Europe By Train - Kiwis on Tour

09/02/2025

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/airbnb-or-hotel-for-a-european-trip-cost-comfort-and-community-impact-compared/ar-AA1ygwOt?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=f0ede24c295c4454b7e94a0370f050f4&ei=16 Here's a discussion about prices and also the ethical aspects of accommodation choices.

Length of trip, group size and the amenities you’re looking for all influence which type of accommodation you should book. View on euronews

22/01/2025

Tourism - Winners and Losers
Here's what the mayor of NZ's largest tourism destination, Queenstown, has said,
"When I first started as the mayor, I think it was one resident night to every 30 visitor nights. It is now one to 47," he said.

"We support a big chunk of the visitor economy - the actual residents and the ratepayers here."

He was on board with more growth, but said tourism's social licence had taken a hit with the locals, and they needed support to pay for roads and pipes to cope with additional visitors.

"If that is to increase, I would expect a very serious investment in actually accommodating those visitors because a small ratepayer base can not sustainably keep supporting the tourism industry, especially when those GST receipts or the economic, financial growth that we create is sent up to Wellington," he said.

We will try to travel and stay ethically on our trip. We are going to cities like Barcelona where many of the locals are not happy about the negative impacts of tourism. We understand. I'll talk more of this later.

25/10/2024

The accommodation is all booked. It was surprising how easy it was to find hotels close to train stations, or at least it was surprising for me. As a kiwi I am not familiar with train travel as the 21st century renewal of train networks has largely passed NZ by. More later about our choice of where we chose to stay, but the comments from Barcelona, Venice and other places about the detrimental effects of tourism resonated with us.

16/09/2024

47 days
9 countries
25 cities

02/05/2024

Prologue
Flying isn’t great for the planet. Carbon emissions are increasingly causing extreme weather events and as I write this, just in the last week, there have been major flood events in China, Russia and Kenya.
Our return flights from Auckland to Paris will not be helpful, adding to emissions. There’s little evidence that buying carbon credits will solve the problem, hence our desire to travel in as carbon friendly a way as we can when we reach Europe. Every intercity trip will be by train, except when we travel from Malaga to Faro. There just doesn’t seem to be a train.
In the cities and towns, we will use metro, buses and trams. There will probably be a hell of a lot of walking. From our previous trip we have found that these options work. Yes, unbelievable that a couple from Auckland, a city with the worst car mode share in the world, could envisage a holiday where cars won’t be necessary.
We’ll also try and reduce our emissions by eating a vegetarian or plant-based diet. We will look for interesting places to eat, perhaps post some photos. Trip Advisor and Happy Cow already offer others’ thoughts of where best to eat.
Desoriente in Barcelona is already on our itinerary. We are keen to try something traditional in London, maybe a vegetable tikka masala? Does Gelato Libre offer anything as good as the many gelato stores in close proximity to the Duomo.
The journey will begin in Auckland, then via Singapore and on to Paris. We’ll avoid Hong Kong. Mainland China doesn’t seem to have a good disposition to their countrypeople that live on the island, so why would we feel any more welcome?
Auckland Airport, below, where the journey will begin. The horrific news is that from next year we will pay an extra $3.50 per trip for airport charges. Will such increases really make flying affordable as the airlines claim? I’m just hoping that if it takes an extra $3.50 of aviation fuel to get us to Singapore safely that Air NZ can afford it.

20/04/2024

Acknowledgements:
The Man In Seat 61. Much of the planning for this trip was done with reference to his website. It's a great read: for ideas, hints, instructions on the easy way to get there, and the harder way as well, and just lots of great stuff.
Merrell Takapuna. This will be a tour by train, but there will much walking. We will buy some Merrells when we can find a day that the worst customer service young person on the Shore is not working.

The Plot:
It's all about the planning for a multi country adventure across Europe by train, and only by train. When the journey begins we hope to have great photos of our travels.

The Story So Far:
54 days
12 countries