We have gone from monthly central meetings bringing people from all over the country in for a day meeting and evening social to four 2 day meetings since Covid.

I have tried taking the train but sadly the 80% failure rate of either not getting their on time or being delayed getting home means I do drive. It’s a pain as I enjoy the train but timing means usually 1 hour waiting around in Manchester for a connection. Never been in a train station that has lounges like airports do where waiting is actually bearable.

We’ve got a client that has said that they want us to fly up to them in Inverness, so we can spend more time on the Estate. It’s a tough call, we either want to do the work or we are outpriced if we travel by train or even car. The Estate have said they plant up an area for us, which is a nice offset off from them.

Personal travel, we’re trying to do everything via car/train. But the wife wants to go abroad. I’m happy loading the car up and spending a week in the UK, but wimmins wants and all that.

Re the comment about HS2 planting more trees than were there originally. This is probably true, but it takes circa 100-250years to create a woodland (primarily the understory and soil functioning). So the harm caused by HS2 is egregious.

My top tip for a work trip to Brussels or Paris is to leave the Eurostar booking late until going business premier class is the only available seats. Champagne before fully off the platform at St Pancras and on the return you wait in the lounge in Brussels with a coffee and croissant until someone comes as says most people are now on the train so please hop on so we can serve you the cooked part of your breakfast. So much more civilised than any airport.
Best bit was it was still cheaper than booking a flight a week out from the meeting so no one could complain, particularly as the EU was paying for that project.
I expect the carbon footprint of the food was similar to that of the electricity powering the train.

Personal travel, we’re trying to do everything via car/train. But the wife wants to go abroad. I’m happy loading the car up and spending a week in the UK, but wimmins wants and all that.

Not a male/female thing, but we have a similar issue. MrsMC keen to travel as we have hardly gone abroad since we had kids 20 years ago and she wants to “catch up”. I’m willing to miss out on those experiences if it avoids flying. Its a source of some tension.

I did look last night at Hull-Zeebrugge ferry and cycling!

Oh has that started up again? The route closed in the early days of Covid. You can do Hull – Rotterdam I think

Its a source of some tension.

I know what you mean. Mrs Vlad takes a LOT more flights than me as she has family abroad she MUST see. And some of her nephews* and nieces* seem to be pumping out new babies at least once per year so she MUST visit to see the new kids. In such cases, she travels alone…

* She has many nephews and nieces. I didn’t mean to imply one incestuous pair are breeding like rabbits…😄