Whether it's your daily commute or your annual holiday, we all take the train to travel. In the UK, trains are notoriously unpunctual, overcrowded and often smelly. Yet despite these factors, more and more passengers are taking to the rails.
Train journeys are for relaxing. For staring out of the window into the countryside. For playing travel Monopoly. For putting the world to rights over a drink of tea. If you get time, spend a long time on a train and you'll see what I mean.
In the UK you can travel between London and Inverness without changing trains. Not bad going for a 448 mile trip.
Crossing into the continent, you can buy a
Eurostar ticket which – as of December 2007 – now connects 68 major cities and towns in the UK to France, Belgium and beyond.
In your looking for a winter journey, the longest direct Eurostar train journey connects London to Bourg St Maurice, the end station for ski resorts in the heart of the French Alps. If you prefer warmer climates, the longest direct Eurostar journey connects London to Perpignan, close to the Spain border in the South of France.
But if that still doesn't whet your appetite, why not hop on board the Trans-Siberian Express. Holding the title of the longest train journey in the world, the Trans-Siberian Express connects the Sea of Japan to the Kremlin in Russia, covering a staggering 6,135 miles.
And the ironic part? The condition of trains in the UK are probably much better than those in Russia, but we still want better for our 30 minute commute.
