an underwater crossing presence with a fleet of marine boats. As late as the 1960's, the business experienced boats built. The "Empress of Canada" joined the fleet of marine ships soon after getting christened by the wife of then Prime Minister John Diefenbaker. She joined two other "Empress" liners - "Empress of England" and "Empress of Britain".

The Empress of Canada swiftly gained a extremely good reputation for underwater boats because of her classy looks and amenities. She was a really modern-day marine liner fitted with stabilizers and was air-conditioned all through. Throughout the summers, the liner made the transatlantic marine run from Liverpool to Quebec and Montreal exactly where she produced her turn close to. In the winter, the transatlantic marine crossing was stopped. The sea boats ended up either terminated at Saint John, or started to be voyage boats sailing from New York to the Caribbean.

In the course of the '60's, air journey grew to become a lot more and more well-known. The ocean shipping businesses previously to find new duties for their liners. Much more time was invested performing cruises and by 1970, the "Empress of Canada" turned the final marine liner in service for Canadian Pacific. She was then only performing 13 transatlantic sea crossings per year, and invested the rest of the time undertaking cruises. Canadian Pacific determined in 1971 that it could not retain its marine crossing organization and on November 23 of that yr the marine liner "Empress of Canada" arrived at Liverpool for the final time. Following 68 many years, the North Atlantic Sea liner assistance acquired ended for the Canadian Pacific Railway Firm.

Thankfully, excellent prospective was nevertheless seen in the liner. A man referred to as Ted Arison acquired the ocean liner as the really initial cruise ship for his newly founded organization - Carnival Voyage Lines. The mighty underwater liner was renamed "Mardi Gras" and was refitted for her new voyage life. She kept her gorgeous external profile, but the liner did lose her cargo cranes that would no longer be needed as a luxury cruise liner. Carnival made a decision to even continue to keep the basic pattern of the Canadian Pacific marine liner's funnel identification and reworked it to identify the cruise liner as the new Carnival voyage ship.

The luxury cruise liner previously a very shaky start with the organization losing income in the early many years. However, a couple of many years later Carnival Voyage Lines progressively introduce the "Fun Ships" idea and spent a whopping (at that time) 10 million dollars in converting their marine liner Mardi Gras. In purchase to sustain their company (obtaining only 1 cruise trip ship), Carnival kept the liner operating whilst the renovations had been staying completed - closing off areas of construction and thus getting only about 60 % voyage ship occupancy accessible whilst on the marine and seas.

Issues started to turn around for Carnival Cruise trip Lines and by the mid '70's they were possessing fantastic accomplishment marketing and advertising the cruise liner in Canada and the U.S. In December of 1975, Carnival purchased their second cruise trip ship - the ocean liner "Queen Anna Maria". Oddly enough, this liner experienced been originally called the "Empress of Britain". That's appropriate, following several a long time, the two sister sea boats from Canadian Pacific Railway have been once again in the very same fleet cruising the oceans together. She was renamed "Carnivale" by the organization and the two boats ended up extremely effective.

In 1977, a third cruise trip ship was bought for the fleet and called "Festivale". Carnival now had a "Golden Fleet" of three cruise trip boats sailing the oceans and was nonetheless growing in achievement.

Carnival ordered their initial new-build cruise trip liner which entered support in 1982 and was called the voyage ship "Tropicale". From that time, Carnival Cruise Lines never looked back.

Hence the age group of transatlantic sea boats carrying travelers from a single destination to yet another previously transformed into an get older of cruise trip liners transporting vacationers on exotic sea itineraries. Sea crossings still exist from the New World to the Old Globe, but now they are for soothing vacations, and are quite often re-positioning cruises by the cruise trip lines.Read more: online travel booking

Some important points to remember when traveling.

Example: I was in Nice and had to go to Cannes. I went by train and bought a ticket. You do not waste your Eurail Pass on journeys on trips that take less than an hour.

This has great advantages. It saves you the cost of one night's accommodation and it gets what could be a longish journey over in considerable comfort and style. For example, I went from Salerno in Sicily right up the leg of Italy to Genoa and did it on a night train and slept like a baby.

One has to be careful.

There is a story about a passionate young couple who used their sleeper not for sleeping. In a moment of ecstasy the young lady hung on like mad to the nearest object. Sadly, it was the emergency stop communication cord.

Sites which can help…

Eurail: It claims, correctly, that it is the only official Eurail site. This is true. But it is not the only site that can give you information. And it is certainly not the only site that can sell you tickets. It does, however, make a very good starting point because from here you can sort out potential timings and itineraries.

Europe: This is not the official site but it might just as well be considered as such. There is nothing about Eurail that it does not know.

Europe by Eurail: Again, this is a commercial firm selling tickets but that does not stop it having a load of useful information on the site.

Boots 'n All Travel: Would you buy a ticket from a company with a name like that? Let us not be snobbish. It has great expertise on Eurail and its site is very helpful.

You can effectively extend a touring holiday of Europe by several days and perhaps save money. To do it you need a Eurail pass and a little forward planning. This is how it works. With a Eurail Pass you can go from city center to city center in Europe in great comfort at a reasonable price.

The key to this is the phrase 'city center to city center'.

Consider Paris. The airport, Charles de Gaulle, is 23 km north-east of Paris. If you go by taxi in either direction it costs the national debt and takes 45 minutes. There are regular buses and trains but your journey is never going to be less than 45 minutes. Leaving, you have security to go through and the airlines would like you there well before take-off. At least an hour, sometimes two hours.

Thus on any flight you find that as much as six hours, never less than four, are spent getting to the airport, checking in, flying, getting there and collecting your luggage. Then getting to the center of your destination.

By train, in every capital in Europe (I have searched and found no exception) you arrive in the center of the city.

Yes, you need to be at the train station ten minutes before the train leaves -- make it fifteen minutes to be on the safe side -- and when you get to your destination it is instant arrival. Your baggage is with you and you are there, bang in the center of the city. To test this stay with Paris for the moment.

At Easter -- one of the busiest times of the year for Paris -- I arrived at Gare de L'Est, one of the main stations of Paris. In the station was the tourist help desk -- every station in Europe has a help desk.

There I explained what I wanted -- an inexpensive (as in under 50 Euros a night) room in a hotel near Place Republique with a view over the rooftops of Paris. And I got it confirmed in ten minutes and went happily on my way. (In passing, it was the most romantic room I have ever had in a hotel anywhere and this was Paris in the spring and the chestnuts were in bloom and, alas, I was alone.)

On this trip I traveled from Salerno in Sicily right through Italy and then France, on to Spain to Barcelona to wonder at the work of Gaudi, back to Greece and then up again to Germany to Mainz. I had a lot of ground to cover and this was the best and least expensive and most pleasurable way. I saved a lot of time and a lot of money.

(And, if you are interested in old motorcycles you should know that I spent my birthday touring Sicily on a 350cc Royal Enfield which was an exact replica of the sixties model but made in Madras. I could have hired the 500 cc model but thought that going a bit over the top.)

You will typically only be dealing with relatively short travel times -- Paris to Lyon is two hours, Amsterdam to Cologne three hours, Geneva to Paris three-and-a-half hours and so on -- and these will be pleasurable experiences because the trains are fast, comfortable (especially in first class) and wonderfully quiet.

The best examples of the modern trains of Europe are the TGV trains of France, which are part of the Euro City network.

I am writing this while I travel on the TGV express -- TGV stands for Train a Grande Vitesse which translates, roughly, as high speed train -- from Paris to Avignon. The quietness -- we are running on rubber tyres -- is eerie. This is first class, and there is a three seat configuration in the carriage -- two and one. I am in the single seat, which is adjustable and comfortable.

There is a tip-down table, on which rests my computer.

We are now nipping through the suburbs of Paris at more than 200 kilometers an hour. We will eventually reach our maximum cruise speed, which is more than 270 kilometers an hour. There is no sway, no rattle, no lurch, and no jerk.

A gentleperson's conveyance for the grand tour of Europe.

For trains between big cities, the best bets are the super fast name trains like (ah ! the romance in the names) Catalan Tago, Maria Theresa, Voltaire, Leonardo da Vinci, Etoile du Nord. These are very fast and are almost never late.

Sometimes you will use the train only as high-speed, economical and comfortable transport, but at other times the train ride can be a sightseeing trip as well.

Bernina Express in Switzerland, the Bergen Express in Norway, and the Lois rail in France are examples where the journey is part of the scenic holiday.