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Africa
Middle East
Asia
America
Australasia
London
to China & Japan by
Trans-Siberian Railway
or silk route
London to India
overland
London to Australia
without flying
European
& overseas Railpasses
Explore Europe with
InterRail
Taking your car:
Motorail
Non-flying
Holidays by train
Ski holidays by train
London to Paris by
Eurostar
The
end of the real Orient Express?
The luxury
Venice Simplon Orient Express
The scenic Swiss
Glacier Express
Auckland-Wellington on
The Overlander
NZ's most scenic train:
The TranzAlpine
Canada's Rockies on the
Rocky Mountaineer
Bridge over the
River Kwai
Britain's most scenic train ride
The West Highland Line
Scotland's cruise train
The Royal Scotsman
Buy train tickets & passes
online at the Seat 61
Rail Shop
Buy ferry tickets online at the
Seat 61
Ferry Shop
Comments?
Feedback? Need more help...?
Email the Man in Seat
Sixty-One..!
Sign the
guestbook
Important
note about the information on this site.
Webhosting by
Hostroute
Thank you
for visiting my site...
|
Who is the Man
in Seat Sixty-One?
My name is
Mark Smith, and I live in England in deepest darkest Buckinghamshire, with wife Nicolette,
3 year old Nathaniel and 1 year old Katelijn.
I'm a career
railwayman who ran away from Oxford to join the circus (or
British Rail as it was then called) as soon as he could...
I became the
Station Manager for Charing Cross, London Bridge & Cannon Street
railway stations in London
in the early to mid 90s, and subsequently the Customer
Relations Manager for two major UK train companies.
Until recently, I worked in London for the Department for
Transport managing the team that regulates fares and ticketing
on Britain's railways. When not travelling,
of course...
I've been lucky enough to travel
around the world on trains and ships to many interesting
places, and I've worked as a European rail agent issuing
tickets and advising other travel agents on train travel
across Europe. So if you'd like some help with a journey
you're planning, why not ask the Man in Seat Sixty-One?
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On board Eurostar, in Seat 61...
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Why Seat 61?
Zaharoff, the notorious arms
dealer, would always book compartment 7 on the Orient Express
to or from Istanbul.
When treating myself to Eurostar's first class, I would always
request seat 61 (in cars 7, 8, 11 or 12) to make sure my seat
lined up with the window, one of a cosy pair of seats facing
each other across a table complete with table lamp, rather
like those in an old Pullman car. It became something of
a tradition, and I've left London in seat 61 on many
occasions, en route to destinations as diverse as
Italy, Greece, Malta, Albania, Tunisia (via Lille &
Marseille), Marrakech (via Paris, Madrid & Algeciras),
Istanbul (via Vienna, Budapest & Transylvania), Aleppo, Damascus, Petra
& Aqaba, Ukraine & the Crimea, and even
Moscow, Vladivostok, Tokyo & Nagasaki via the Trans-Siberian
Railway. Just make sure you don't book seat 61 when I
need it!
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Above:
On board the Rangoon-Mandalay overnight express |
Is
seat61.com a hobby or a business?
Seat61.com is a personal website,
started purely as a hobby in 2001. It's grown and grown,
and has now become a full time job. However, I'm not a company
or a travel
agency, just an individual with knowledge that others might find useful.
All the
information on the site is provided free of charge to users,
with the aim of providing sound practical advice to help
people make journeys by train or ship instead of flying,
affordably, comfortably and safely. The site generates income through Google adverts and affiliate schemes,
and this supports the site, helps fund my travel habit (er...
I mean research, of course) and buys me a beer
or two...
What does the site aim to do?
In a nutshell, two things: First, it sets out to HELP
people who already know they want to travel by train or ship,
but who can't find out about it through normal commercial
websites or travel agencies. Many people prefer the
experience of train travel, are afraid of flying, or simply
want to avoid unnecessary flights for environmental reasons,
but information can often be difficult if not impossible to find. Second,
it aims to INSPIRE people to do something more
rewarding with their lives and their
travel opportunities than going to an airport, getting on
a globalised airliner and missing all the world has to offer.
There's more to travel than the destination. It used to
be called a j o u r n e y ...
Above: Giving a
presentation to the Cambridge University Railway Club. |
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How did I come to set up the site?
Many people would
rather not fly, or like me, simply prefer a more civilised,
comfortable, interesting, adventurous, romantic, scenic,
historic, exciting and environmentally-friendly way to travel.
Travelling by train from London to Europe is really easy, but
finding out about it (and how to book it) can be frustratingly
difficult. Most travel agents only sell flights and
packages. Eurostar concentrates on getting you only as
far as Paris or Brussels.
Even the specialist agencies that sell European train
tickets tell you to 'contact
them for details' and would rather sell you a railpass than
get you from A to B. No-one provided basic
train times, fares and 'how to' information for train journeys
from the UK to Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Greece, Russia and so
on. Let alone how to reach Morocco, Tunisia, Ibiza,
Corsica, Crete or Malta by combining train and ship.
I thought it was a gap that needed filling, and that I could easily fill
it myself...
Like many London commuters, I
was in W H Smiths at
Marylebone looking for something to read on the train home.
A 'teach yourself HTML' book caught my eye, all of £2.99. I had
just bought
a PC, and my internet provider offered
some free webspace. I read the book, tried a few test
webpages, and no-one was as surprised as I was when they seemed to work. One thing led to
another, and here I am. There's
a lot of work involved in keeping the site even remotely up to date,
but people seem to find the site useful, and this keeps me
going. If you've any feedback or suggestions to make
about the site, please
e-mail me or use the
guestbook.
I'd be glad to hear from you!
Guardian & Observer Travel Awards 2008...
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Above: Receiving the award for Best Travel Website
from Mariella Frostrup & Andy Pietrasik at the Guardian &
Observer Travel Awards, held in Fes in October 2008. |
I'm absolutely delighted that Seat61.com has won the 'Best
Travel website' category in the prestigious
Guardian &
Observer Travel Awards, held in Fes, Morocco 10-13 October
2008. Naturally,
I travelled there by train and ferry, which helped update that
part of the site!
Wanderlust Travel Awards 2007, 2008, & 2009...
Seat61.com was voted "Top Travel Website" by
readers of
Wanderlust Magazine in the prestigious Wanderlust Travel
Awards 2007, and again in the Wanderlust Travel Awards 2008,
held at The Times Destinations Show at Earl's
Court. It made the top three once more in 2009 out of
over 600 websites, receiving the Bronze Award. I'm truly
delighted that the site has been recognised in this way, and
am very grateful indeed for everyone who voted for the site.
The Oldie Travel Awards 2008
Seat61.com was judged 'Best
Travel Website' in October 2008 in the Oldie travel awards,
sponsored by Voyages Jules Verne. First
Choice Responsible Tourism Awards 2006 & 2009...
I was delighted (as well as
stunned!) that seat61.com won the 'Best Personal Contribution' category in the
First Choice Responsible Tourism Awards 2006,
sponsored by First Choice holidays, The Times newspaper, World
Travel Market and
Geographical magazine. The awards were presented on 8
November 2006 at the World Travel Market at the Excel exhibition
centre in London's docklands. Seat 61 has also been
recognised in the 2009 Virgin Holidays Responsible Travel
Awards, due to be announced on 11 November.
"The Man in Seat 61" book...
I've now written a book based on the site, an
essential handbook for train travel from the UK into Europe,
published by Bantam Press on 30 June 2008.
You can buy it from Amazon.co.uk, £8.39. |
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Press room...
'The Man in Seat
Sixty-One' has been
fortunate enough to feature in newspapers, magazines and even
on TV & radio both in the UK and overseas. I've
been asked to write about train travel for The Times, The
Observer, The Guardian, The Independent and Wanderlust
Magazine, amongst others.
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8 July 2009
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Interviewed by Simon
Calder in the Independent in 'Crossed Lines' |
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14 March 2009
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Independent 50
best travel websites (seat61 makes it to number
14) |
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1 March 2009
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Sunday Times travel
section InterRailing
for Grownups: Four great rail journeys. |
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1 February 2009
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The Observer Slow
Train from Thazi. |
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19 October 2008
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The Observer Me
and my travels- interview. |
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18 October 2008
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The Guardian A
Winter's Trail- The
Man in Seat 61's top winter train trips. |
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29 June 2008
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Sunday Times
The Man in Seat 61's eight great train escapes 4-page
guide to European train travel |
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29 April 2008
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Interviewed on BBC Radio 4 on 'You and Yours' |
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28 April 2008
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Interviewed on BBC Radio Cambridge |
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26 April 2008
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The Guardian, Saturday
travel section, 'Long-haul
train journeys' in '100 no-flying holidays' |
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16 April 2008
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Interviewed by BBC Radio Bucks, Beds, Herts |
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7 & 14 April 2008
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Guardian online, My
top train trips & More
of my top train trips |
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30 March 2008
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Daily Telegraph,
101 most useful websites |
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9 February 2008
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Featured in The Telegraph
magazine, 'Eco heroes', with photo of yours truly
standing on Stoke Mandeville station platform holding
a world globe (as you do...) |
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5 January 2008
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Guest on BBC Radio 4's
'Excess Baggage' travel programme, hosted by Sandy
Toksvig. |
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December 2007
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Asked to write a paragraph for
Where's hot for 2008 in The Observer |
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October 2007
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Appeared on BBC World's
'Fast Track' TV programme as rail expert in feature on
the luxury Eastern & Oriental Express from Singapore
to Bangkok. |
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September 2007
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Appeared on BBC World's
'Fast Track' TV programme as rail expert in news item
about the new 'Rail Team' alliance of European
high-speed train operators. |
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9 August 2007
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Featured in The
Guardian's Top
ten green websites. |
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July 2007
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Featured in
The Times best 100 travel websites. |
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3 July 2007
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Interviewed on BBC World Service
radio on "The World Today" about the new
European
RailTeam initiative. |
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28 April 2007
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The Independent, "Best 50
travel websites". Seat61 was listed as, er,
well, number one..! |
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24 April 2007
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BBC Radio Newcastle, asked about European Motorail on
the breakfast show.
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21 April 2007
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The Guardian travel section InterRail
back on Track by yours truly.
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30 March 2007
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The Man in Seat Sixty-One quoted in USA Today.
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24 March 2007
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The Guardian travel section Why
hurry? by yours truly.
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2 March 2007
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The Guardian travel section The
Right Kind of Snow by yours truly.
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1 February 2007
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Seat61.com wins the Top Travel Website category in the Wanderlust Travel Awards
2007, as voted by readers of Wanderlust Magazine.
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31 January 2007
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BBC Radio 2: Seat61 was Miles Mendoza's Website
of the Day on
Steve Wright in the Afternoon.
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30 January 2007
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Seat61 mentioned in The Guardian editorial, In
praise of...seat61.com.
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30
January 2007
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Feature on seat61 in the 'People' section of Railnews,
the UK rail industry's staff newspaper.
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20
January 2007
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The Man in Seat Sixty-One was a guest on BBC Radio 4's
Excess Baggage, hosted by john McCarthy.
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20 January 2007
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Article in The Guardian travel section, Two Tickets
to Marrakech, please..., by yours truly.
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16 January 2007
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Article about me and seat61.com published in Haaretz
newspaper in Israel,
www.haaretz.co.il/captain/spages/814130.html
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12 January 2007
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Seat61 mentioned in Metro newspaper, London, in 'A
greener way to travel', about taking the trainhotel to
Spain.
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29
November 2006
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The Guardian travel online:
10 best long weekends to Europe by train, by yours
truly, complete with
interactive map.
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November 2006
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Seat61 'Website of the Fortnight' in ComputerActive
magazine
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28
October 2006
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The Guardian "Maltese Crossing". A week's
holiday to Malta by train+ferry, by yours truly.
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16 September 2006
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The Times: "50 people to know in travel".
Yours truly makes it to number 48, right behind
Michael O'Leary of RyanAir and EasyJet's Stelios.
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9 September 2006
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The Daily Telegraph, "Travel without leaving a trail".
Yours truly called "an international man of mystery".
I think I can live with that....
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4 September 2006
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Article about seat61.com written by Robert MacPherson
syndicated to Yahoo and South African, Canadian,
Taiwanese, Malaysian, French, Greek &
Italian newspapers.
|
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4 September 2006
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Article about seat61.com published in 'La Republica',
the Italian national newspaper.
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3 September 2006
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Mail on Sunday, seat61 featured in property section
for travel to Spain.
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2 September 2006
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Financial Times (weekend): "All aboard for the
future of real travel", Seat61 featured and yours
truly quoted.
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26 August 2006
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The Guardian, "Sites
that changed our world".
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19 August 2006
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The Guardian, "A
hotel on wheels", of businessmen and goatherds on
the trainhotel from Spain.
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31 July 2006
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Interviewed on ABC local radio, Perth Western
Australia.
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23 July 2006
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The Guardian, "Into
the Valley of Vines...', by train to discover the
valley of the charge of the Light Brigade.
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24 June 2006
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The Guardian, "Take
the train not the plane', a weekend to Poland by
train, written by
yours truly. Now a monthly column.
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10 June 2006
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The Times (travel section), 'Sitting pretty', top tips
for train travel by
yours truly.
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20
May 2006
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The Guardian, "Back on track",
train travel to Greece, Syria & Petra, written by
yours truly (with nice photo of Nicolette..!).
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May 2006
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TNT magazine, "On the right tracks...", The
Man in Seat Sixty One quoted.
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29 April 2006
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The
Times, "100 best travel websites", seat61
the first of 10 sites in the rail & ferries section.
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9 April 2006
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The
Observer, travel section feature: Guide to Rail
Travel, written by the Man in Seat Sixty-One...
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27 March 2006
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The
Times Online: Seat61 recommended and yours truly
quoted in 'Rail
Travel' by Ginny McGrath
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8-15
March 2006
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TimeOut magazine: Seat61 recommended in "The
Good Life" article.
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March 2006
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CNN online: Quoted in
Ultimate train journeys - The Orient Express.
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March 2006
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Seat61 featured in
Adventure Travel Magazine.
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March 2006
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Seat61 featured in
Lighter Life Magazine.
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19 November 2005
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Daily Telegraph - seat61.com mentioned in the Gill
Charlton travel advice column.
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13 November 2005
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Wisconsin free radio - The Man in Seat Sixty-One
interviewed live on 'Here on earth'...
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26 September 2005
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Irish radio RTE1 - The Man in Seat Sixty-One
interviewed live on
the Ryan Turbridy show...
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20 September 2005
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Seat61 recommended as explaining greener travel
options in 'Your planet and how you can save it..' by
Julia Stephenson...
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15 May 2005
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London radio station LBC
97.3 - The Man in Seat Sixty-One interviewed live on
the Charlie Jordan show...
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23 April 2005
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The Independent - Seat61 'one of
the 50 Best Travel Websites to Browse...'
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5 April 2005
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The Times - Seat61 one of the
70 best travel websites & the deputy online travel editor's
five favourite
travel websites.
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17 March 2005
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USA Today - Seat61 mentioned in
'Globetrotters click online for advice'
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March 2005
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South China Morning Post
(Hong Kong's main English-language newspaper) - Seat61 'a
peerless hymn to train travel'.
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8 January 2005
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The Guardian - The
Green Consumer, recommended for those
'doggedly insisting' on rail & sea travel.
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16 December 2004
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The Guardian - Cream
of the Crop 100 best websites. Seat61.com
one of the five in the Travel category.
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23 October 2004
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The Times - seat61
mentioned (and yours truly quoted...) in 'Holidays by
Rail' feature.
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October 2004
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Living France Magazine -
'Website of the Month'.
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19 September 2004
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The Observer -
Recommended in 'A family holiday to Syria? You
can't be serious..!'
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18 September 2004
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The Daily Telegraph -
Recommended in 'On the case' readers' travel questions
answered.
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28 March 2004
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The Brisbane Sunday Mail -
Recommended in 'Escape' section.
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13 March 2004
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The Times - 'Website
of the Week' in the Travel section.
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11 March 2004
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BBC
World TV - Recommended in 'Click
Online'.
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11 March 2004
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The Guardian - Mentioned in
Guardian Unlimited.
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2
February 2004
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BBC
TV - Recommended on BBC1's 'Holiday 2004'.
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22
January 2004
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Recommended
in 'ComputerActive' Magazine.
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21
January 2004
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Recommended
in 'Rail' Magazine.
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4
January 2004
|
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The Observer - mentioned
in 'Ask
the Experts' in the travel section.
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September 2003
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Reviewed in 'Web User'
magazine.
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9 August 2003
|
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The Guardian - recommended
in an article 'Freedom of the Net' in Saturday travel
section.
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21
June 2003: |
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'The
Nation' newspaper of Thailand - site reviewed |
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8
June 2003: |
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Alpha Radio, Darlington area
- The man in seat sixty-one interviewed 'live'... |
12 April 2003 |
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The
Guardian - 'the most useful railways site to bookmark' in 'Best of the Net' in Saturday
travel section.
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4
January 2003: |
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The
Guardian - one of five 'websites to watch in 2003' in 'Best of the Net' in Saturday
travel section. |
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15 November
2002:
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The
Wall Street Journal - recommended as top choice in a 'Desktop Traveller'
article on train travel.
|
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13
October 2002
|
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The
Sunday Times - seat61 'an essential global rail guide'
in an article called 'More rattling good trips by
train'.
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7
April 2002:
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The Sunday Times -
featured in the 'Doors' internet section in an article
called 'Home page heroes'.
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December 2001:
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Reviewed in 'Wanderlust'
magazine.
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5 May 2001: |
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The Guardian - featured
as 'Website
of the Week' in the Saturday travel section. |
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Top travel tip...
"Never
travel without a good book and a corkscrew..."
A few favourites...
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| Favourite cities: |
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Cairo,
Istanbul, Havana, Tangier |
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| Favourite
hotels: |
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Windamere
Hotel, Darjeeling - Afternoon tea to the
sound of a piano, dinner by candlelight served by
white-gloved, turbanned waiters. At around £65
per night including food, it's not the cheapest
hotel in India, but it's worth every penny. See the India
page.
Baron's Hotel,
Aleppo, Syria - Where else can you pay
just US$45 to sleep where Roosevelt, Agatha
Christie and T.E.Lawrence slept? Lawrence's bill
(unpaid...) is still on the premises, in a glass
case in the lounge. See the London to
Syria page.
Pera Palas,
Istanbul - The grand hotel built by the
Wagons-Lits company for their Orient Express
Passengers, and still a very grand hotel. Around
£75 a night for a single.
Strand Hotel, Rangoon - Raffles'
little brother, but with even better service and unlike Raffles
all 32 suites are in the original 1901 main building.
Royal York,
Toronto - A grand hotel, Canadian-style,
and so handy for train departures from Union
Station across the road..!
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| Favourite
journeys: |
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London-Fort
William on the Caledonian Sleeper - For
as little as £19 one-way including berth in a 2-berth
sleeper, you can travel 550 miles North of London
straight into the magnificent West Highlands. In
spite of having travelled all over the world, it's
still one of my favourite journeys. And even
Siberia is hard pressed to match the bleakness on
Rannoch Moor on a cold February morning, seen
from a warm sleeping-car room. The sleeper runs daily
except Saturday nights, year-round. See the London
to Scotland by sleeper section on the UK Travel page for
more information. To book, call ScotRail on 0845
7 55 00 33 or you can book online at
www.ScotRail.co.uk.
Auckland-Wellington on the Overlander: New
Zealand's epic train ride, see the Overlander
page.
Chicago-Oakland (San Francisco) on the California Zephyr - See
the USA and Canada page, or
visit www.amtrak.com.
New
Jalpaiguri-Darjeeling on the Darjeeling-Himalaya
Railway - Narrow gauge, and still partially steam-worked.
56 miles in 7-8 hours, but still more comfortable
than the bus (which takes 4 hours). New
Jalpaiguri is the railhead where the overnight 'Darjeeling
Mail' to and from Calcutta arrives and departs. You can
book Indian Railways (and Indian Rail passes) through an
excellent agency in Wembley - SD Enterprises. Visit www.IndiaRail.co.uk
for details.
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Inspiration...
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  What
inspired me to start travelling..? Many things. But in a
world where you are bombarded with adverts for air travel,
motorway buses and package holidays, I owe
a lot to the two great world timetables, the Thomas
Cook Overseas Timetable and European Timetable, for showing that
even in the 21st century, civilised, romantic, exciting overland
travel by train is still possible, across Europe and beyond. Just one look through the list of exotic placenames, countries, train and shipping routes will have you
longing to catch that train or board that ship...
The
Thomas Cook European Timetable shows train, bus and ferry times
for every country in Europe, and the Thomas Cook Overseas
Timetable shows train, bus and ferry times for every country in
the world outside Europe.
Each
timetable costs £13.99 from the bureau de change section of any
branch of Thomas Cook, or you can order online at
www.thomascooktimetables.com.
Alternatively, you can
buy the twice-yearly Independent Traveller's editions at
Amazon.co.uk also with shipping worldwide. |
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