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14 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JULY 2024 A picture inside the First Class Eurail. My sister relaxing while zooming by the countryside of Europe. By Mary Christelman My husband Bill and I have loved to travel from a very young age. Our first trip lasted seven long weeks all the way across Canada from Vancouver Island to Quebec, in a tent! Since we were both educators, our following years of travel were limited to holiday weekends and two weeks in the summer. When we retired, our goal was to travel as much as we could. Most of our trips were on cruise ships that we really enjoyed — unpack once, see the world in snapshots, and meet fellow travelers from whom we learned so much. Since we had accumulated over 900 sea days in over 190 ports, we wanted to see more of the interior of Europe. I read travel sites almost every day. I became interested in rail travel as so many European countries have links by train. We had taken trains in several ports for just a few hours and enjoyed them. I narrowed our first train trip in September of 2023 to six major cities: Amsterdam, Prague, Budapest, Berlin, Vienna, and Paris. I found two companies which would allow us to customize our trip. Our travel agent helped us select the best fit — Railbookers. We had to email back and forth since I had requirements. I wanted the train stops to be within walking distance of historical cities; tickets for the Hop On and Hop Off (HOHO) gave us an orientation on the cities. I also listed several main sights I wanted to see in each city. We wanted a three-star or better hotel since we were spoiled by cruising and planned on spending four nights in each city. Automobiles Automobiles Landlubber, that's me. Opportunities to experience up close and personal the lay of the land and its people in an unhurried fashion is my cup of tea. My itineraries for the next three years will do exactly that. My upcoming Peru trip has the Belmond Andean Explorer train ride to Lake Titicaca; the South Africa trip has the Rovos Rail included to experience some living history; the Japan tour also has me speeding by its landscape in a bullet train going 186 mph; and when peace allows, the Trans-Siberian train route from Moscow to Beijing, my insatiable desire of travel could be quelled. My sister just came back from a European itinerary and her Facebook postings included first class Euro Rail passage and enjoying champagne. Her travel agent took care of everything but the modes of inland transportation. Between the rail and Uber, she had total access to her desired destinations. Mary and Bill Christelman are avid travelers and so I asked her to write about this passion highlighting their latest tour. Read on and see if this kind of touring can also be your cup of tea. ~ Elizabeth Westbrook PLANES trains buses buses & A Passion for Travel Continued on following page

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