Action Briefing December 2006 - January 2007
	The Newsletter of Birmingham Friends of the Earth

Why Not Take the Train?

We've all heard the wail "you should not travel in such an unsustainable way", but how else do you get to Barcelona or Croatia?  Those of you who are not yet ready to give up intenational travel might want to try the following suggestions for “green holidays” in Europe and beyond.

By train your journey will inevitably start with a UK connection to the Eurostar at Waterloo, London taking you to Paris, Brussels and then onwards to the rest of Europe. If you are particularly keen, the website www.seat61.com will advise you on travel across Europe by train to as far as Amman in Jordan. You can also check out www.deutsche-bahn.com , www.raileurope.com or www.eurostar.com. Overnight train journeys have some advantages over air travel, often including a cabin, fantastic scenery and space to stretch your legs.

For those with a tighter budget international coach travel may provide a solution. With tickets available direct from Birmingham it has its advantages but you don’t get a bed.

If you enjoy a little sea air you may want to consider ferry tickets to Ireland (the journey to Holyhead is attractive and the crossing of the Irish Sea is around two hours). You can also get to any destination in the Netherlands for a mere £25 one way via fast ferry and then train. Other destinations for the nautically inclined include: Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Ireland.

The next Birmingham Friends of the Earth speaker event is on green holidays on Monday 4 December at the Warehouse.

Happy holidays

John Davison