While disembarking our Frecciarossa earlier, we took the opportunity to have a quick nose in the top of the range executive class. A little out of our price range at approximately £100 more per person, but maybe we'll get to sample them on a future trip 😊

Sometimes the best memories come from something that took months of planning. Other times its a last minute little pizzeria when the friendly chef invites the kids to the counter so they can watch their pizza being made. I think they enjoyed this more than anything else so far ☺️

We arrived into Milan around 50 mins late but the staff on board did really well with keeping us informed and checking peoples connections plus the kids didnt make a fuss at all which made it a lot easier. Time to grab a quick bite and settle in for the evening 😴

Another item ticked off the food bucket list, authentic pasta in Italy. I was quite pleased when Austin asked for carbonara as its completely different to the same dish back home. Austin's verdict "it's nice, try it" 😆

City #94, Pisa Arguably one of the most recognisable landmarks in Europe if not the entire world! We simply had to pay a visit to the famous leaning tower and the accompanying cathedral. A very lovely city topped off with the best pasta lunch we've ever had! Delicious! 😊

Food is a big part of our adventures. We've had Irish stew in Belfast, Belgian waffles in Brussels and Welsh cakes in St Davids but pizza in Rome will take some beating 😍 BELLISSIMO!

City #93, Rome We've only been here a few hours but already, we've seen one of the most famous landmarks and eaten proper authentic pizza. It's cooling off a little now, which is perfect when you've had a long day travelling 😴

Wait a second... thats not a train 🤔

We're off on our biggest adventure yet so we've brought the whole team for support 😁 here we go then, 12 days, 4 countries and there will of course be a few trains along the way. Ps. Abigail is excited, honestly 🤣

You just can't beat a lovely sunny evening shift on the railway 😊

Guten Morgen from Köln! We're up and about bright and early. We'd only really planned for an overnight stop here which is a shame as we could easily spend a lot longer exploring this fine city. I guess that means we'll have to come back one day 😊

We're back at Brussels and look what's turned up to take us onwards 😍 our first ever ride with the German state operator DB. Looks like its time to dust off my GCSE German 🇩🇪

The biggest adventures require the earliest alarms ⏰️ 😁

This is a FIP card. These are issued to eligible rail staff after 1 year service & Dad recently reached that milestone. What do they do? They grant access to heavily discounted rail travel in many European countries 😁 I reckon you can guess what this means for our adventures?!

This is where it all happens! A look inside the signalling centre at Liverpool St. The guys & girls here set the paths & signal the trains for an enormous area! Proper behind the scenes unsung heroes of the railway. There were so many screens and it was all incredibly high tech!

Before we begin our visit, we have to sign in an sort our passes. No exemptions, so Stripey needs one too 😆

Today, we're visiting London Liverpool Street station, but this visit will be a little different to the 100 million passengers who pass through here every year 😉

Promising Austin a model railway for a couple of years, which was bold as I don't possess the skills to build one 🤣 then the hyper focus kicked in & I decided to get it built. Worth every single second when I just heard him whisper 'I love this' while running it 😊

400 miles, 8 hours, 4 different operators & challenging conditions, but we're home on time. All went smoothly for us today, but you can guarantee there was an army behind the scenes doing their best for us passengers for which we are very grateful. Cheers to the railway folk 🍻

With the weather, potential disruption and work/school looming tomorrow, we've made the decision to cut our trip short and head home early. Austin is as easy going as ever though, we've just spent breakfast discussing how and when we will come back to Stirling to try again 😊

Much has changed throughout the course of our adventures over the years, but one constant has been when waiting for dinner after a day on trains, Austin has always taken to drawing his very own fleet of made up trains and stations and telling me all about them 😊 & I love it.

We're back at the station now and there's time to inspect the locos that brought us from Edinburgh to Inverness this morning. At the front was Class 66 753 but an interesting loco was helping behind. Class 73 970, 60 years old but still proving useful. A lovely old locos indeed.

I wonder where Austin is off to? Ps. His plushie friend is a pretty good clue 😉🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🛌

Happy new year! Thank you all so much for being a part of our adventures & especially to everyone who went above and beyond to make 2025 a great year for Austin, we appreciate each and every kind gesture. We'll be back with more of the same next year 😁 🚄🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇩🇪🇳🇱🇮🇹🇱🇮🇨🇭 🇨🇵🇩🇰🇸🇪🇸🇯

Merry Christmas from ours to yours. Wishing you all health and happiness for the festive season and beyond 😊

The fun didn't stop with the simulator! We even had a look around an Azuma and class 91 cab. We really have had the best hosts today. The lengths that people will go to to make something special for Austin means the world. The railway family really is a special group ❤️

Sometimes, it's nice to slow down & soak up the atmosphere. Train stations at Christmas are buzzing with people heading home for the holidays, musicians, excited travellers and of course, some lovely decorations. We decided to catch the later train today and enjoy the moment 😊🎅

Here we have the UKs newest intercity trains! The EMR class 810. Entering service earlier this month, they will be serving the Midland mainline between London & Sheffield, Nottingham, Derby (& others) First impressions are that they look great! Time to hop on and test them out 😊

We're back in London and switching mainlines from the West Coast to the Midland, we decided to walk from Euston to fully appreciate the magnificence that is St Pancras hotel, and we spotted the famous pink Mclaren 🚘 but we're here in search of the UKs newest intercity trains 😁

If anything comes close to trains, it would be plushies! Imagine Austin's delight when our friends at Avanti sent him a plushie of their mascot Turbo 😁 we thought it only right that we take our newest team member out for a quick spin on the West Coast Mainline!