So how do you do sustainable travel for a work trip across a Europe in various stages of lockdown?
This week I am going to find out!
Quick 🧵
My work this week:
- webinars for a political client every morning 09:00-12:45 Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri
- moderation of an event in Bled, Slovenia all day Wed, and I need to be *present there* for this moderation
And as ever the requirement:
- do all of this without flying! 🙂
Today:
- webinar this morning at home in Berlin
- hop on the foldable 🚲 to S Hermannstrasse, then S-Bahn to Südkreuz, then ICE to München Hbf and EC to Villach Hbf 🇦🇹
- ticket booked 17 November cost €57,15 1st Class with a BahnCard25 1st Class
- hotel in Villach
Tuesday:
- webinar from the hotel in Villach
- hop on the foldable 🚲 back to Villach Hbf, then train D 211 to Lesce-Bled
- ticket is €10,10, 2nd class
- Lesce is 4km from Bled, so it's back on the folding 🚲 to get to the hotel
- hotel in Bled
Wednesday:
- the only day without any international travel - just 🚲 around Bled to and from the venues
- with a bit of luck I am not going to be in a conference room *all day* and might see something of a wintry Bled!
- hotel in Bled
Thursday:
- webinar from the hotel in Bled
- foldable 🚲 back to Lesce, then train via Ljubljana to Maribor €13,90 2nd class (so as to see something of Slovenia, daytime)
- then on from Maribor via Graz to Selzthal, €9,90 2nd class booked 17 November
- hotel in Selzthal
Friday:
- webinar from the hotel in Selzthal
- train over the Pyhrnbahn (thanks @vorortanleiter & @Lenny_du_Nord for the tip!) and via Linz & Nürnberg back to Berlin
- 90 mins stopover in Linz - quick hop on the 🚲 down to the Donau
- €47,40 1st class with BahnCard25 1st class
At the moment
- all the hotels have indicated they are open
- no indication the trains are not running
- I am 💉💉 and of course have plenty of self-tests and FFP2 😷 packed for the trip
Should I even be doing this? I don't know, but work is work, I need to work to survive, and the event is being coordinated from Bled so I have to be there. And I am not sacrificing my principles on sustainability to go there to do this!
More tweets to follow en route!
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As mentioned a few days ago, @OmioGlobal & I have had to postpone the #ZugGegenFlug experiment until early 2022 as rising Corona numbers and possible lockdowns mean doing it next month isn't possible...
The reason we had wanted to do this in December is because that's when rail companies across Europe introduce their new timetables, and we wanted to test if these new, faster rail services do work as greener replacements for flights
The crux is this: these 4G/4G+ routers - especially from SFR/Bouygues/Orange - are positioned as DSL replacements in areas of France where DSL speeds are >10MBit/sec
In rural Bourgogne where I might need to be for a while, promised DSL speeds are:
Bouygues 12MBit
Orange 12MBit
SFR 6MBit
Free - no idea, their website is clear as mud
BUT... SFR can offer a 4G+ Box instead, with speeds of *up to* 260MBit/sec download and 50MBit/sec upload
Also I see a fight has broken out in the German media today about the separation of the network from operations in German rail
I can't get very worked up about this one
1) Building the infra to make Deutschlandtakt work is more important than this
2) At least other operators like Flixtrain exist in Germany - more than can be said for some other places. Do you need greater separation to facilitate this? Maybe a bit, but 🤷♂️
3) More important is addressing what to do if DB doesn't serve a big city with IC or ICEs - like Chemnitz for example - here there needs to be a way to give a contract to run those sorts of services that might be missing
🇬🇧 finally legally joined EU Digital COVID Certificate (EU DCC) scheme on Thursday last week, but there is still confusion as to what this means for people travelling from 🇬🇧 to 🇪🇺 (and 16 other countries in the scheme) and vice versa
This 🧵 explains what changed and what to do
⚠️ IMPORTANT ⚠️
The EU Digital COVID Certificate can only prove you are vaccinated. It has no bearing on what travel restrictions may or may not be imposed on someone travelling from or to a given country - so check before you travel!
🚨 BEAR IN MIND 🚨
There might be other ways to prove you are vaccinated *other than* the EU Digital COVID Certificate, and what works *to enter* a country might differ from what happens to prove your vaccine status *once you're in* - to enter a restaurant or museum for example
Another Jon-doesn't-understand-French-trains thought...
There are 8 TGVs each way a day, Paris-Mulhouse. 4 of these go further to Zürich HB, via Basel SBB.
But why not extend the Mulhouse TGVs to Basel SBB?
Mulhouse Ville to Basel SBB is just 22 minutes by regional train (TER). The fastest TGV manages it in just 18 minutes...
As loads of Deutsche Bahn ICEs, and SBB trains to all over Switzerland serve Basel, surely this would be a useful addition - for very little extra effort!
And while we're at it...
There are 2 direct TGVs each day from Paris Est to Colmar, via Strasbourg.