Have you ever wondered how holidays happen and what goes on behind the scenes beforehand? ‘The Rail Holiday Maker’ is a peek inside the travel industry, warts and all, experiencing the highs and lows of travel to ensure your holiday runs smoothly.
I'm Rob and I'm a tour operator by trade, writing in my spare time. I spent many years fuelling the firebox of the world's largest rail tour operator, travelling through 17 European countries, across America and southeast Asia making holidays. The resulting book is now with publishers and hopefully will see the light of day next year. In the meantime, whilst we spend more time than usual at home, I'd love to send you a sample chapter as an early Christmas present.
If you'd like to receive a chapter of 'The Rail Holiday Maker', have a look through the following samples and drop me a line at railholidaymaker@gmail.com mentioning the chapter you would like me to send. I'll forward you a word document and, if you don't mind, I'll update you on the book's progress in a few months' time. You can also subscribe by leaving your email address on this website.
The Matterhorn to Montreux - Glacier Express & Golden Pass
Discovering Switzerland by rail, featuring the famous Glacier Express, car-free Zermatt, lovely Lucerne and chic Montreux beside Lake Geneva. Oh, and how about a drivers' eye view (pictured) from Zweisimmen to Montreux on the Golden Pass Panoramic train!!
Caledonia Dreaming
My love letter to my favourite destination of them all - Scotland! Let me take you through the Cairngorms by private train, then through the majestic Western Highlands. It's a journey blessed with some of the world's finest scenery of lochs, glens, mountains and high heather moorland, deer scampering into the distance and nature in the raw.
The Arctic Circle Train
Wow! A train beyond the Arctic Circle! Your very own Polar Express! Join me on a journey from Stockholm by sleeper train, crossing the Arctic Circle, visiting the Ice Hotel, then chugging through deep snow over the mountains into Norway. And then do again in reverse the following day!
No! Sleep! Till! Brooklyn!
Here's a chapter of endurance and long-distance rail travel across the USA. Explore the bright lights of New York City, then take a sleeper train from New York to snowbound Chicago. After you've caught your breath we board another AMTRAK sleeper service from Chicago to Washington DC for a big battle with a hotel manager!
North Wales in a Nutshell
The classic round-trip begins with a bus ride from Llandudno to Caernarfon. The Welsh Highland Railway to Porthmadog is the UK's most scenic steam line. The Ffestiniog Railway awaits at Porthmadog to steam through the slate hills to Blaenau. A service train completes the loop to Llandudno, but there's still time to climb one last mountain, the Great Orme!
Molli & Roland
A meander across Mecklenburg Vorpommern in northern Germany from Hamburg to Berlin via Rostock. Meet steam trains of the old East Germany, with 'Molli' pootling through the streets to the Baltic seaside and explore the holiday island of Rügen following the steam trails of 'Racing Roland'
Merry Christmas to one and all, a happy New Year too and here's hoping we can all travel again very very soon!!
Rob