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As someone who worked in the finance industry on the Isle of Man, those City flights are viewed as more reliable than EasyJet, better timed for business (and often used for day trips) and used for through bookings to other flights to Europe and beyond. Through ticketing is hugely valuable when...

Oops, sorry, missed that point that you’d done it before! I live in Hong Kong - next time I get a break from work I’m determined to get to Alishan!

Taiwan Railways website suggests the end of January as a reopening date. It’s a shame you missed out on it - it’s a fabulous day trip. I was going to share the info but the formatting goes awry when reposted here - a google for “Taiwan Railway Train Operation Status” will find their page in...

I think I’ve mentioned in here before that I’ve always rather liked the idea of Taunton - Yeovil - Templecombe - Bournemouth as a through route, through a new “Yeovil Interchange” station I drew with my crayons. More seriously, I think Blandford - Bournemouth would be a successful...

I caught a local “Mugunghwa” train along Korea’s south coast last weekend which was a rather fine sounding loco, generator car and two carriages. Route is roughly Busan in the south east corner to Mokpo in the south west. Plenty of short journeys, but only one full length journey in each...

I live in Hong Kong and regularly travel back to the British Isles. Don’t be afraid of the Chinese airlines, they are fine. Seats feel exactly the same as any other airline (and, frankly, better than most European budget carriers) Depending on personal taste and willingness to “explore”...

I lived right by the line north of Dorchester from 1991 and commuted Yeovil to Upwey for a summer job until about 2001. I only recall Class 158s in the Wessex Trains days. My teenage self would have been excited by the sight of one in earlier years.

As a Hong Kong resident, I agree that 5 hours is probably a little too brief. Whilst the airport is normally pretty good for short queues, you’d still have little time to do much by time you reach the city other than get back again. If your flight lands an hour early (as long haul flights...

I caught it once, trying to move a pushbike from Somerset to Norfolk. I seem to recall I’d planned my journey to catch the once daily (perhaps only on Saturday) through working to Norwich. I tried to make a cycle reservation only to be met by a blunt rejection at the ticket office (I think it...

I always use a Rail Europe app since the days when it was branded Loco2. I don’t really know who owns it - for all I know it could be Trainline (who I don’t use in the UK) but it’s hassle free, makes searching easy, and does the job nicely.

I flew Cathay Pacific at 11am from Milan to Hong Kong a few months back. With the time difference, arrival in Hong Kong was early morning (6am, I think), it would have seemed very logical for them to keep the blinds open for the first five hours of the flight in daylight , and then revert to...

Buried very deep away in childhood memories (and therefore quite possibly wrong) was a Summer Saturday peak dated service which I think was an attempt to run Paddington to Penzance in 4hr 30, calling only at Plymouth, Truro, Hayle and St Erth. 1030 from Paddington, 1500 into Penzance if my...

Brisbane to Sydney This was an absolutely epic day upon one of NSW Trainlink’s XPT units. The day started with an extremely early start - a most uncivilised 3.45am alarm call gave me time to drink a couple of cups of coffee before leaving the hotel at 4.20. The reason for the train’s early...

Just the one photo from yesterday worth uploading - the Gold Coast train.

Brisbane With a temperature 56C warmer than my final night in Hokkaido, my “gap quarter-year” finds me starting in Queensland this week, making my way from Brisbane to Melbourne over land. I’d cheated to get here - flying to Melbourne from Hong Kong via Singapore on points courtesy of Singapore...

Day 6 & Round-up My final day consisted of nothing more than an early Airport train to Sapporo’s New Chitose Airport - the airport being about 30 miles to the south of Sapporo. My rail pass had expired, so I needed to buy a ticket, which was fairly steep at JPY1,970 (GBP12.00). It was snowing...

Thanks for the response - if I ever get a chance to do it, I’m thinking I might pick one of the other smaller islands for a week to do something similar.

Day 5 - Hakodate to Sapporo I woke up surprisingly early on the Friday in Hakodate, down in Hokkaido’s south western corner, and since I was awake a plan formed in my head to get an extra route in - Hokkaido’s only non-JR main railway route. The rest of Japan has quite a few private railways. I...