My World by Train Goals for 2018

My world by Train Goals for 2018 are a bit sketchy at the moment. Over the last few years myself, Mr Challenge and our boys have done a lot of travelling around Europe by train.

Here’s a little map of where we’ve been so far…

We LOVE a train journey!

So far we have explored quite a bit of the UK, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Italy by train and it has been amazing.

Here are some random pictures I’ve taken on my travels of the places we’ve managed to get to by train!

Dusseldorf, Paris – The Louvre, Cinqueterra, Venice, Scottish Highlands, Pisa, Milan Station, Rotterdam Market

I LOVE that the drop off point at stations in Italy is called ‘Kiss and Ride’ I’m torn between an innuendo laden snort and ‘ah that’s so sweet!!’

Rough World by Train Goals for 2018

We have a lot going on in our lives this year… Sadly, travel cannot be a priority this year. We really want to make some progress with doing the house up and trying to get rid of our credit card before we remortgage in September. So, we really need to do some serious budgeting where our travel aspirations are concerned! BUT, In an ideal world I would really like to aim for at least 2, maybe 3 European trips this year and at least 5 in the UK that I have never visited before.

We are really lucky Mr Challenge is a train driver and so we are able to make use of some discounts and free travel, we are also avid fans of Airbnb and so we’re quite happy to stay in some seriously budget accommodation as long as it means we can get to visit somewhere new! As long as the beds are clean…

UK Trips Wish List

Aberdeen (using the Caledonian Sleeper)
The Lake District
Newcastle
The Isle of Skye
Cornwall

European Trips Wish List

Berlin
Budapest
Italy (Luca and Florence)

Check out ‘the man in seat 61’ for some serious train travel adventure inspiration.. I love his site, it is bloomin amazing!! What I love even more about it, is that he spends his life travelling the world by train.

Given half the chance I would love to plan for an extended trip. A Grown up Gap Year. The biggest barrier I have is finances, but Dr Nikki @thefemalemoneydoctor has some brilliant advice and information about how to fund a grown up gap year in her post here. Dr Nikki took 5 months off to travel in Australia, New Zealand and Asia.. I’m pretty sure I can use some of her excellent advice to plan an extended trip next year!!