I wrote an experimental #Substack #travel post, but as I understand some people are agin that platform here, this links to the write.as version.
https://write.as/siegeavecvue/night-trains-olives-and-aperol-how-i-reached-cordoba-without-flying
Here's the long-threatened "doing the sums" post from my recent #Interrail adventure.
I apologise if it inadvertently contains useful #travel advice.
You lucky people! How I wet myself on a train and failed better, one train at a time, for my first choochoo adventure of 2026.
https://www.siegeavecvue.eu/grazing-home-from-christmas-leominster-toulouse/
This is the post you wish you hadn’t waited for: 4-day #Interrail, 3 #travel days, 1 wounded spreadsheet, 1 #NightTrain bunk untouched, all Pantone Fanny-Magnet Red dreams dashed: https://www.siegeavecvue.eu/impromptu-four-day-tour-sums/
#Eurostar #TravelChaos #Avanti #TransportForWales #SNCF #TrainsNotPlanes
US DOT Aviation Climate Plan
I am currently on the Amtrak Cascades line between Seattle and Vancouver, returning from the awesome SeaGL 2025 conference at the University of Washington. I decided to cancel the US leg of my flight home because of the airport chaos caused by cancelling 10% of domestic flights. But it got me thinking that reducing air travel by 10% could have a huge effect on the USA’s greenhouse gas emissions.
My best estimate from the US Greenhouse Gas Inventory is that aviation emissions are about 125Mt annually. If we assume that the air traffic reduction will last about 1 month, that month would normally account for about 10Mt of emissions. A 10% reduction would thus make up about 1Mt of emissions.
For scale, that’s about the annual emissions of around 54,000 Americans. Not a bad reduction! It’s kind of a small percent of the total 6343 Mt the US puts out every year — about 0.016% — but I guess every bit counts. Given how tepid other climate action, even unintentional, has been in the US this year, we should probably congratulate the US DOT for its bold climate action.
@preinheimer @sean @evan Preaching to the choir here! We train as much as possible.
There's so much missed potential for North American passenger rail it's infuriating.