Seconded re: seat61. Over the past year, from England, I've been to events in
The Netherlands, Denmark, Scotland and Germany by train, always using seat61
to investigate first. Based in London, I find it pretty easy to get to
European conferences by train. It's often not much more expensive than flying
if you book in advance, and consider additional flying costs like trains to
airports, baggage allowances, etc.
I think academics could do a lot better at minimising flying which often
seems to be the default even when the train is a good alternative (e.g. to
the Netherlands)... we usually (not always I know) can be relatively flexible
on time and can work while travelling... and we are often pretty good at
internet research! It would be good if universities positively encouraged us
to book trains where possible, too.
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Murakami Wood
Sent: 30 August 2012 14:38
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Take the Train
I recommend this site, 'The Man in Seat 61', as an essential resource for
everyone trying to book long-distance train travel all over the world:
http://www.seat61.com/
It's difficult in North America, especially from Canada, whose trains are
getting worse and worse and seem to be deliberately disconnected from the
Amtrack network too. When I was back in the UK, I used to take the train to
European conferences, especially the excellent overnight trains that go from
Paris to Madrid, Milan, Berlin, Vienna etc. That way you don't arrive any
later than if you take the plane plus you get a good night's sleep (I like
sleeping on trains, I find it very relaxing) and overnight trains often have
a bar and restaurant car and you get to meet a whole range of interesting
people.
David.
David Murakami Wood
Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Surveillance Studies, Surveillance Studies
Centre,
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology,
Cross-appointed in Department of Geography,
Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario.
[log in to unmask]
On 2012-08-30, at 9:30 AM, Susan Ruddick wrote:
> Hi Everyone
>
> I was curious given the amount of air travel we do as geographers how many
people have considered taking the train (which can be a working trip with
laptop) to various conference destinations (I am thinking in particular of
the upcoming AAG for geographers who live in North America)
>
> just curious
>
> Sue
This message has been scanned by the UEL anti-spam filters hosted by Websense
|