Everyone knows Berlin is a great city destination, but what about getting there without flying? While several old services like Paris-Berlin no longer run, a new link opened up with European Sleeper. In March this year, I went from the Netherlands to Berlin and back by night train: low carbon travel for my first ever trip to the German capital.

This blog post first appeared as a guest post here - on 17/05/2023

A few months before starting TXE, I moved out of my flat in Edinburgh and travelled overland to Porto to attend a conference. I was still finishing a PhD, but I got to visit family members, meet old friends, and extend my trip to Lisbon for a holiday too. 

Above: Grassy tram tracks outside UPF in Barcelona, 2022

Own image - Looking out into the Mediterranean at Marseille, Sept. 2023

First published 02-03-2023

First published 17-02-2023

First published 01-02-2023

First published 2022

It's time to see how well I've been doing at reducing my carbon emissions this last year. What have I done well, and what could I still improve?

This is not a new route, but it faltered on and off throughout the 2000s and 2010s, a victim of subsidised air travel. The route was actually very well-used, with around 250,000 passengers each year. Shows how lopsided things are in favour of air travel when a service that popular is cancelled as unprofitable!