Feb 6th, 2012 at 10:00AM: There's nothing like having a sealed train compartment full of Serbian farmers blowing smoke in your face on your 30th birthday. One of the strangest elements of expatriate life is that you sometimes find yourself celebrating major occasions with people you just met, rather than friends and family.
I had just started a tour as an American Foreign Service Officer in Macedonia right before my ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
train posts
A Traveler in the Foreign Service: A birthday that went up in smoke in Belgrade
Feb 6th, 2012 at 10:00AM: There's nothing like having a sealed train compartment full of Serbian farmers blowing smoke in your face on your 30th birthday. One of the strangest elements of expatriate life is that you sometimes find yourself celebrating major occasions with people you just met, rather than friends and family.
I had just started a tour as an American Foreign Service Officer in Macedonia right before my ...Photo of the Day: Singapore's unusual theme park
Jan 13th, 2012 at 5:30PM:
This fellow is from one of Singapore's more unusual attractions - the Haw Par Villa theme park, also called Tiger Balm Gardens. Originally built in the 1930s by the creators of Tiger Balm to showcase Chinese folklore and mythology, the park is known for its bizarre and gruesome Ten Courts of Hell with such creepy statues and dioramas as a human-faced crab and bloody dismembered torsos ...Denver's Union Station undergoing LEED Gold makeover
Jan 6th, 2012 at 2:00PM: The historic Union Station in Denver, Colorado, will soon be undergoing a major restoration project that will turn it into one of the most progressive transportation hubs in the United States.
According to Inhabitat, the project is aiming for LEED Gold certification and will preserve the train hub that connects the Amtrak system with regional modes of transport, like Colorado's celebrated ...10 reasons to travel to Ljubljana
Dec 13th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
When I found cheap airfare from Istanbul to Ljubljana, I didn't find many other travelers who'd been there or even say for sure which country it's in. The tiny of country of Slovenia is slightly smaller than New Jersey and its capital city isn't known for much other than being difficult to spell and pronounce (say "lyoob-lyAH-nah"). After spending a few days there last month, I quickly fell ...Video of the Day: Driving a NYC Subway
Nov 21st, 2011 at 8:30PM:
It's always been a dream of mine to shadow a NYC subway conductor for a day. Sure, you could ride the subway all day, but imagine spending a shift with a subway conductor train operator and seeing the tunnels from that perspective. Well, this video might just be the closest we can get to that experience. Now, if only the subway actually moved that quickly...and never got stuck for 20 minutes ...
First ever Shopping on the Rails event will take place aboard the Orient-Express' British Pullman train this holiday
Nov 19th, 2011 at 1:00PM: Instead of fighting your way through crowded department stores and chaotic shopping centers this holiday, why not do your shopping aboard a luxurious, festively decorated train? On December 1, 2011, the first ever Shopping on the Rails event will take place on board the Orient-Express' British Pullman train.
A few of the fine British retailers that have been invited to participate in the event ...MegaBus introduces sleeper bus overnight Glasgow-London
Oct 26th, 2011 at 12:00PM: Ever wanted to travel like a rock star? Now in the UK, you can travel on a sleeper bus between Scotland and England and pretend you're on tour. This week, while budget transportation company MegaBus announced new routes in the southern United States, with free tickets to celebrate), they also introduced a new sleeper bus service between Glasgow and London.
The 400-mile journey is a bit slower ...Knocked up abroad: planning travel with a baby
Oct 25th, 2011 at 9:00AM: Let's get this out of the way: you can travel with a baby. Many new parents feel that once they have a child, their travel days are over, but many parents will tell you that the first six months are the easiest time to travel with a baby. Is it easy? Not exactly, but with enough planning and the right attitude, it's not as hard as you might think. Is it selfish? Probably, but so is most travel. ...Video of the Day: Crowded Tokyo subway
Oct 17th, 2011 at 6:30PM:
It's Monday, which, for most people, means back to work. After two glorious days with your friends, families and your the comforts of home, it's back to the office. But, before you can get to your place of business, you first need to commute. Many of you spend hours sitting in traffic. Others wait for trains while tapping your feet and looking at the time. No matter how annoying your commute ...
20 Reasons to travel by train
Aug 31st, 2011 at 4:30PM:
While I truly appreciate the technological miracle of human flight, I'd altogether avoid flying if it were possible to do that and still indulge my serious case of wanderlust. And I love a good road trip, but who would want to drive everywhere? So until teleportation devices are invented I'll continue to travel by train whenever possible...and here's why.
1) Bells and Whistles – No ...Mastering the culinary experience on Benelux trains
Jul 29th, 2011 at 8:30AM:
Hitting the rails around Europe can be a blast, and I particularly enjoyed it in the so-called "Benelux" countries (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg). The scenery in the Netherlands was a bit thin, but the Belgian towns were incredibly cute, and it was fun to watch the Dutch signs yield to French as we approached the Luxembourg border.
And let's face it: any alternative to air travel is a ...Mooning Amtrak annual event in California July 9
Jun 28th, 2011 at 12:00PM: If you're traveling through California by train next month, keep your eyes peeled for some special scenery in Orange County. On Saturday, July 9, exhibitionists, daredevils, and the just plain childish will gather in Laguna Niguel, drop their pants, and moon the passing Amtrak trains from early morning to late night. According to the excellent travel site Wish You Were Here, the event started 32 ...Cobras cause panic on train in Vietnam
May 30th, 2011 at 8:30AM:
Passengers on a train in Vietnam got an unwelcome shock when dozens of cobras and king cobras were seen slithering under the seats.
The train, traveling from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, was stopped at Quang Ngai when the incident happened. Apparently someone was smuggling the animals when they broke loose. Police gathered up 45 kilos (99lb) worth of snakes but didn't find the smuggler.
...
Gallery: More travel sketches from BBC's Tim Baynes
May 18th, 2011 at 3:00PM:
We wrote yesterday about Tim Baynes' delightful travel sketches from around the world on BBC and liked them so much we came back for more. You can (and should!) get lost for hours looking at his drawings on Flickr with fun anecdotes and scribbles bringing depth and humor to his slice-of-life artwork.
Check out some of our favorites in the gallery below, from a look inside the BBC Starbucks to ...6-course mobile gourmet meal served aboard NYC subway car
May 9th, 2011 at 12:30PM:
Pop-up shops, hotels, and restaurants are all the rage, and dining cars are standard on most long-distance trains but what do you call a pop-up restaurant on a subway car? Earlier this month, a 6-course mobile gourmet meal was served on board a New York City subway car by supper club A Razor, A Shiny Knife with participation from "culinary collective" and Gadling favorite Studiofeast. Diners ...
Five reasons you should take the train to Colorado [MOVIE MOMENTS]
![Five reasons you should take the train to Colorado [MOVIE MOMENTS]](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.gadling.com/media/2011/04/aynrandimage_thumbnail.jpg)
Apr 19th, 2011 at 3:30PM:
Around 15 years after reading Atlas Shrugged for the first time, the moment I was waiting for arrived: the movie came out. If you missed it, there's a good reason. Unlike big-budget flicks, this $10 million "effort" opened in only 299 theaters, with the prayer hope outside shot that word of mouth among the philosopher's novelist's propagandist's writer's followers would cause demand to surge ...The product of communicating with subway patrons
Mar 29th, 2011 at 2:00PM:
Fun fact: almost half of my good friends in my new home town of Chicago were randomly made on the subway. How did I meet them? By randomly striking up a conversation. I'm one of the few people on the planet that doesn't think that it's strange to communicate with people on the train, whether this is with a smile, some polite conversation or a shared laugh -- as it turns out, there are a lot of ...
VIDEO: Mad Men high-speed rail travel PSA
Mar 14th, 2011 at 11:30AM:
"Would you rather fly into Queens or take the train into Manhattan?" is just one of the great would-be ad taglines in this PSA starring Mad Men actors Vincent Kartheiser and Rich Sommer to promote high-speed rail in America (we're hoping for a sequel with a Simpsons' Monorail-esque jingle). They also argue for the simplicity and convenience of
train travel and how you can save time, money, and ...
Video: Catching a moving train in Burma
Feb 11th, 2011 at 10:30AM:
A Reddit user submitted this video of people catching a moving train in Yangon, Burma. Note that the train doesn't actually *stop* in the station. The first woman gets an assist from a train employee as well as a man on the ground, who then has to run down the platform - in flipflops, no less - and catch the train with several bags to carry before it leaves the station. The video uploader ...
GadlingTV's Travel Talk - Thailand Part 5: Morning Shopping
Feb 7th, 2011 at 10:00AM:
Gadling TV's Travel Talk, episode 35 – Click above to watch video after the jump
Travel Talk is back! After our fall hiatus we are excited to bring you our greatest adventure yet: Thailand.
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From the vibrant heart of Bangkok to the ...
