Archive for the ‘Train Travel’ Category

Aug 6, 2008

Lake Como, Italy - It Looks Unreal!

Talk about breath-taking Italian landscape beauty, this may be the most beautiful of all. Lake Como, Italy. I was advised to include it in my last trip to Italy but thought — naaahh. It just didn’t seem like Italy to me. So now I cannot wait until I have saved up enough money for another Italian vacation. It will probably be my only destination next time. I have fallen in love with just the pictures and videos alone!

Most of us know that George Clooney lives somewhere there on the lake and we would all love to be able to wave to him as he cruises by in what must be an incredibly luxurious speed boat. But, even though chances of that are slim, you won’t believe the vistas that will surround you.Lake Como is in the northern part of Italy in the Lombardy region. It is one of many lakes in that area, but probably the most popular. The lake is huge and borders the Italian Alps no less. The lake stretches southward with two ’legs’ of the lake and many, many small villages up and down the lakeside coast that are accessible to each other by ferry boat. You may have heard of a few of those villages — Bellagio, Varenna, Menaggio. From what I have learned, Varenna looks like my pick and this picture gives you just a little clue as to why.

Varenna is home to maybe a thousand or less permanent residents. There you can find accommodations varying anywhere from a hotel room or studio apartment or a bed and breakfast arrangement to a nearby villa that sleeps twelve to twenty and comes furnished with live-in maids and cooks and the like — of course, a short stay there would take several years of my income. Accommodations for the typical visitor (like me) seem very affordable though.

Leaving Milan, the Lake Como area can be reached easily by car, train, bus or boat (from the town of Como). Depending on your destination (Varenna), it is only about an hour outside Milan via train.

Just a little bit of research on this area and I am about to wee. Even if I only have one week to spend on vacation, this will definitely be my next trip. Honestly, I would just sleep better knowing you are going to give this gorgeous area at least some serious thought.

Posted by admin under Group Travel, Italy, Train Travel

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Jul 6, 2008

Nostalgia for Train Travel

It doesn’t even seem to matter where you go, traveling is just about the most fun you can have that provides you with both great memories and a little education at the same time. Of course, I’m not talking about a formal education, I’m talking about life’s education. No matter how educated you are or how old you are, there is something to learn at every turn in life, so why not try to travel if you can. There are just about as many ways to travel as there are travel destinations. Perhaps that is was a gross exaggeration but there are truly so many ways to travel.

You can take a themed vacation and spend it fishing or golfing or dancing or eating and so many, many more options. You can take a vacation with people with similar backgrounds and/or interests, whether it is age related or religious or your particular sexual orientation. You can take a vacation where all of those issues are intermingled if you really, really want to experience some of life’s education. Whatever or wherever it is, get out of your rut and go some place you have never been before or try something you have never tried before.

I have never taken an extended train trip but I have always wanted to do just that. A big part of the education found in traveling is found in the journey itself. What better way to experience all the beauty of the United States or Canada even, than to travel by train. Along the way between your place of departure and your destination, lies all of those little out of the way small towns and all of the views of the purple mountains’ majesty or golden waves of grain, not to mention all of the canyons and coastlines and rivers and lakes and waterfalls which you may never have the opportunity to get a peek at in any other way. You as the passenger on a travel train, have the luxury of sitting back and taking it all in.

As I understand it, the sleeping accommodations on the trains are a far cry better than they have ever been before. Can’t you just imagine drifting off to sleep to the ever so gentle rocking of the train. And it doesn’t have to be your basic bunk-styled sleeping arrangements that you may have burned into your mind having never traveled by train. Today’s train travel offers luxuriously appointed staterooms with private bathrooms, including shower, sink and toilet. Also, the dining cars on the travel trains of today offer so much more than just a cold pre-packaged sandwich and a bag of chips. Today’s dining cars can offer you gourmet meals and some very nice wines. Some travel excursions by train include professional, world-class chefs and accompanying sommeliers as well as classically trained musicians performing for you.

Depending on your chosen place of departure, you can experience the beauty of fall in New England and Cape Cod or the rugged mountains and snow scenes of Colorado. You can traverse the Canadian Rockies from Calgary to Vancouver. There will be interesting stops along the way and beautiful scenery, the likes of which you have never seen. In my lifetime, I must take one of these incredible trips.

Call your local travel agent today or go online to one of the train travel sites and you will see for yourself what is available out there that just might have your name written all over it. And get a group together. It may be less expensive and it is always more fun to share the experience.

Posted by admin under Train Travel

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