@elduvelle @albertcardona Moreoever, why is it that there are direct flights between cities in the UK that I need eight changes on the train and a dozen little bus trips for?

With each change likely to fail at a rate of 10% that gives me a less than 50% change of reaching my destination…

Airplane it is.

@jonmsterling @elduvelle

This summer I have to go from Barcelona to Berlin. The non-flight options are ... insane. I wouldn't mind a 24-hour trip by train, but it's not even that*. Many legs, no coordination between providers, subways and buses included. I am not a XIX century naturalist crossing uncharted territory, I am crossing the European Union from South to somewhat North. It's embarrassing.

* I was hoping for a 2-leg train, i.e., Barcelona-Paris and Paris-Berlin in the same day, but no, that would require me sleeping in Paris! The lack of coordination is as astonishing as it is appalling.

@quixoticgeek @albertcardona @jonmsterling @elduvelle Barcelona-Berlin is not one I’ve done. But the canonical way is to do Barcelona-Paris and the take the European Sleeper to Berlin. That being said, it only runs three times a week.

There is a theoretical route that is Barcelona-Lyon-Genève-Zürich and then a sleeper to Berlin, but it’s a little on the tight side, and definitely not one change.

@moof @quixoticgeek @albertcardona @jonmsterling @elduvelle There is also a very convenient direct train Frankfurt-Marseille via Lyon. And in theory there is a connection from it to Lyon-Barcelona, but it's IIRC ~10 minutes interchange, with Barcelona-bound train on some days departing a few minutes before the train from Frankfurt arrives.
Were they coordinated, that could be a relatively easy ~13-hour daytime journey with only two changes (and not having to pass through Paris).

There are other theoretical daytime routes via Mulhouse though...