Air travel in the UK and Europe during 2010 has been blighted with disruption - volcanic ash from Iceland and a prolonged series of strikes affecting one of Britain's largest airlines. So, for our summer holiday this year, we thought it would be a good idea to abandon air travel, revert back to more conventional methods, and take the train instead.
Of course, this immediately limits the potential for long distance travel, unless of course one is considering the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to China and beyond! Having previously spent some of our recent summer holidays in North America, we had to look for a closer alternative. As with all our holiday destinations, it had to be scenic, interesting, culturally different, affordable, accessible and safe. Coming from Scotland, the weather is not an attribute that particularly bothers us!
After much deliberation, we decided to choose that classic British holiday destination - the Kingdom of Spain. Interesting and culturally different, I hear you ask? Well, this is Spain with a difference, because our actual destination can in fact be more accurately described as Catalonia.
Catalonia is one of 17 autonomous communities within Spain, situated in the north east of the country, bordering on both France and Andorra. The region has its own identity and language, and its people consider themselves Catalan rather than Spanish. Catalonia has a population of over seven million people, of which nearly three million live in or around the capital city, Barcelona.
The journey there will involve taking the train from our hometown in Scotland to London with a change in Glasgow. After an overnight stay, we take the Eurostar as far as Lille, before boarding a French TGV to Montpellier in the south of France. The Eurostar and French portions of the journey were booked as a combined ticket through Rail Europe, the UK's specialist travel agent for European rail tickets and passes.
After an overnight stay in Montpellier, it's time to hire a car to complete the final leg of the journey across the border to Spain. Our stay will be split between two locations starting with five days in the coastal fishing port town of Llançà, followed by a further five days in the mountain village of Camprodon, which is nested high in the Pyrenees at an altitude of 3200ft. Railways do cross the Pyrenees in a few places, but the car really does make it easier to properly explore the area. We'll being staying in small and friendly hotels in Catalonia; all accommodation has been booked independently.
So welcome to our Travelblog for the holiday, including the journeys there and back. Subject to internet access, we'll try and update the site as often as possible with our experiences, opinions and photographs. We hope you enjoy reading about our holiday in Spain!
Maybe next year for the Trans-Siberian Railway...
Andrew & Christine :-)
PS For anyone contemplating a similar adventure, we'd thoroughly recommend a visit to the website of The Man in Seat Sixty-One... This is an excellent online resource and offers a wealth of information for anyone wanting travel overland comfortably and affordably.
