Proof that even if your car breaks down, you can still have an epic hiking holiday
It’s the third installment of my annual travel review (see 2024 Travel wrapped and 2023 Transportation Wrapped for historic entries), where I summarise all my international travels for work and leisure.
The rundown
JANUARY: Eindhoven – Bonn via Regiojet (P)
FEBRUARY: Hosted friends in NL (Utrecht and Rotterdam)
MARCH: Eindhoven – Bonn via Regiojet (P)
APRIL: Eindhoven – Berlin – Potsdam via European Sleeper Moved house! Hosted family in NL
JUNE:Amsterdam – Barcelona – New York – London – Glasgow – London – Eindhoven via plane (AMS – BAR – JFK, JFK – LHR), train (in UK), flixbus (NYC – Ithaca) and ferry (Harwich – Hoek van Holland) (W/P/W)
AUGUST: Eindhoven – London – Eindhoven via Eurostar and Harwich – Hoek ferry (P/W)
SEPTEMBER: Eindhoven – Bonn (P) Eindhoven – London – Edinburgh – London – Eindhoven via Eurostar, thwarted Caledonian sleeper, LNER and Harwich – Hoek ferry
OCTOBER: Eindhoven – Bonn via Regiojet (P)
NOVEMBER: Hosted family in NL (Amsterdam – Rotterdam) (P)
DECEMBER: Eindhoven – West Country tour via Eurostar and GWR (P)
In addition I attended 4 conferences and gave one seminar in NL which I attended mostly train, with car sharing to one conference with colleagues.
The statistics
I took 12 international trips to 5 countries (also passing through Sweden and Denmark on my return from Norway) with 4 overnight trips in the Netherlands (half for work, half for fun). I took 4 planes: one round trip NL – US – UK and one leg of my NL – Norway trip. I took 39 trains as part of international trips, including 5 sleeper trains, 4 overnight ferries, and 15 coaches. I also hosted 4 sets of visitors in NL. Of these trips 7 were purely personal, 3 had a significant personal component, and 2 were majority business trips.
Compared to last year I have reduced travel quite a bit! Partly this was helped by a lot of my friends and family coming to visit me in the Netherlands, and a larger proportion of work activities locally rather than abroad. I’ve also had a couple of longer multipurpose trips, which require more organisation and preparation but are often cheaper and less disruptive than multiple week-long trips.
Did I meet my 2025 travel goals?
No flights within Europe – almost! I took one flight to Norway which was necessary due to an immovable mandatory work commitment before my holiday. But! I was concerned about work trips to Toulouse and Edinburgh, both of which I managed flight free (multiple times for Edinburgh The Netherlands to Scotland: flight free options)
Maximum one international work trip per month – nailed it! Repeating routes has also helped to streamline the research/booking process, and ensured things go more smoothly.
Go on a walking/cycling holiday by train – my Norway trip was great, and involved some excellent overland travel on the return, but I also had a very successful trip to Skye where we did a lot without a car because our vehicle broke down on day one of the holiday.
Other wins
I have shared and received lots of great travel advice from colleagues, and I get the impression that more and more people are making an effort to reduce flying. I’ve influenced people to take the Caledonian sleeper and the Harwich-Hoek ferry and received glowing reviews on both.
My officemate and I ran a session about green travel at our group away day to about 50 attendees. We received really nice feedback, and started more discussions and information sharing (which we are hoping to continue in a more formal capacity in 2026).
Our car broke down on day 1 of a week long holiday to the Isle of Skye! What could easily have been a disaster turned into a fun and chaotic series of bus adventures, collecting a random hire car from basically the side of the road, and taking luggage in bags for life on the tram from the airport.
In transport museum news I visited the New York Transit museum and the polar exploration museum in Oslo.
Left: Having a lot of fun pretending to drive a bus at the NYU Transit museum. Right: Walk of shame with bags for life after abandoning the car on Skye (it was subsequently recovered and scrapped)
Goals/plans for 2026:
Max 1 flight within Europe – I am planning a work trip to Dublin, and while I will be able to travel over land and sea on the way there, teaching commitments are likely to mean I need to return by plane. I’d like this to be the only flight I take in Europe next year.
Go on my first interrail trip – I have back-to-back work trips to Edinburgh and Stuttgart, and I took advantage of the Black Friday interrail sale to purchase a pass that will cover both (with possibly some extra days for a holiday). I’m interested to see how this compares to booking each leg individually.
Go to Ireland on the ferry!
I have upcoming trips to Edinburgh (x2), Didcot, Potsdam, Bath, Stuttgart all of which I am planning to do by train/ferry. I will be flying for a month-long research visit to the US in the autumn, but that satisfies my 2 week plus rule and then some!
In May I had a circuitous multi-purpose trip from NL to Toulouse for a research visit, before immediately travelling on to Edinburgh to meet up with pals for a week’s holiday hiking in Skye. When it became apparent that these trips would be back-to-back, I assumed I would have to fly due to the short amount of time. However! I managed to depart Toulouse at 7pm on Thursday and arrive in Edinburgh at 4pm travelling over land. Apart from the final leg on the ferry, all journeys were ones I was very experienced with, which made planning and booking relatively easy.
How did I do it?
Part 1: NL – Toulouse
Train to Rotterdam
13.58:16:38 Train to Paris
Cross from Gare du Nord to Gare d’Austerlitz. Live my best flâneuse life and wander round the bookshops of Paris, grab a beer and meal and shelter from the rain
Catch the 22.13 sleeper to Toulouse. Arrive at 7.30am with enough time to grab a viennoiserie before heading to the research visit. Same train as discussed in Oxford – Toulouse by train (and bus)
Part 2: Toulouse – Edinburgh
19.44 Sleeper Toulouse – Paris. Arrive around 7am.
Cross Paris back to Gare du Nord.
08.32 Eurostar to London. Enough time to grab 2 viennoiseries before the check-in started.
Brunch near Kings Cross.
12.18: 16:41 Lumo train from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh
Miraculously all travel ran to time with only around 20 mins of delay on the train arriving into Edinburgh. This meant I could use my buffer time to stretch my legs, find some decent food and go book shopping (the dream interlude).
Top: Pre sleeper wander around Jardin des Plantes, Paris; The sleeper back to Paris left at 7.44 with all the couchettes in sleeper layout, so I was left eating my baguette lying down; My favourite street name in Newcastle Bottom: A highlight of my Newcastle mini-trip was the School of Fine Art graduation show, free entry and some gorgeous installations and mix of media.
A new baggage discovery
As this was a multi-purpose trip, I left home with luggage including my extremely heavy laptop and other work paraphernalia as well as hiking and outdoor gear. I would also be heading straight to the office from my train, and vice versa. This, plus the fact that luggage capacity in the couchettes on the Toulouse sleeper (Oxford – Toulouse by train (and bus)) is very tight, gave me the idea to search for a storage possibility in Paris.
I started by checking out the official luggage storage at Gare du Nord. Unfortunately their maximum time for luggage storage would not cover me for the 40h I would be away from Paris. The website linked to Bounce, which is an international app where you can search businesses that will hold your luggage for a (usually daily) fee. Typical businesses are hotels, corner shops, restaurants, and each business sets their own rates and opening times. Users can also leave reviews in the app.
I found an Ibis hotel 2 minutes from the station on the app, and booked my bag in from 5pm on Monday, to collect at 7.30am on Friday. I paid 31,25 € for one 50L backpack.
How was security? My bag was left in a locked luggage room, I had to show my booking on arrival and was given a receipt/ticket for collection. I felt very confident that my belongings were safe, and Bounce includes a free insurance. I avoided booking locations where there was not a separate luggage room, or comments on bags being easily accessible.
Would I do it again? Definitely! Everything was made much easier by leaving my large rucksack behind: wandering around Paris, the two sleeper trains, and not having to take all my hiking gear to the office. During a later trip to New York I used the Stasher app (a very similar platform) to leave my luggage for 1 day before my flight. I paid $8.43, which was definitely worth it for the travel time I saved from not having to go back to my hotel.
I spent 3 years living in Edinburgh, and have been lucky enough to have many work and personal excuses to travel and visit bonny Scotland since I moved to the Netherlands. Over 3 trips in 2025 I have yet to fly, and I can give a review of the various combinations that I’ve tested out so far.
A note on prices
I am prepared to pay more money not to fly, but I am often travelling for work funded by taxpayers so there is a limit! I don’t usually price check each journey, but when I have often the price for a flight including travel to/from the airport and luggage has been comparable or more expensive. I spend quite some time price checking, try to take advantage of Eurostar sales and loyalty schemes, and select the cheaper of two comparable options. This does take more time, but becomes quicker as I get more experience and expertise with a specific route.
For my most recent journey to Edinburgh in September I have a full price breakdown courtesy of my expenses claim! Note that this includes 2 overnight journeys.
Trains in NL
Eurostar
Caledonia Sleeper (seat)
LNER Edi-KGX
Harwich ferry
Total
£39.13
£85
£58
£55.70
£122.96
£360.79
Looking now 1 month in advance (which is similar to what I did booking the above): For a comparable departure time (leaving in the evening after teaching to arrive for work on Tuesday morning, and leaving on Friday evening after work) flying Amsterdam to Edinburgh with the cheapest budget airline option:
Trains in NL
Flights (both ways)
Luggage (cabin bag)
Tram to/from airport
Total
£39.68
£158.07
£93.46
£9.50
£300.71
This is a bit less expensive than my train journey, but for a completely fair comparison I would need to add an additional night in a hotel in Edinburgh as the flight is scheduled to arrive in the evening. At the time I was visiting this was at least £120.
When I travelled back from Glasgow via train and ferry the cost at the time of booking was cheaper than a flight with a budget airline when I took into account transfer costs and luggage.
Ferry + train
There are three ferry options from NL to the UK: Hoek van Holland to Harwich (Stena Line: Hoek van Holland to Harwich and back again) with Stena, IJmuiden – Newcastle with DFDS, and Rotterdam to Hull with P&O. Of these I have take only the first two options, partially for geographical reasons and partly because P&O have fired workers illegally to replace them with contractors https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60862933.
Hoek van Holland to Harwich
Getting to the ferry: I’ve taken this ferry to return home from both Glasgow and Edinburgh, traveling down the West Coast and East Coast Mainlines respectively. Changing from Euston or Kings Cross to Liverpool Street for the sail rail connection is straightforward. If my schedule permits I try to allow a 2h buffer in London – in an ideal circumstance this means I can grab dinner at Eataly or one of the many excellent Chinese restaurants around Liverpool Street. In the case of delays, this gives some hope that you can make the connection! There is also a daytime sailing, which I have never taken but is cheaper because you don’t need to book a cabin.
When things go wrong: When returning from Glasgow I had over a 1h train delay before arriving in London. I missed the final connection that would get me to Harwich International ahead of the 10.15 check-in cut off. I phoned Stena, who were able to keep check-in and the gangway open 5 minutes longer so that I could arrive at 10.16. I was informed that phoning had been crucial in ensuring I was actually able to check in, rather than being marked as a no-show. I was also offered the opportunity to change my booking for a £10 admin fee up to 10pm.
Typical timing (with buffer): Leave Scotland at 1-2pm, arrive London 5h later, leave Liverpool Street by 8.30, board immediately on arrival at Harwich (pre-10.15pm) arrive Hoek van Holland 7.30am, run down the gangway to get the 8am metro, about 1.5h journey to my office (usually make it by 10.30 comfortably).
Pros: Stena staff are super nice, price reasonable compared to a hotel, public transport access to the port is good, short ferry crossing means inside cabins are totally fine. Prices are pretty consistent, and don’t increase nearer the time. Reduced prices for solo travellers (i.e. you don’t have to buy two tickets when you are Billy no Mates). Seemingly few foot passengers, so check-in and passport control are usually very quick. Limited free internet for messaging apps. You can travel with a bike for free (pay in NL for a bike ticket on the train)
Cons: Two sailings per day, so limited flexibility in arrival/departure times. Sometimes trains to Harwich aren’t running (e.g. strikes/track works) — if you buy a sailrail ticket and the train journey is effected then Stena are usually pretty helpful, but it is still annoying. You travel a long way down the UK which seems a bit unnecessary.
Would I take it again? Yes, yes, yes!
Newcastle – IJmuiden
Advertised as a “mini-cruise” with prices to match, usually this ferry is not within my budget. After going for a hiking trip to the Isle of Skye, I decided to take advantage of a freakishly cheap offer to try this out.
Getting to the ferry: You can pay extra for a private coach at either end of the ferry journey, with fixed departure times. In the UK this takes you from a couple of places in Newcastle, in NL it takes you to Amsterdam Centraal (which was not convenient for my onward journey). I decided to try public transport and found this pretty bad. In Newcastle you can take the metro to about a 20 minute walk from the port. This walk is not well-signposted, and there were parts in the port with no pavements that didn’t feel very safe. In NL there is a similar 20 minute walk to the nearest bus stop. This at least has pavements. Overall, more annoying (and chance of getting rained on!) than the other ferry option.
Typical timing (with buffer): Trains from Edinburgh to Newcastle depart frequently, and take about 1.5h with offerings from LNER, CrossCountry and Transpenine. Reaching the ferry terminal requires another 1h via foot or bus/metro. Check in closes at 16.15, but I received a text message advising to arrive at least 1h in advance. You arrive in IJmuiden at 9.45, walk 20 minutes, take a bus for 10 minutes, and then two trains for just over 2h. You can travel with a bike for a small fee
Note, due to the longer sailing time you need to leave Edinburgh earlier and arrive in Eindhoven later with this ferry compared to going all the way to Harwich. This is even more extreme for Glasgow, which is almost 3h away from Newcastle by train.
Pros: The journey is longer so there are more entertainment options on board, including a higher scale restaurant, bars and multiple cinemas. People were in the holiday vibe, and I can see why it is described as a mini-cruise.
Cons: Prices are high compared to other options, and increase a lot at busy periods. Your “ticket” is a cabin booking, which means solo travellers pay twice as much as two people travelling together. Due to the longer journey time, I did find having an inside cabin more annoying. The public areas of the ship were quite busy and noisy, so it was difficult to find anywhere outside to work. No free internet. Many more foot passengers, so check-in took a lot longer.
Would I take this option again? I am glad I tried it out, but I will continue to take the Harwich option in future due to price, and better public transport connections, unless I am travelling with someone else.
I combined the ferry with a long weekend in Newcastle! Highlights included the Graduation Show from the School of Fine Art, nice architecture and possibly my favourite street name ever.
Eurostar and train
Again there are two options: London to Scotland by day, and London to Scotland overnight by the Caledonian sleeper.
Eurostar + London to Scotland by day:
Getting to Scotland: Taking the Eurostar from NL to UK is great. From where I live I usually travel from Rotterdam, which has a small but functional Eurostar waiting area (with water, vending machines and toilets, adequate seating and power points). Arrival into St Pancras is very convenient for Kings Cross (trains to Edinburgh) and Euston (trains to Glasgow). It is not possible to buy “through” tickets, so allowing enough buffer for Eurostar delays is important – I usually buy advance tickets to mitigate the very high price of flexible tickets. In my experience Eurostar employees are quite flexible, and you can also change your ticket to another train on the same day for a fee.
You can also travel from NL to Brussels and take a Eurostar there. A larger number of Eurostar services are available from Brussels, so this gives more flexibility than travelling on one of the 4 or 5 a day that go all the way to Amsterdam. I have had many stressful experiences getting to and transiting Brussels Centraal, so I try to avoid taking Eurostars from there if at all possible.
Trains to Glasgow and Edinburgh run frequently and with multiple companies. LNER is more comfortable, with more space and luggage storage than Lumo to Edinburgh, but sometimes higher prices. Avanti can be quite unreliable, so I try to avoid travelling to Glasgow via the West Coast where at all possible. LNER have onboard catering facilities, but there are lots of options around the station and I would advise taking supplies (I had an exceptionally good filter coffee from Hermans Colombian Coffee Roasters, and there is often a market outside Kings Cross).
Timings: Travel to Rotterdam ~1h, arrive 30 – 45mins pre Eurostar departure. Eurostar takes 3.5h. Trains to Scotland take 4h20 – 5h.
Pros: Probably the quickest door-to-door travel time. Well-connected with “buffer stops” in places with amenities. Flexibility to change booking (for a fee/depending on class). Decent food offerings and Wifi throughout most of the journey.
Cons: Eurostar prices can be quite expensive if you want to travel in the middle of the day. Limited services direct to NL or transfer in Brussels. No “through-travel” guarantee, so often need to add artificial buffer. Final Eurostar to NL departs at 18.04 from London. You cannot take a bike on Eurostar from NL.
Would I take this option again?Yes, particularly if I was stopping over in London for a multi-step trip.
Glorious views along the ECML – just sit back and enjoy the journey!
Eurostar + travel to Scotland overnight
Getting to Scotland: The final option is to take the Caledonian sleeper from London Euston to either Glasgow or Edinburgh (or further north if you so desire!). The service leaves once per day (apart from Saturday nights) and you can book a seat (airline style), or a cabin. Unlike European sleepers, the cabins are all private, and therefore much more expensive than the couchette-style offerings on the continent. You depart between 9 and 11pm depending on your final destination and wake up at around 7am. There is a restaurant car, and you can board early to get settled. At some point I will blog about this service and update with a link.
Travelling from NL you can take the final direct Eurostar and make it in time for the Edinburgh service (but not the Glasgow service, which departs earlier). This is also the case for the final service of the evening from Brussels.
I have taken this service many times when I was living in Scotland, and once this year to Glasgow. Similar to the Newcastle ferry, as a solo traveller you have to pay for a full room which can be quite expensive. I’ve only ever travelled in a seat, where the price is more reasonable (if you are lucky around £60 one way). The seats are wider and more comfy than on a plane, and in a 2 – 1 formation. When booking I always select “A” seats as this mean you are not next to anyone. Lights in the cabin stay on overnight for “safety”. They provide you with an eye mask, but I always bring my own as well. No blankets provided, so I recommend bringing a scarf or coat that you can use.
Bonus tip: If you have time to kill in the evening before departure, why not go to the theatre?! My most recent journey I boarded the train after seeing the excellent production of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club)
When things go wrong: Things go wrong not infrequently on this service. When I last tried to travel, the seated coach had a fault, so I was unable to travel as planned. I received a call from Caledonian sleeper at around 4pm to inform me of this issue. They tried to put me on the Glasgow service, upgraded to a sleeper compartment, but unfortunately it left before my Eurostar would arrive. Caledonian sleeper booked a hotel for me at Kings Cross, and I was able to take a standard train with LNER the following day. My original train ticket was also refunded thanks to the UK Delay Repay standard. This was not an ideal situation, but the company dealt with it very well. Other family members have also woken up at Crewe (famously nowhere near Scotland) and had to continue their journey by day with ticket acceptance.
Pros: The only way to leave at the end of a work day in NL and arrive at the start of a work day in Scotland. Comparable price to a hotel + train, and cheaper if you are happy with the chair option. Much of the journey time is spent asleep. Extremely well connected – Euston is a 4 minute tube ride or a 15 minute walk from St Pancras.
Cons: Prices are high for solo travellers. Limited space, and prices increase near the date of travel, so you need to plan in advance (particularly during holiday periods). You can’t access showers at the station unless you are paying a higher rate fare. Can’t travel on a Saturday evening. You cannot take a bike on Eurostar from NL (you can on the sleeper).
Would I take this option again?Yes! Very convenient and good for reducing expensive hotel costs. I’m hoping to try it out with a bed in 2026.
Coach options:
There are coach options, but I have not looked into these mainly because the Flixbus routes all go via Calais and require an overnight ferry with no cabin (see https://lerabotproblems.wordpress.com/2023/06/16/oxford-toulouse-by-train-and-bus/ for my thoughts on this: spoiler I hate it) and are really long yet still comparable in price to travelling by Eurostar.
Would I take this option again?No, I will avoid the Calais overnight ferry by coach unless there is truly no other option, and the price was under 1 euro.
Concluding thoughts
Before this year I assumed that NL-Scotland would really test my “no flights in Europe” goal. However, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the variety and flexibility of options to get to Scotland from NL. So far my winning combo is Eurostar + sleeper on the way there, and train + Harwich ferry on the way home. This maximises the travel while I am asleep, minimises annoying transfers, maximises my time at work/with pals, and lets me schedule “buffer points” in places where I know I can grab a nice meal. I have 2 more planned trips to Scotland in the first half of next year, and will definitely not be flying! I’ll update this post with any further insights (hopefully I actually make it onto the sleeper next time…)
In July I went to Norway for a week in nature with two former housemates. We stayed in a very basic campsite near Bø and had great fun walking, swimming, eating berries from bushes and catching up after 5 years since our last in-person meeting.
Originally I planned to make this a fully flight-free holiday, but after confirming the holiday dates I had an immovable work commitment come up which meant I wasn’t free until 5pm on Thursday, with a need to be in Oslo at the latest on Saturday morning. This seemed impossible overland, so I reluctantly decided to fly from Düsseldorf. This does allow us to make a direct time and cost comparison for the outward and return journey, and the results might not be what you think!
Outward journey:
Leg
Method
Time
Price (euro)
Eindhoven – Ddorf
Flixbus
09:05 – 10.55
10.48
Ddorf Hbf – Ddorf Flughafen
DB Train
~7 minutes
3.60
Ddorf – Oslo
Flight Norwegian Air (basic fare plus hold luggage)
14.00 – 15.50
151.11
Oslo Airport – Oslo Sentral
Local train
~ 25 mins — arrived at the hostel at 19.30
10.87
Total
Door-to-door: 10h 30 mins Time in a moving vehicle: 4h 15
176.06
I don’t have much to say here apart from our flight was delayed by 1h, and then it took a further hour for the luggage to arrive. I also enjoyed the Sky Train at Ddorf airport!
Return journey
Leg
Method
Time
Cost (euros)
Oslo – Gothenburg
Vy train
12.14 – 15.45
34.57
Gothenburg – Copenhagen
Vy coach
16.55 – 21.45
34.09
Overnight Copenhagen
Hostel
20.92
Copenhagen – Hamburg
Flixbus
08.00 – 13.35
43.98
Hamburg – Ddorf
Flixbus
14.50 – 18.31
14.98
Overnight DDorf
a&oHostel
21.70
Ddorf – Eindhoven
Flixbus
08.05 – 09.40
9.48
Total
Door-to-door: 46h 30 mins Time in a moving vehicle: 19h 15
179.72
Interestingly the return journey was barely more expensive than my journey out! I booked my flight 3rd March, but didn’t book my return journey until 17th June.
Tips for booking
As usual, I started with ManInSeat61.com to get an idea of possible routes. However, this site skews very train heavy, and given I was booking somewhat last minute, I figured that I would be needing to take coaches to keep the price down. Additionally, I have previous bad experience with the Copenhagen – Hamburg train (where DB ended up paying for an unexpected hotel stay in Düsseldorf), and figured that Flixbus might be a safer bet.
My planning/booking procedure went something as follows
Define rough route (I knew I would transit through Copenhagen, Hamburg and Düsseldorf from past experience)
Check train legs between cities. If these prices and times were good, book the train (e.g Oslo – Gothenburg).
Compare against flixbus options. For comparable journey times, the coach was usually cheaper and I would book this (e.g. Gothenburg – Copenhagen was a very similar time and much cheaper by coach than the train). Maximum of 5h on a coach before a stop.
When transiting between legs, I allowed at least 1h gap. In an ideal situation this would be an opportunity to have a meal and go to the loo, and in the case of delays this would give me more buffer time.
Use booking.com to find cheap hostel beds in shared dorms. Then price check the booking price against booking directly with the hostel. I ended up rebooking my hostel in Copenhagen the day before travel as I found a cheaper deal closer to the coach station.
Researching and booking all of my connections took about 1h – around the same amount of time as deciding whether to fly from Schiphol, Ddorf, or Köln-Bonn. During my journey I looked up where to eat and location of public toilets, and any directions to hostels. Most legs had free wifi and the ability to charge via USB or plug, but I travel with a powerbank as a back up.
The journey
I was a bit nervous ahead of the journey and I was fairly convinced that I would spend at least one night sleeping somewhere unplanned. However, everything went surprisingly smoothly and I ended up making all my connections with enough time to enjoy sit-down meals and time to spare. The scheduled buffer really helped here.
In fact, I really enjoyed my return journey, and found it much less boring and stressful than my flight to Norway! As expected the views were excellent, and I passed the time reading, listening to audiobooks and podcasts, and making progress on my latest cross-stitch project. I loved getting glimpses of the towns we passed through on the coach, and I now want to visit Sweden properly! To my delight, the Copenhagen – Hamburg route involves a ferry crossing, so I got to enjoy a sticky bun, coffee and sea air – definitely the best way to break up a flixbus journey!
I had good food opportunities throughout — Gothenburg station is close to a mall with a fairly decent and quick food court, Hamburg has a lot of choice around the station, and you are spoiled for choice in Ddorf with excellent Asian restaurants and the biggest Japanese quarter outside Japan! I also revisited a bakery in Copenhagen that is handily right next to the main station and open early in the morning for a pre-flixbus breakfast. I was rocking the classic double backpack so I didn’t try to cram in any additional sightseeing, but this would definitely be a possibility with either less luggage, or making use of left lockers in the case of longer layovers.
This was my longest flight-free journey in terms of travel time, and I would definitely repeat the experience again (in fact, I’m already thinking about when I can fit in another trip North, and maybe try out the overnight ferry). Prices don’t have to be more expensive when not flying, particularly if you are happy with budget accommodation!
Another year, another summary of my travel choices! See 2023 Transportation Wrapped for a summary of last year. (Not included in the official count, but I did visit 3 museums of transport in 3 countries in 2024)
THE RUNDOWN
JANUARY – Eindhoven – Bonn (Germany) by Flixbus and Regiojet
FEBRUARY – Eindhoven – Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) for a seminar and research visit by train and flixbus
MARCH – Day trip to Dusseldorf (Germany) via Flixbus – Eindhoven – Reading (UK) by Eurostar for a seminar visit – Trains around the UK to visit family – Return via my favourite Harwich – Hoek van Holland ferry – Bonn – Magdeburg (Germany) by train for a conference
APRIL – Cycle holiday along the Waterlinieroute (see Waterlinieroute – my first long distance cycle trip in NL for further details) – Eindhoven – Bonn via Regiojet – Eindhoven – Den Haag by train for a day out ahead of an early work meeting in Delft the following day
MAY – Day trip to Wuppertal (Germany) by train to ride the Schwebebahn – Eindhoven – Paris (France) for a conference via Flixbus. We took the metro and walked a lot – Eindhoven – Dusseldorf – Munich (Germany) via Flixbus and train for my officemate’s wedding
JUNE – No international travel due to teaching responsibilities
JULY – Eindhoven – Bonn – Vienna (Austria) via Regiojet and train for holiday and visiting friends. In Vienna we took the tram and walked a lot. – Vienna – Singapore (flight via Abu Dhabi) for a conference – Singapore – KL (Malaysia) by coach to visit my former housemate and take holiday. During the trip we got around by train, bus and my friend’s car. – Singapore – Frankfurt (flight via Abu Dhabi) – Frankfurt – Bonn by train – Bonn – Eindhoven via Regiojet
AUGUST – Eindhoven – Bonn via Regiojet – 1 week of staycation in Bonn travelling by train with a Deutschland ticket (visited Duisburg, Koblenz, Boppard, Dusseldorf, amongst other day trips) – Bonn – Eindhoven
SEPTEMBER – Day trip to Maastricht by train – Long weekend in Dordrecht and Goudrinchem by train and ferry – No international travel due to teaching
OCTOBER – Eindhoven – Reading via flixbus, Eurostar and train for a research visit – Trains around the UK to visit family – UK – Netherlands via Harwich – Hoek van Holland ferry – Amsterdam – Chemnitz (Germany) via European sleeper and train for a seminar/research visit European Sleeper: Amsterdam – Dresden return
NOVEMBER – Eindhoven – Leuven (Belgium) by train for a seminar visit – Eindhoven – Geneva (Switzerland) via Paris for a long weekend visiting a friend by train
DECEMBER – No international travel due to teaching – Day trips over the Christmas holidays to Tilburg, Maastricht and Utrecht
THE STATISTICS
I took 17 international trips to 8 countries, and 3 overnight trips in the Netherlands. I took 4 planes as part of one round trip, 20 long distance coaches, 65 trains (including 2 overnight trains) and 2 overnight ferries. Of these trips 10 were purely personal and the remaining 10 had at least some work component.
Money wise I spent over €3324 on travel (this does not include buses, trams, non-overnight ferries and most short trips outside the Netherlands). I spent €697.89 on trains or buses in NL, €1057.03 on my round trip flights to Asia, €241.30 on coaches, €228.40 on ferries and over €1100 on international trains. Similarly to last year, a lot of this was covered by expenses, in particular all of my trips to the UK and the most expensive trip (flights to Singapore and Malaysia).
Compared to last year this is fewer trips, fewer flights, but a bigger proportion on personal travel. Many of these were to visit my partner who lives in Germany. Cost wise I spent more on trains, less on flights and ferries and pretty much bang on the same on coaches.
Did I meet my 2024 travel goals?
Fly less: I nailed this! I only took one return flight, and I haven’t flown at all within Europe. This is something that has required a bit of effort and time, but I am very proud with this (and hoping to continue next year).
Only fly long-haul for trips that are 1) worth it and 2) multi-purpose: I combined a one-week conference with a truly amazing holiday in Malaysia. At the conference I unexpectedly connected with my PhD officemate, some members of a big grant I’m involved with, and PhD students of my former postdoc advisor so it was also productive on the work front.
Continue writing and speaking about my slower travel adventures: Medium success – I convinced one of my colleagues to give the Harwich – Hoek ferry a go (he enjoyed it) and helped my officemate with Eurostar and UK trains. I’ve also been pleasantly surprised by the number of senior colleagues who haven’t flown since pre-pandemic, and it’s a conversation that comes up more an more professionally. I was hoping to write more blog posts, but there is always time in 2025…
Travel a bit less? This was my biggest fail – I had a lot of work travel, often with quite strict time constraints (hence adding to the stress). A lot of my personal travel was for much shorter periods, day trips or weekends, and is a necessity of living in a different country from all your friends and family! I am happier with the personal/professional travel balance this year.
Any new goals for 2025?
No flights within Europe — this might be a challenge as I have 2 trips to Edinburgh planned, one of which will have a very short turnaround from being in Toulouse for work.
Maximum one international work trip per month, with the aim of one per 2 months going forward – so far I have trips to Germany, the UK, France and the US planned in the first half of the year and I don’t want to add to that!
Go on a walking or cycling holiday by train – I’m planning a trip to Norway with former housemates, but I’m also excited to see what other options for proper hiking (sorry NL) are accessible from home without a car.
I was invited to give a seminar at TU Chemnitz and what better excuse to try out a recent addition to the sleeper train options in Europe! As usual, lots of information is available at https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/european-sleeper.htm, this is mainly a description of my experience using the service.The previous night I had taken the overnight ferry from Harwich to Hoek van Holland!
Booking
Type
Cost
Scheduled Times
Amsterdam Centraal -> Dresden (Mon/Tues)
6 bed mixed couchette
109€
22:34 – 08:29
Dresden -> Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA (Th/Fri)
5 bed couchette (women)
119€
20:30 – 06:26
I booked on 3rd September for a trip in late November. Already at this point the limited sleeper tickets were sold out, but this was fine as I was planning to book a couchette. The sleeper runs twice a week in each direction, and l was lucky that my talk took place on a Wednesday, and my host was flexible with me visiting Tuesday – Thursday. This also mean I physically made it back to Eindhoven for teaching on Friday morning.
The train usually stops at Amsterdam Centraal, but due to works we returned to the Bijlmer ArenA station. I was notified of this in advance, and the only difference this made was that there was no-where to buy coffee before taking my connecting train (truly a shame at 06:15 am).
I did look into travelling during the day, and the prices for trains from Eindhoven to Chemnitz were more expensive than the sleeper. In addition, the journey time was similar (around 10h allowing for sensible train connections) with 4+ changes, as both Eindhoven and Chemnitz suffer from mediocre long distance/international connections. I’ve also had many stressful experiences travelling with DB, so doing the bulk of my journey overnight and with one connection seemed like by far the preferable option.
The trip
I elected to travel to Amsterdam during the off-peak period, and work from the OBA Oosterdok Public Library until my train arrived. This is a great space to kill some time before a train (it’s about 10 mins away on foot). The library is over 7 floors, has free toilets, lots of places to sit and work (with plug sockets) and a top story cafe/restaurant that has good vegetarian options and is reasonably priced! Oh and the library stays open until 10pm most days. The dream.
I wandered over to the station 45 mins before my train. Unfortunately the sleeper was delayed, but I managed to kill at least 20 minutes trying to find the free water bottle tap. It’s on the north side of the station under the flyover that leads to the bus station. After exploring what felt like the whole station (and grabbing a hot chocolate) I headed up to the platform to wait with a large number of other people for our train.
Around 30 minutes late, the service arrived. On the European sleeper they release the carriage “layout” for a given service on the evening of departure. As the carriages are not in any numerical order, this can be very helpful for working out the best place on the platform to try to board from. As the walkways through the carriages are pretty narrow, it’s nice to minimise how far you have to squeeze past other people doing it in the opposite direction!
Your ticket comes with a compartment (room) and bed number. This is handily also written on the cabin doors. This was my first time taking a sleeper that had a considerable day time part to the train, so I was interested to see how the politics of putting the beds down/going to sleep would work. Luckily on the way out I was on the top bunk, which is permanently down. This actually has enough headroom for me to sit up in the bunk, so I decided to clamber up and get settled at our 11pm boarding time. I was among the last to board (the train starts in Brussels) and my fellow passengers had a lot of luggage – I was very glad to have packed light! Storage is under the bed or over the door, but this was limited to half the compartment width.
The bottom and middle bunks “convert” from a daytime mode where the middle bunk is stored and the bottom bunk works as a seat. From what I understand the seat back tilts up to become the couchette for the middle bed. The top bunks are permanently open. For all couchettes you make up the bed yourself with a sheet, blanket and pillow, all of which were comfortable. In terms of when the seats get converted to beds, that is up for negotiation! On my train back everything was already in bed mode at 8.30pm, but 11.00pm on the outward journey seems more typical.
A conductor comes around the compartments after boarding to check everyone off, and their final destination. On my outward journey they offered to wake people up before arriving at their destination (which did not seem to happen on my return). I always find it funny to have my name ticked off a register while I’m lying in my bed!
The compartments have curtains to the corridor, which do not seem to be the width of the windows. I always travel with an eye mask and would definitely suggest one for the sleeper. Even if you make the curtains function, when your bunkmates leave to go to the loo you don’t really want to be blinded by the light. Earplugs are also a good shout. Speaking of which…
I used to get stressed out when sleeping with earplugs in because “what happens if there is a fire alarm and I don’t wake up”. Well, both directions of travel we had a fire alarm on the train at around midnight and I can tell you that my foam earplugs did sweet FA to block that sound out. The first time was particularly egregious as my head was right by the alarm. After about 5 mins, I descended to find a member of staff and ask what was going on. The conductor said that it was likely someone using deodorant, and they would switch off the alarm asap. This took 20 mins by which time I was obviously fully awake. A bit annoying, but it happens. Only THE SAME THING HAPPENED AT THE SAME TIME ON MY JOURNEY BACK. This time I did not even get up and just lay there trying not to wake up too much. This was super annoying, but at least evidence that I did manage to sleep, otherwise I would not have been woken up. I guess this is better than my nemesis “Don’t Worry Be Happy” wake up pipe on the Stenaline ferries (https://lerabotproblems.wordpress.com/2023/10/16/stena-line-hoek-van-holland-to-harwich-and-back-again/) which I had endured the night before taking the European Sleeper in a “travelling bed” double bill.
As my arrival time into Dresden was 8.30am and after Berlin, I was not too worried about waking up in time for my stop. Indeed, there was a wake up call for Berlin, and from 7am ish there were announcements on the tannoy. (Excellent thing about a train that goes through 4 countries; the number of languages in which the announcements are made). I assumed this would also be the case on the way back, particularly as the train was stopping at a different station in Amsterdam than the original schedule. However there seemed to be no announcements in the morning or wake up knocks. This meant that when I saw an NS station out of the window I had a wee panic and almost disembarked in Amersfoort. Oops.
For my train from Dresden to Amsterdam I arrived at the station in plenty of time to go for a sightseeing wander around the city, and grab an enormous bowl of noodles for dinner. My train did have a dining car, but due to my boarding times I decided not to book a meal there – maybe next time. Not unreasonably all the announcements at Dresden station were in German, but shortly before the arrival of the train there were at least 4 announcements about a possible platform change which I did not fully understand. Thankfully the electronic boards seemed to be pretty clear.
Timing wise, we gained extra delay on the outward journey and I was about 50 minutes late arriving into Dresden. On the way about we arrived about 10 minutes later than the updated schedule – but still enough time for me to board an off peak service back to Eindhoven.
Would I use the service again?
Yes! Compared to the same journey by train in the day the price is completely reasonable, and I much prefer a more direct journey with an opportunity to sleep than having multiple changes on an unreliable network. I have more work travel to Potsdam in the spring and I plan to take the European Sleeper.
As services don’t run daily you do have to be a bit flexible on dates, but luckily I am in a position where that is often possible. I’d also ensure some flexibility in my plans the other end – the ~1h delay on my outward journey is not the first time I have heard of a delay of this scale.
Compared to an overnight ferry the European Sleeper represents a more cheap and cheerful vibe, but this is currently reflected in the price! Couchettes are not luxurious, but everything was clean and functional (apart from the fire alarms). You can get more privacy by booking sleeper compartments, but that tends to make it more expensive than a comparable hotel booking. For me the price trade-off is worth it to continue booking couchettes, although I do think the smaller (and when traveling solo women only) 5 person couchette is worth the extra 10 euros. One thing that would be great at bigger stations would be the ability to pay for a shower, but I think this is rather unlikely to happen.
I had a gap between teaching and work travel over Easter 2024, and decided that a long distance cycle trip would be the perfect way to blow the winter cobwebs out!
Planning:
Part of the reason I decided to follow an official trail was to minimise decision making ahead of time, and the need to look up directions during the trip. The Netherlands is covered by a network of numbered cycle trails (https://www.fietsknoop.nl/fietsroute-planner), but for a longer trip I didn’t fancy having to manage the necessary long list of numbers. The official long distance routes are signposted by name, so you just follow the route from one end to the other (or as long as you fancy cycling!). This would mean the only decisions would be where to stay and where to stop for food (more on that later).
I made great use of https://www.nederlandfietsland.nl/lf-routes/ in deciding which route I wanted to take. I had booked a week off work and figured that a distance of around 400km seemed reasonable for my first big tour. The tours come with a suggested number of stages, which begin and end in towns, but I decided to alter these slightly to do the tour in fewer days. This was partly motivated by accommodation challenges (see below), but also because I figured a daily distance of around 60km seemed feasible.
The route
I opted to cycle the Waterlinieroute – this is a 410km long distance cycle route between Edam and Bergen op Zoom (https://www.nederlandfietsland.nl/fietsroute/lf-waterlinieroute/). The route follows a number of defensive lines in the Netherlands: the Defence Line of Amsterdam, via the New Dutch Waterline and the West Brabant part of the Southern Waterline. I wanted to avoid a coastal route (and strong headwinds) and the information online promised lots to see along the route in terms of fortifications, walled towns and lots of canal infrastructure. This was also a route with the highest number of ferry connections, which as someone who strongly believes a holiday only counts if it involves a boat trip, was quite a draw
Accommodation
I originally planned to stay in hostels/BnBs for extra comfort, however the prices and availability over the Easter period persuaded me at least some camping was the way to go, particularly at the beginning of the trip. Easter 2024 fell extremely early, meaning that the first part of my trip took place in March and a number of campsites weren’t open. I decided to book campsites in advance, where possible, particularly for the first few nights. I also booked 2 nights in a hostel outside Utrecht, with the plan of a rest day exploring the city. The accommodation for the second part of the trip was more open ended and ended up changing while I was on the road.
The camp sites I stayed at were much more basic than I was expecting! At both places I camped you had to pay for showers, the first with coins in a meter, and the second by purchasing tokens from reception. Even hot water for washing up wasn’t free! The shower blocks were pretty basic in both campsites (similar to those I’ve used across the UK). The majority of people were either in caravans/static caravans, or with vehicles. Campers with just a tent/bike seemed to be kind of dumped in random locations? Gaasper Camping was much larger and had an on-site shop, which enabled the purchase of tent rope to fashion a makeshift washing line.
Stayokay hostels is one of the main chains in NL, and they are partnered with Hosteling International. However, I wouldn’t call Utrecht Bunnik a hostel in the traditional sense – there was no kitchen or common area, and the shared rooms were very basic, with no internet in the building where I stayed. Breakfast was included (great) and the on-site bar/restaurant was nice, but there was nowhere to prepare your own meals. Dordrecht Kloostertuin shared rooms had sleeping pods, which I actually really liked! These are more quiet, private, with individual plug sockets, and felt like an upmarket hostel. There were also common areas with sofas, but again no place to prepare food (yes, I used hot water from the coffee machine to make my own porridge).
Gear
I had a sleeping bag and roll mat that came with me from the UK, but I needed to buy a tent and stove. I went for the 2 person Forclaz MT900 (€249,99) and groundsheet (€34,99) from Decathlon. These are designed for hiking/cycling and are lightweight and pack down compactly. I went for the 2 person tent to have more space inside for my luggage (a good choice) and for future trips with my partner/friends and this was definitely a good choice. The tent is super quick and easy to set up and collapse, packs well into the bag, was lightweight but spacious inside — unlike many lightpacking one person tents I was able to sit up inside.
For a stove I went with a 1L Jetboil (€119,00). This worked perfectly for making coffee and my morning porridge. I purchased standard gas canisters from Decathlon, which did slightly compromise stability, but were much more readily available. Given the poor weather conditions, being able to boil water quickly was very necessary, and the stove packed down very compactly into my panniers.
Most of my luggage went in my two Ortlieb panniers, and I used a collapsible box from Blokker to fashion storage on top of my pannier rack for ready access to extra layers (scarf, jumper, waterproof trousers and top). For luggage and bum comfort I decided to take my newly acquired second-hand city bike which also has a basket. This contained my water bottle and a collapsible backpack with electronics (camera, kindle, powerbank and chargers) in a dry bag, food supplies etc. A second collapsible bag was a rain cover for my spare clothes, and went on my back with extra food when needed. My phone, wallet, keys and earbuds went in my bum bag for easy access on the road.
The main difficulty with such small luggage capacity was ensuring I had enough clothes for the cold and wet weather. My camping gear (roll mat, tent, sleeping bag, Jetboil, groundsheet, towel) fit into one pannier, so the remaining pannier had to contain cycling gear, pyjamas, and clothes for the evenings. Pretty soon into the trip I redistributed my belongings and designated one pannier as the “wet pannier” which contained the tent, groundsheet, Jetboil, wet clothes, toiletries etc – anything that was either wet or didn’t mind being wet. The second “dry pannier” contained things for inside the tent (sleeping bag, roll mat, pyjamas and at least one set of dry clothes). This system worked pretty well, apart from I was hoping to wear some layers (body warmer, hat, gloves) for both cycling and sleeping. This failed pretty quickly due to torrential rain, and meant some nights were colder than I would have liked.
Getting to the trail
The trail runs between Edam and Bergen op Zoom, and require a train trip of reasonable length from where I live near Eindhoven. Intercity trains in NL are not level boarding, so I needed (and got) assistance from other passengers to get myself and all my belongings on the trains. All platforms were accessible by lift, and I made sure to allow plenty of time between connections to get between trains. Edam doesn’t have a railway station, so I disembarked at Purmerend Overwhere and cycled the 10km ish to the start of the official route.
Start
Finish
Distance
Accommodation
Edam
Haarlem
71km (including getting there)
Camping de Liede
Haarlem
Weesp
53km
Gaasper Camping
Weesp
Utrecht Bunnik
70km
Bunnik Stayokay hostel
Utrecht Bunnik
Woudrichem
68km
De Mosterdpot (caravan)
Woudrichem
Zevenbergen
60km
Dordrecht Kloostertuin
Zevenbergen
Bergen op Zoom
70km
Home!
392km
The trip!
I really enjoyed the trail! The route follows a number of defensive waterlines throughout the Netherlands. This incorporates many forts, walled towns, and other historic infrastructure. You also spend a lot of time cycling along canals, and encounter many smaller Dutch towns, complete with traditional architecture (windmills, polders, canalside cobbled streets). I found it a charming introduction a less famous part of the country, and have plans to go back and visit a number of places I cycled through. The nature and wildlife were also great – this was helped by the terrible weather and lack of other people (some consolation!). I even cycled along some early blooming tulips!
The trail itself was mostly easy to navigate, with only a couple of places where signposts were missing or hidden, and one unexpected ferry that hadn’t yet started for the year. I really enjoyed just being able to cycle without having to check my phone or a map for directions. The trail is well designed to not spent very long periods without passing through a town or village. This meant many opportunities to stop for coffee/cake/meals – which was very much appreciated given the absolutely dire weather! This vindicated my plan to buy supplies along the way rather than self cook a whole bunch of rations.
I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the canal infrastructure: I ate my lunch by a lift bridge and I even came across a bridge where cyclists had to push a button to make the bridge shoot across the gap and be useable! I took a number of different ferries, some with cars, some just for foot passengers and cyclists. Somehow the fortifications were less prominent than I was expecting. A number of forts were not accessible at all, and quite a few had been turned into restaurants/offices (I did have lunch in 2!). The fortified towns of Naarden and Woudrinchem were particularly impressive with the traditional Dutch star-shaped defensive walls containing the historic towns.
Speaking of weather, I’m not sure why I thought a cycling and camping holiday in March/April was a good idea, but the rain and wind gods surely laughed at my hubris. At least once per day I got completely soaked to the skin. This, while not pleasant, was survivable while cycling when I was making enough effort to keep warm. It did make longer stops outside fairly grim, and the cold overnight temperatures plus sodden clothes ensured the camping was suitably uncomfortable. Part of the reason I hadn’t chosen a coastal route was the desire not to encounter headwinds – this was vindicated by a number of parts of the trip along field boundaries with no protection from the brutal wind. At points I was barely able to make progress forward, and I will admit to shouting at the wind to “just sod off” on more than one occasion.
The continuing wintery weather led to a change of plans for the second half of the trip: after 2 nights inside at a hostel near Utrecht I couldn’t bring myself to camp in the high winds and overnight downpours that were predicted. I lucked out with an available static caravan in Woudrichen, where I could dry off, have as many hot drinks as I wanted from a kettle and enjoy *heating* and a hot shower. Similarly, the final night of my trip I elected to take the train from Zevenbergen to Dordrecht to stay at a hostel and enjoy being dry and warm. Definitely a good shout.
Would I do it again? What would I do differently?
Yes! I definitely plan on enjoying more of the long distance routes in the Netherlands (and maybe elsewhere if I am feeling more up to hills), but there are some things I would change for a future iteration
I wouldn’t book accommodation in advance – campsites seem pretty happy to let you rock up and camp as a cyclist, and this allows for a pivot depending on the weather/freshness of legs.
I’d probably wait until later in the year (although this was mainly dictated by the very early Easter). The rain/wind/cold temperatures were slightly worse than I was expecting for the time of year, but not completely unreasonable.
I would pack additional dry layers for sleeping. A second body warmer, hat and gloves wouldn’t take that much space but would have made a significant improvement to my comfort level in the evenings.
In Utrecht, desperate after being soaked to the bone what felt like at least 100 times per day, I bought a cycling poncho. While completely ludicrous to look at, this was a win in combining waterproofing with ventilation, making me feel like a bat, and being easy to whip on and off with the frequently changing weather. This is definitely coming on my next trip!
In terms of gear my only likely investment is a better sleeping bag – I’m currently using one I used as a teenager, which is not that warm and pretty bulky. A down sleeping bag would have better compressibility which makes a massive difference given pannier size.
The end of the year is coming, I’ve just made it back from my final big international trip of 2023, so it’s time to see how I did at making greener choices for travel.
The rundown
JANUARY: – Edinburgh – Oxford by train (with a bike)
FEBRUARY – Oxford – Amsterdam by Eurostar for a conference
MARCH: – Oxford – Edinburgh by train – Edinburgh – Heathrow – Prague/Prague – Heathrow by plane to give a seminar and undertake a research visit – Long weekend in the Lake District for a joint 30th birthday with my BFF. We picked a location with relatively easy train access, walk in/out activities and encouraged all our friends to car share where possible.
APRIL: – No big trips, but I visited my grandparents and parents by train for the Easter holidays.
JUNE: – Oxford – Edinburgh by train – Edinburgh – Glasgow by train for a conference (feat. my first time on the Glasgow subway!)
JULY: – Walked Edinburgh – Glasgow along the canal and returned by train (advice: do this in at least 3 days not 2 like me)
AUGUST: – Edinburgh – Eindhoven by plane for a househunting trip – Eindhoven – Oxford by ferry (https://lerabotproblems.wordpress.com/2023/10/16/stena-line-hoek-van-holland-to-harwich-and-back-again/), train and coach – Heathrow – Calgary – Vancouver by plane for a 2.5 week work and holiday trip – Vancouver – Banff by coach (more on this epic adventure to come) – Calgary – Heathrow – Schiphol by plane to move house!
OCTOBER: – Eindhoven – Dusseldorf by Flixbus for a daytrip
NOVEMBER: – Eindhoven – Budapest return flight for a friend’s birthday – Eindhoven – Copenhagen for a workshop (more to come on this semi-disaster)
DECEMBER – Schiphol – Bristol by plane (my Eurostar was cancelled with 24h notice) – Reading – Eindhoven by train, bus and ferry
The very tail end of the year will involve at most: 1-2 trips to Bonn (Flixbus) and one short Christmas trip within the Netherlands (by train)
The statistics
This year I took 23 trips, of which 7 were only for work, 11 were personal and 5 combined work and personal travel. I took 15 planes across 7 trips, over 50 trains, 15 coaches, 3 ferries and multiple rail replacement buses.
For the trips where I flew, 1 return trip was long haul and the remainder were short haul. My most frequent route was Edinburgh-Eindhoven (one trip in each direction) because the plane is 25 euros and the ferry via Newcastle was over £200.
I spent over £1243.15 on trains, £243.94 on coaches, £1557.42 on flights and £337.60 on ferries. (Note this includes a lot work travel which was either covered by my employer, the people hosting me or grant funds, as well as travel covered by my relocation allowance).
I have travelled over 20,337 miles – over 4500 of which was via a method of transport other than an aeroplane.
I gave 7 seminars (in Prague, Toulouse, Vancouver, London, Didcot, Bath and Delft), 5 conference talks (Banff, Amsterdam, Bristol, Glasgow, Copenhagen) and went on 5 research visits (Edinburgh, Reading, Toulouse, Prague, Vancouver). 3 of these trips involved flying (Banff-Vancouver were part of the same travel) and the rest all took place by train or coach.
2 of these journeys (Birthday weekend in the Lakes and Glasgow back to Edinburgh post ridiculous hike) were undertaken with a companion, all the remaining travel was done alone.
1 of my (one-way) flights involved hold luggage as past of my move to NL, all other flights involved hand luggage only, with 2 journeys just involving an under-seat backpack. I paid for Send my bag to move a suitcase Oxford – Edinburgh for the summer so I could take my bike on the train. I was joined by my bike on 5 long distance train journeys.
Reflections and goals for next year
Fly less: I’ve flown more than I would have liked this year, which is partly due to time and financial constraints (we typically get a fixed work budget for travel, and when it runs out there are no more trips!), strikes, and in one specific case a lack of good routes. I’m hopeful with prior planning (and a less chaotic life!) I can reduce the number of flights for work purposes. This will also be made a bit easier by living in Mainland Europe. So far in 2024 I have work trips to Belgium, Germany, France and the UK planned all of which will be undertaken by train/coach/ferry.
Only fly long-haul for trips that are 1) worth it and 2) are multi-purpose. My only long haul trip in 2023 (to Canada) was a combination of 2 work activities as well as holiday. In my industry in-person visits are really useful for kicking off new projects and making connections, and this was definitely the case with the 2 work trips here. I’d be very unlikely to fly long distance for just one week of conference these days: I either want to add on holiday, a second work visit or maybe both.
Continue writing and speaking about my slower travel adventures! I’ve had a lot of fun both on my trips, and writing them up when I get home. A surprising number of people have told me they follow my escapades on twitter, and I’ve even inspired a few to try out train/ferry options instead of flying – what a result. Many of my new colleagues in Eindhoven are also keen to share knowledge and best practice regarding greener travel, which is something I hope we manage to start doing actively in the new year.
Travel a bit less? This year has involved an international move, a new job move, significant work travel plus a long distance relationship. I find myself in December absolutely knackered and looking at this list it’s no wonder! At the time of writing I have visited 5 countries in the last 6 weeks, so I’m very ready to spend some more time at home and exploring locally. Part of slow travel is making sure that trips are really worth it, and I want to be more mindful of not trying to cram absolutely everything in to my calendar going forward just because it appears there is a gap!
I’ve been a cycle commuter in the UK for over 4 years with stints in Exeter, Edinburgh and Oxford, and one of the aspects of moving to the Netherlands I was most excited for was upgrading my commute. After 2 months in post am I as happy as I thought I would be? Spoiler alert – yes!
My main issues in the UK can be summarised as follows – Fear of being run over (lack of infrastructure, aggressive drivers, awful potholes) – General hostility towards cyclists (getting shouted at from moving vehicles was happening with increasing frequency) – Parking (having to carry my bike upstairs to my tenament flat, or lack of appropriate cycle parking when going out)
Bike “storage” in my Edinburgh flatMe collapsed on the floor after a long ride
I was fortunate that my workplaces always had pretty decent cycle parking (often indoor secured racks were available to staff), showers and often extra bits like pumps and basic maintenance equipment. Lots of my colleagues also commuted by bike, so my major problem was actually getting to work safely.
Previous commutes:
Edinburgh: 8.7km, 100m of ascent, 50m descent, ~40min of intense cycling (i.e. I needed a shower on arrival). 5.8km on cyclepaths, although this includes on-road non-segregated cycle paths. I was glad to be riding a road bike for the hill aspect, but my word was it awful on the 1 million potholes of Causewayside. I tried lots of different routes to optimise for “least steep hills”, “avoiding hillstarts” and “cobbles are not my friend”. The official quiet route intended for cyclists is a joke because it is one of the most steep hills up to Princes Street which is completely cobbled.
Oxford: 4.75km, 20m of ascent, 30m of descent, ~20 mins of medium cycling. 3.2km on cyclepaths, and contending with the infamous The Plains roundabout (site of many fatalities). The main issue here was traffic – Iffley Road gets extremely backed up at commuting times, and car drivers think it is ok to just lurch at you, and park wherever. The high density of cyclists and lack of infrastructure also made this a relatively stressful commute. The “quiet” alternative along the river meant lots of conflict with pedestrians and other cyclists, and had no streetlights – meaning it was completely inappropriate in the winter.
Current commute:
9.01km, 10m of ascent, 10m of descent, ~ 30 minutes of medium intensity cycling. 0.6km of my cycle is not in a (mostly segregated) cycle path. There are 2 “potholes” on my route (which I would grade as minor in comparison to anything in Oxford/Edinburgh). It is a completely different experience to anything I have cycled before!
Infrastructure
The dream! I wasn’t able to fully enjoy my cycle commutes in the UK because of the fear of being runover and stress of having to interactive with cars/lorries/buses for the majority of the journey. I narrowly avoided being T-boned in Oxford, and I was increasingly getting shouted at by drivers (usually not for anything I was doing apart from existing in the road). In NL, segregated infrastructure means there are very few points where I have to interact with car drivers, and often at those interaction points I actually have priority as a cyclist! Red tarmac means cycle priority, and often when the cycle path crosses a side road the red colour continues, meaning that cars turning need to stop to let cyclists across. At most roundabouts there is an outer ring for cyclists, separated from the road by at least a kerb and usually also some plant beds, and cyclists have priority over car drivers. This makes turning left a breeze, and also in general minimises stop-starting for cyclists.
The paths themselves are high quality and mostly machine rolled resulting in an extremely smooth surface. The lanes are wide enough for 2 people to cycle alongside one another – this can either be more matey (I’ve witnessed a brave couple holding hands while cycling!), or make it very easy for faster cyclists to overtake slower ones. Along the canal the cycle path goes in both directions and is barely narrower than a road. There is no separate pavement for much of the way, but as the lanes are so wide I’ve not seen this be an issue. Now it is dark most runners and pedestrians also wear lights/high vis along the darkest bits of the canal.
Maintenance
Having segregated lanes where cars and lorries don’t drive makes maintaining the road surface much cheaper because you don’t have to do it as often! Most of the patching I have seen occurs where the surface is distorted by tree roots. When these get too bad they are smoothed over!
I’ve also seen people (I assume from the council) clearing the bike paths. At the moment there are lots of nuts and leaf litter, so this is a huge help to avoid slippery surfaces and punctures. We’ve also had a lot of heavy rain the past few weeks, and I’ve noticed that the cycle paths drain very well and quickly (often onto the flower beds/grass that is just next door). Now it is below freezing in the mornings things are a bit more slippery, but reduced leaf litter makes this less death than the equivalent cycle paths in the UK (which are typically not gritted, and if you are really lucky have ice/snow pushed off the road for cars and into a sludgy black ice mess for the cycle lane. How wonderful!)
Parking
At work there are many, many outdoor bike racks and an indoor parking area that is accessible only by campus card. This is great for leaving my bike more long term (e.g. if I travel for work), but the design of the bike racks makes it a bit hard to secure my bike and frame to the rack with just a D-lock.
At home I have a private storage shed where my bike lives. After years of carrying my bike upstairs or leaving it to get soaked in the garden, this is the dream! I roll my bike in and it is safe and dry. Most apartments I viewed came with standard sized ground floor/basement storage units for bikes. My current one could easily fit 2 more bikes, and also has mains electricity in case I decide to buy an e-bike in the future.
Other cyclists and cycling culture
The volume of cyclists is unsurprisingly very high and really all ages (kids going to school, students, people going to work, retired people, parents with children, adults with their dogs…). This makes cyclist-cyclist interactions more important than cyclist-car driver ones. Signalling to turn is much more common (and more important!) here, predominantly for the benefit of other cyclists. This is also easier to manage as many Dutch bikes have back pedal brakes rather than brakes on the handlebars. People are generally aware of other road users, and often cycle towards the edge of the lane to allow for easier overtaking. Starting off from big junctions, or arriving on the TU/e campus can feel a bit like being in a chaotic peleton due to the numbers, but I’m starting to get used to it! As well as cyclists (on standard and e-bikes) there are lots of people using mobility scooters taking advantage of the high quality infrastructure. We love to see it.
As bikes are just another mode of transport, people cycle around wearing whatever clothes they are wearing for the rest of their day, and typically don’t wear helmets. This is helped by the fact that there are no hills, people typically cycle quite slowly, and most bikes are equipped with mudguards and chain guards. My bike currently has neither of these things, and I don’t like cycling slowly. This means depending on the season I often arrive at work damp from rain or sweat. In previous workplaces I’ve often showered at work, and I usually at least change my bottom half (my back wheel likes nibbling on anything flowing and my chain loves sharing grease with me!). At TU/e there are showers at the sports centre, but not really anywhere else, and my office door has a massive glass panel and no blind. However, I have found the *best* solution to my rain woes in these cycling waterproof trousers which 1) are tight around the calf and don’t flap into my chain and 2) have overshoe bits which keep my feet somewhat dry and make me feel like a pantomime horse. Iconic fashonista, she is me.
It’s not all perfect!
My main issue stems from being a weirdo who currently rides a road bike everywhere. The vast majority of Dutch bikes are upright and have very high handlebars compared to UK bikes – this means I often have to wrestle my bike out of the bike racks when I end up parked between 2 other bikes. This happens even if I put my bike on the higher bit! Drop handlebars do get quite in the way, but I love my bike and being able to zoom around. I have also had a few issues securing my bike out and about. Most Dutch bikes are really heavy (the whole no hills thing helps here) and have built in locks which prevent the back wheel from moving. Most people combine this with a heavy duty chain. Given Dutch bikes also have kickstands, this means you often see people lock their bikes up but not attached to anything! This most often happens when the racks are full on campus or around town. With a lightweight roadbike and a D-lock this is not an option (I carried my old heavier bike upstairs for 2 years, my current bike is a feather in comparison), so I have had to do a few dodgy locking to roadsigns and railings in the absence of a rack.
The other thing I have found surprising is that mopeds/scooters often use the bike lanes! They are often driven quite quickly, and can sneak up on you if they are electric. This can be a bit disconcerting when you are cycling along in your own little world. I’ve mainly adapted by making sure to check before pulling out to overtake, and cycling on the outside of the lane where possible to allow for maximum space for anyone wanting to pass.
Final thoughts
It is unbelievable how much nicer I find cycling in NL than in the UK. I often don’t wear a helmet, and I feel able to listen to music or podcasts at a low volume because I don’t need 100% of my concentration to avoid death. I love that cycling everywhere is the norm! I’m so excited to continue to explore the Netherlands by bike, and to transport increasingly ridiculous cargo on my trusty steed (so far: a Christmas tree, and a coatstand both secondhand bargains from Facebook marketplace).
I’ve taken the Harwich – Hoek ferry twice now and, spoiler, I am a big fan. With somewhat limited Eurostar connections in the evening, and the other companies holding solo travellers hostage, the Stena Line offering is frequently a winner. It’s (mostly) convenient, reasonably priced and also extremely fun!
SCHEDULE AND PRICES
I’ve booked 3 one-way tickets at various times of year and with different sail-rail/bicycle combos. All have been overnight where a compulsory must be booked in addition to the ticket. I’ve always booked the single inside cabin, and so far been upgraded to a 2 person inside cabin:
Journey
Base ticket
Cabin ticket
Other costs
Total
August (HvH – H)
72.50 EUR (inc Sail-Rail)
69 EUR
7.50 EUR
149 EUR
September (H – HvH)
47.00 GBP (no sail-rail)
45 GBP
6.00 GBP
99 GBP
December (H – HvH)
60.00 GBP (inc Sail-Rail)
44 GBP
7.00 GBP
111 GBP
Cost breakdown for 3 journeys at different times of year
PLANNING
I got a lot of help planning from https://www.seat61.com/ (The Man in Seat 61), and I would thoroughly recommend his website for anyone interested in doing more continental train and ferry travel.
Booking Sail Rail allows you to take any Greater Anglia service at no additional cost. I’m typically transiting through London, so buying this add-on is usually a good idea. So far I’ve found the price cheaper than an Off Peak Fare, and it allows you the flexibility of taking any service (unlike and advance ticket). NB. You cannot take this option with a non-folding bike as you need a regular train booking in order to reserve a space for your bike. Additionally, if (like me) you need to cross London with your bicycle, taking the evening designated service direct from London Liverpool Street to Harwich International is sadly not an easy option as it departs at 6.45pm. See my previous blog post https://lerabotproblems.wordpress.com/2023/10/03/edinburgh-to-eindhoven-via-oxford-with-a-bike/ for details of the specific trains I ended up taking.
Although you can get any GA train you fancy, I would definitely advise checking the timetable for your voyage before booking! Twice when I have wanted to travel there has been rail replacement buses on my desired route which is either just annoying as a foot passenger or a complete disaster as a cyclist. This is particularly a problem at weekends (which is then very annoying when trying to avoid the evening peaks on the Tube in London…) in my experience.
BOOKING
Your heart is set on the ferry (good), your dates are selected, you have worked out whether Sail-Rail is a the right option option for you. But how do you book the tickets? “Just go to stenaline.co.uk, Jemima” I hear you say. Ahhh that it was so simple.
I want to travel with just a ferry ticket, starting my journey in the UK: yes, stenaline.co.uk, click to travel to the Netherlands and find your travel dates.
I want to travel with Sail-Rail, starting my journey in the UK: It takes 4 clicks to get here from the landing page! The easiest way to find this option has been to google “Stena Holland Harwich sail rail” which takes you to https://www.stenaline.co.uk/rail-and-sail/to-holland. The booking procedure looks identical to the one in option 1. but will give you a ticket with rail included.
Just ferry, starting in the Netherlands. You cannot book this on the UK Stena site! Only on stenaline.nl which is one of the few Dutch transport websites with no English option. If you don’t read Dutch, google chrome offers an extension where it will translate for you. (Just watch out when picking options from drop down menus – Great Britain is Groot Brittanië)
This also explains the currency discrepancies in the table above: on the UK site you pay in GBP and on the Dutch site you pay in euros.
If you are a cyclist your bike travels for free, but must be booked in. You can also opt for more fancy cabins, or pre-book meals for a slightly discounted rate.
GETTING THERE
Both ends have a dedicated station, Harwich International and Hoek van Holland respectively. As mentioned above there is a nominal Sailrail connection which goes directly from London Liverpool Street to Harwich International. Otherwise you will have to change trains (typically at Maningtree).
Hoek van Holland is on a metro line. To get to Rotterdam the easiest way is to take the metro to Schiedam Centrum (you can pay for this with contactless or buy a ticket at the machine on the platform), then it is a single stop on the mainline train to Rotterdam Centraal. You can pay for any journey on the Dutch rail network via contactless (by tapping in and out much like the Tube) or you can prebook tickets via the NS app – this is available in English. If you pre-book off peak tickets at least 4 days in advance you will get a 10% discount. Note that paper tickets are available at machines (easy to change into English) with a 1 euro fee.
BOARDING – PEDESTRIAN
At Hoek van Holland you cross the road from the metro stop to the main terminal building. Here your passport will be checked and you will be given your room key and a receipt with your membership number for getting Stena points for any on-board purchases. There is a (relatively long) connecting sloped enclosed corridor (think the walkway to get to a plane but steeper) that takes you to the start of the passenger decks. I think there are lifts available for people with limited mobility, but I was very glad not to be dragging a wheely suitcase up!
At Harwich you go upstairs in the station to the check-in area for foot passengers. I imagine the rest is similar, but I’ve only travelled from Harwich as a cyclist, which is quite different!
BOARDING – CYCLIST
Cyclists board with other vehicles. I had read this, but wasn’t sure what this meant and was a little concerned as I was travelling with a very heavily laden bike! From Harwich station, take the lift down to the car park from the connecting bridge. I got quite lost trying to find my way, but thankfully there were lots of staff around to point me in the correct direction. Once you have found your way, you go through a tollbooth to show your passport and collect your room keycard (you do have to queue up with cars here). Then it is time for boarding!
Where to go from the station to board as a cyclist
The staff directed me to a special queue for cyclists (I was the only one). Boarding was via a relatively steep ramp up, then curving around (very multistory carpark vibes), then onto the ferry. The woman directing traffic was very kind and told me that she wouldn’t send any cars up the ramp until I had made it, so to take my time and not feel under any pressure. I was happy to have a headlight and helmet – the surfaces were pretty uneven and it was dark by the time I was boarding. There were staff to direct you at any point where it would be possible to get lost.
Once on board there is an area with metal fencing and rope for you to lash your bike to on the main car deck. I also clipped on with bungees. You can take as much or as little luggage with you as you like, access during the crossing is limited to staff so most other cyclists left their bikes pretty laden. The crossing was very smooth and I couldn’t see any sign that my bike had moved overnight.
FACILITIES ONBOARD
Now you are onboard! There are 2 cabin decks and one entertainment/restaurant deck.
Well lit sink areaBetter than many a land-based showerMy “solo” inside cabin
Cabins: I have booked a solo inside cabin and been upgraded to a bunk bed inside cabin both times. The cabins all have en-suite shower and toilets with towels and basic shower gel. There are UK and EU plug sockets, although the ones near the bed are EU so it’s worth having your adapter to hand if necessary. The beds are pretty comfortable and for one person there is lots of room to unpack/repack your bag. There is a TV with UK/Dutch channels and the extremely funny (to me) hybrid radio + video channels where you can watch the view from the bridge and listen to Radio 2 party anthems or watch a video of the animals in the kennels while listening to Radio 4. Free wifi is available (although coverage may be lost during the journey) and don’t forget to turn off your data because it gets very expensive at sea! In the morning there is a very early wake up call (Don’t Worry – Be Happy) and announcements about breakfast timings.
Top quality entertainment
Food/entertainment: There is a restaurant, bar and one or two coffee bars on board. Prices are what you would expect (not that cheap but reasonable). There is an evening dinner service and morning full breakfast options, with lighter alternatives. There is a children’s play area, a fancier lounge, some duty free shopping and a cinema. This comes at an additional cost of 8.50 EUR (and for both crossings the late film was the newest Indiana Jones). There is an open deck at the stern (rear) of the ship which had more of a party vibe. Honestly, I usually spend most of the crossing in bed, especially given the early start the next day, but it’s nice to be able to have a hot/alcoholic beverage and a snack if needed.
DISEMBARKATION
Foot passengers: pretty similar to boarding – you exit via an air bridge to the terminal building. Here your passport will be checked again (this time border control rather than Stena agents) and you are free to leave! Annoyingly the disembarkation is timed perfectly to watch the first train to London depart as you run down the stairs.
Cyclists: Again a reverse of boarding. Cyclists go to the car deck shortly after car drivers to sort themselves out and cycle off the ferry when they are ready. Border control is at a drive through booth. There are sometimes special lanes/queues for cyclists, but these also merge randomly with cars so be on the look out! If you want to take the metro technically you are supposed to wait until 9am, but I snuck on before that (shhh).
FINAL THOUGHTS
The ferry is a smooth and easy way to make the crossing, and the Hoek van Holland – Hawrich route doesn’t penalise solo travellers by only having 2 person cabins. The prices are comparable to an evening Eurostar from Rotterdam to London, and also include decent accommodation. I can leave Eindhoven at 6.30pm, comfortably make the evening sailing and arrive in London for a 9.30am work meeting. It also feels fun and glamorous in a way that Eurostar used to feel pre-Brexit, and makes the journey part of the adventure rather than something to be endured. Both as a foot and bike passenger you aren’t treated like an after thought. I would strongly recommend the Stenaline ferry and I predict I will be taking it lots in the future!
Adventures of a Mathematician 