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Going Through Guidebook Withdrawal: How to Travel Lighter

Over the last year, we've slowly chipped away at the size of our luggage on trips by peeling away guidebooks and maps. And now that we're down to the absolute minimum, we thought we'd share the steps which led us to traveling sans clunky extras.

First, we went to Hong Kong and Macau and hauled a TimeOut guidebook, the small Wallpaper guidebook, the Luxe fold-out guide (to find the hip places), a Moleskine City Notebook to HK, and a fold-out map. On top of that, we were still packing a laptop, phone, camera and Flip video cam with all of their chargers and accessories. We didn't use half of them!

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Tags: Travel Advertising / Amtrak / Travel Ads / Airport Security / ORD / Train Travel / → All Tags

Amtrak Ads Invade The Bins At Airport Security

Amtrak might just be turning things around this year. They’ve adding WiFi to the rails, and now they’re trying to lure customers away from the crowds and inconvenience of air travel. They’ve begun to install advertisements in airports like SeaTac (Seattle-Tacoma), and they’ve even started to invade the trays where we part with all our travel gadgets before heading through airport security.

The new marketing strategy focused on the X-ray trays is exclusive to Chicago O’Hare right now, but we wouldn’t be surprised to start seeing it elsewhere. After all, there are plenty of other airports with aggravated passengers and Amtrak stations. The ads point out the humorous side of airport security by encouraging passengers to wear mismatched socks because Amtrak will never know. It’s true; we’ve had our share of awkward sock moments while waiting in the TSA line.

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Finding Out How Long It Takes the Eurostar To Travel the Channel Tunnel

Good news! We just got off the Eurostar direct train that travels the Channel Tunnel from London's St. Pancras station to Brussels Midi station, and we did not get stuck underneath the English Channel. Only a few weeks ago and then a few weeks before that did several trains on the same route get trapped underground by electrical problems caused by the super low temperatures. We hoped the same fate wouldn't befall us, and we were lucky it didn't.

The departure from St. Pancras in London was surprisingly smooth; we went through the security metal detectors and had our passport stamped with a "Lft Londres" stamp right here, as though we had already emerged in France. But perhaps the most perfect part of departure was the free WiFi signal in St. Pancras station, allowing us to get some last-minute alone time with the internet before setting off for the Chunnel (by the way, the Brits hate it when you call it that; it's the "Channel Tunnel" or nothing).

After the jump, how long you actually spend underneath the Channel Tunnel on the Eurostar

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Massive Changes Coming To Europe's Confusing Train System

The demise of RailTeam—which was supposed to integrate booking across Europe's many different rail lines—may have put trains behind in Europe's trains vs. airlines deathmatch. But now European governments are trying to bolster trains by going in a different direction. Instead of a pan-European plan to integrate rail lines under a single system, they've embraced deregulation.

RailTeam was originally conceived as a way of dealing with a very specific problem: since most countries are dominated internally by state-owned rail companies, getting across borders forces customers to deal with multiple companies. Now RailTeam's approach—to integrate across those different companies—failed. The push for deregulation deals with the same problem by letting individual rail companies expand their coverage more easily. In a few years, you might only need to book with a single company to get from Spain to Germany across France, eliminating the entire need to juggle different systems.

A few more technical details, plus some hopeful soundbites, after the jump.

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Amtrak Will Have Free WiFi Flowing Through Their Trains By March

Woo-hoo! Another victory for the modern traveler as Amtrak has named this the year of free WiFi aboard their Acela trains. To tell you the truth, we knew this was coming, even that it would be free, but we didn't know when it would be completed or if we could even count on it.

Well we can count on it! Amtrak announced that installation of WiFi on the Acela trains (which are the express routes on the East Coast) will be completed by March, as part of a celebration of the Acela's tenth anniversary of service. Other upgrades due for the trains include "leather seats and improved tray tables and power outlets." Score!

But who knows when we'll get to try out the WiFi and outlets; the Acelas are too damn expensive. Yeah right like we're paying $100 for a one-way to Boston when a WiFi and outlet-equipped BoltBus takes almost the same time and costs around $30. Keep trying, Amtrak, but we're proud of your achievements thus far.

Related Stories:
· Amtrak adding free WiFi on Acela Express Trains [USA Today]
· Amtrak Competes with In-Flight WiFi by Adding Internet to Acela in 2010 [Jaunted]
· Amtrak travel [Jaunted]

[Photo: pandoralyrael]

Tags: Train Travel / Delays / Channel Tunnel / Eurostar / Thalys / Amsterdam Travel / Holland Travel / Belgium Travel / → All Tags

We Rode The New High Speed Rail Link Between Brussels And Amsterdam!

Poor European railways. What with the Eurostar debacle, we all forgot about the news they were hoping we’d read last week – the completion of the high speed line between Brussels and Amsterdam, making train trips from Paris and London to weed city a viable alternative to flying.

The fast Thalys trains already plied the Paris-Brussels part of the line, but had to slow down once they hit Belgium and picked up travellers from the Eurostar. On 13 December, though, they started running at high speed along the whole line, shaving 51 minutes off the journey from Paris to Amsterdam (from 4hr 9min to 3hrs 18) and 49 from Brussels (from 2hr 42 to 1hr 53). So you can now get from London to Amsterdam in 4hrs 16: not bad if you factor in the time to get to the airport, wait at the airport, collect your luggage and get into town.

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High Fashion Hits The Rails With Lacroix-Designed French Train Uniforms

Over the last few years, there's been a rash of fashion designers teaming up with travel brands to smarten up the employees with new, name-brand and specially designed uniforms. It hearkens back to the partnership of Braniff Airlines and Emilio Pucci, and these days we think of the Delta Richard Tyler uniforms or the Ted Baker suits and DC shoes at The Hotel on Rivington, but who says that trains can't get into the game as well? France's SNCF trains are proving that they can be stylish as well, since some 20,000 of their train system employees will don new duds from French haute couture designer Christian Lacroix in the next few months.

The new suits, pictured above, are "gray and purple and include blouses, skirts and jackets for women, and pants, jackets and striped shirts for men." We remember back in 2006 when the TGV and Tézo trains got his designer treatment for their interiors, but it's about time that the whole system saw some purple.

The economy has not been kind to Monsieur Lacroix however, since he's recently been reduced to a licensing operation and the haute couture shut down. Good thing he's always got his travel partnerships to fall back on, because he's kind of a veteran at this thing, having designed uniforms for Air France and the interior of Paris' Hotel du Petit Moulin. Now he just needs to design new, funky Velib bikes and a Renault, and he'll have a monopoly on French travel fashion.

Related Stories:
· Lingerie As Uniforms Edition [Chic Report]
· Lacroix Designs Uniforms [WWD]
· Fashion Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: WWD, The Cool Hunter]

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Eurostar Passengers Spent The Weekend Trapped Underneath The English Channel

While the US suffered through a weekend rife with weather-caused flight cancellations, things aren't much better in Northern Europe, where five Eurostar trains got stuck in the Channel Tunnel thanks to problems caused by the low temperatures. After one train broke down in the tunnel thanks to electronics failures caused by the weather, another four followed, trapping over 2,000 people underneath the English Channel without additional food or information for around 14 hours.

Typically the speedy trip from London to Brussels or Paris is no more than two hours, and the Eurostar isn't prone to delays or cancellations, so this quickly became an emergency situation. Eurostar services through the Channel Tunnel are indefinitely suspended, although they're already running empty test trains through and are hoping to be back up and running as soon as tomorrow. And they better be, since we're holding tickets for the Channel Tunnel route between London and Brussels. Luckily they've got another three weeks to sort it out before we storm into London's St. Pancras train station and hop aboard. We're already taking Ryanair back, and we're not too keen on making it a round-trip with them. Alright Eurostar—you've got a couple weeks to figure things out, but then we're coming for you.

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Arizona's Polar Express Stops At The North Pole And Grand Canyon

Trains and Christmas go together like airlines and in-flight WiFi. If you agree with our slightly ridiculous comparison then you’re probably already thinking about boarding the Grand Canyon Railway’s version of the Polar Express. Not only will Santa be checking to see what Linda and Timmy want for the holidays, but the train will make a final stop at the North Pole. Well, we’re thinking that it's not exactly the real home of Santa and his Christmas crew, but a little village loaded with lights and decorations looks pretty good to us.

Adult tickets are $29 and seats for the kiddies are either $15 or $19 depending on whether you decide to go during the week or weekend. The Polar Express departs from Williams, Arizona and chugs through the forest in search of their version of the North Pole. Hot chocolate and cookies will keep your blood sugar nice and elevated throughout the journey. In December there’s usually a departure at 6:30pm and 8:00pm most nights of the week, but tickets seem to sell out quickly, so get booking if you’re interested.

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Where Do You Find Ceiling Fans In A Subway Train? New York, Of Course!

C'mon, ride the train! Okay so before we quote the Quad City DJs' song any further, let us just let you in on something very coo, very unique that's happening on Sunday in December in New York City. It's called the "Nostalgia Shoppers' Special" and it's a vintage New York subway train that's plying the underground just as it used to decades ago.

This year, you'll find the vintage subway train on the V line between Long Island City and lower Manhattan every December Sunday from 10am to 5pm. Take it from Rockefeller Center to Macy's Herald Square, or continue down to Greenwich Village at the West 4th Street stop, or hop off when it terminates on the Lower East Side. We tried to catch it last year, but didn't put enough effort into it (aka we got on whatever train arrived first and didn't wait for it). But if you do wait, you'll enjoy padded seats, incandescent lightbulbs, ceiling fans, and all the vintage design touches you can handle.

Related Stories:
· Nostalgia Train Running On December Sundays [Gothamist]
· Subway coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: j.reed via Gothamist]

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The Orient Express Train Loses Steam, Finally Calls It Quits

One evening a few years ago, our measly little Trenitalia train limped into Venice's Santa Lucia station. At the track opposite ours sat a slick black train, with the words "Compagnie Internationale des Wagon-Lits" written on the side. "Oh my god," we thought; it's the frickin' Orient Express! So we proceeded to mentally freak out, even though we shouldn't have been so surprised since the train did call the watery city home as a terminus.

Anyway, that Venice train we saw is only one of several trains bearing the "Orient Express" name, and one of them is coming to an end. The original Orient Express, which once ran the exotic route from Paris to Varna and on to Istanbul by steamer, will cease operation on December 12 of this year.

But don't be sad...

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Following Robert DeNiro And Drew Barrymore Around Connecticut

Today, the Americanized version of Giuseppe Tornatore's 1990 "Stanno Tutti Bene", better known as "Everybody's Fine", opens in theaters nationwide. The movie stars Robert DeNiro as a father who goes on a road trip to check on his adult children after his wife dies and learns they aren't doing as well as she had always led him to believe. Though the movie is set in various locations across the country (hence the road trip) it was filmed almost entirely in Connecticut last year.

Where to stay:
The movie's cast and crew moved up and down the Connecticut coast to take advantage of locations like the Yale campus, Bradley Airport, and several residential neighborhoods, including one on Shippan Point in Stamford, not far from The Hotel Chesterfield. This recently restored 1860s mansion is located in the quintessential New England neighborhood and room include free breakfast. Rooms start at $239 a night.

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