‘Four returns to Taormina please’

When we moved to Bradford on Avon 11 years ago we liked the town and its facilities; the pool, schools, library, and music centre.  And we were delighted that it had a train station.  Ideal, we thought, for those days when work took David to London.  But we never imagined we’d start our holidays there.  As a fairly conventional family of four, moderately adventurous but fond of our creature comforts, our holidays over the past 11 years have been fairly orthodox.  We’ve mostly used the car and ferries and once every couple of years or so we’ve taken a flight somewhere.  When, in 2006, the kids persuaded us to take them to Disneyland Paris, for the first time, the train seemed the obvious option – with the added excitement for the children of the Channel Tunnel.   

Only after we’d done this trip and found it straightforward, relaxing and fun, were we inspired to travel further afield by train. Once the idea was in our heads, it was great fun to get out a map of Europe and plot the kind of journeys we could do.  

We decided on Sicily for the summer of 2007.  By now our children were nine and seven years old. We weren’t sure how much stopping and starting they’d cope with so decided it was best to set off on the journey and get there as quickly as possible.  By train, ‘as quickly as possible’ means about 36 hours of course, so we did wonder whether the kids would get bored to tears, whether we’d resent paying more to go this way than flying and whether the complexities of tickets, reservations and connections make the whole thing a stressful experience? The answer was no, no and no. 

From the moment we walked out of our front door, leaving the car in the drive, it felt like we were on holiday.  By lunchtime we were in London and picnicked beside the Thames. By teatime we were in Paris where we boarded the sleeper train to Rome.  So far the children had been fine.  They each had a rucksack containing books, drawing things, travel games, CD walkman, story and music CDs, water bottle, sunhat and raincoat.  Along with the occasional wander down a carriage in search of food or drink this was enough to keep them happy but the excitement of a couchette to explore was something else. 

As a family of four we had a six-seater couchette to ourselves and before folding the lower bunks down, the children had a whale of a time climbing up and down the ladder and eating the various provisions we’d bought at the station and in the buffet. One tip is not to trust train buffets – anywhere. They tend to have limited range and hefty prices. On the other hand a lot of stations now have mini or even maxi supermarkets where you can stock up.  

All the clambering up and down the ladder tired the kids out and the whole family slept really well.  There was a brief rude awakening at around 6am for a passport check when we crossed the border into Italy but we dozed off again, eventually coming to when the train stopped at Florence.  We had time to dress, use the train’s perfectly acceptable washing facilities before arriving in Rome at a very civilised 9.50.  We had an hour and a half there to stock up on supplies for the next train which would take us all the way to Sicily. 

The train south was a slower, hotter journey than the previous ones and consisted of compartments for six.  There were no tables and we were sharing with two quiet Italian ladies intent on reading their books.  The air conditioning wasn’t working and there was a nine hour journey ahead.  If we’d foreseen this scenario, and the fact that the train got later and later, eventually arriving in Taormina at around 11pm instead of 8.30, I think we’d have booked a flight without hesitation.   But in reality, it was fine.  There was plenty to see, especially around Naples and Mount Vesuvius.

And by the time we realised how late the train was running we didn’t care, we were too busy anticipating the fun of the train going on board the boat for Sicily.  

There was a long wait but eventually the train boarded the ferry - in two sections - and we could get off and stand on deck as the boat crossed the Straits of Messina by moonlight.   By the time we arrived in Taormina we were convinced the place would have shut down for the night – but this is a place that has to be seen to be believed. It's Sicily's version of Cannes - or Monte Carlo with a sense of humour. The train station is at the bottom of the hill, with most of the town at the top so we took a taxi up and then walked down the main pedestrianised street.  Though it was around midnight, it was still searingly hot and absolutely heaving with people, beautifully dressed, all out to see and be seen.     We had left Bradford on Avon and arrived somewhere quite different – in climate, language, appearance and attitude. It had taken us almost 40 hours - but so it should! 

Uncertain how much more train travelling the children would cope with we’d booked a hire car for the next week and spent four nights on the south east coast, followed by three nights on the south west coast before wending our way home.  The return journey was very similar to the outward one but we stayed 24 hours in Rome which allowed us to see a lot.   We were away for 13 days, 4 of which were spent on trains.  For us it was a good balance of travelling and holiday – lots of time on Sicily’s beaches, one or two historic sites and cities, the stop off in Rome.

Since then we’ve been skiing by train (2008) and this summer we did a more complex trip around Europe visiting Lake Garda, Venice, the Black Forest in Germany and then Amsterdam, hooking up with various friends and relatives at different points.   We’d bought all our tickets in advance of the holiday – even for little day trips – but did find that for some of these it would have been cheaper to have bought them on the ground at the time. 

We’re still learning the ins and outs of train travel but it’s never been any more stressful than other forms of travel, in fact, each of our trips by train has been a pleasure.   We don’t enjoy being crammed in our car or hanging around at airports.  There’s something liberating about walking out of your house and leaving the car behind.  And compared to the plane, you can get out from time to time. You get a sense of the changing landscapes and climates. You get to see the places between you and your final destination and you can stop in the interesting ones. 

And of course it means a much smaller carbon footprint.  According to Eurostar taking the train instead of the plane to Paris generates about a tenth of the carbon dioxide emissions.  With most trains we manage to book four seats round a table so we can engage in those simple pleasures normal life often doesn’t allow time for – games of cards, our books and family conversation!   It can cost more – the return journey to Sicily was about £1100 for the four of us by train when flights for four would have been about £800 – but we felt the advantages were worth it.  Our sleeper from Paris to Rome at around £200 for an adult compares with the cheapest flights at under £150. But offers are improving all the time.

And if there’s one final advantage of rail travel – you have to travel light so when you get back the unpacking doesn’t take long!