ETHICAL TRAVELLER: Catherine Mackon going by train
IT'S OFFICIAL: I'm a train geek. I am now a regular traveller from Holyhead to London, which, on a direct train, takes four hours. When I treat myself to a weekday first-class ticket back to Holyhead on the 9am service from London, I get smoked salmon and scrambled eggs in England for breakfast, then, as we hit the Welsh coast, lunch with wine. Book far enough ahead and you get an upgrade for not much more than the price of a meal at Stansted. The food is far better, and I do a day's work en route. I love it.
Yet I am nearly alone in my geekiness, with the cons outweighing the pros for most people. Too expensive, takes too long and you can never get a train to go where you want it to are the usual reasons. Or, when going to the UK, there is seasickness to deal with.
The truth is, most people are glued to their cars or panic at the notion of not having a car when they get there. I recently spent a night at the sublimely serene and luscious Wineport Lodge, in Glasson, outside Athlone. They collect anyone choosing to arrive by train, but very few guests have yet to take them up on this offer. Take my word for it: you won't need a car when you get there, because you won't want to leave the hotel's comforts.
As for the expense, there are ways and means. Less so here in Ireland. There are no special offers on Irish Rail's website as I write. The company could learn a lot from international rail companies in terms of offering competitive fares for tickets booked well in advance.
Then there is the taking- your-bike issue. Basically, Irish Rail will carry your bike, for a small fee, on any Intercity train. But there is small print - and a dubious lack of information on its website. Rail Users Ireland (see www.railusers.ie), an organisation set up to support train users, and keep geeks like me happy, has a website that Irish Rail should aspire to. All the information you need about fares, delays, reservations and, thankfully, bikes.
Bus Éireann (www.bus eireann.ie) has an interesting deal in its Irish Explorer bus-and-rail ticket, which costs €220 for eight days' travel (children €110).
If you are thinking of holidaying in the UK, rail links are improving. You could take a train from Stranraer port, in Scotland, to stay at the beautiful Drumskeoch Farm (www.drumskeoch.co.uk), 35 minutes away in Barrhill. The owner will pick you up.
Or, from Holyhead, take a train to the stunning Eco Cabin (www.ecocabin.co.uk) in Shropshire. Again, it will collect visitors from the station. You can also hire bikes when you are there. You can get train information from www.arriva trainswales.co.uk.
So, now I am outed, and I can admit to the depths of my locomotive love affair. Sleeper trains. I am reduced to the behaviour of a giggling schoolgirl when I unfold my berth for the night.
One recent trip from London to Malaga, via Paris, was more fiesta than siesta, the chef preparing fresh fish on the griddle while Spaniards popped Rioja corks from north to south. Or the Scottish sleeper that takes you skiing in the Highlands or on an overnight to London. I once took the Belfast-Stranraer afternoon ferry, jumped on the train to Glasgow to have dinner with an old friend, then caught the 10pm sleeper to London. Book in advance to grab one of ScotRail's Bargain Berths (www.firstgroup.com/scotrail), from £19 (€24) single.
For any more details on how to get just about anywhere in the world by train, including across the Australian outback, on the Ghan, then you have to check out the best geeky website ever, www.seat61.com. My husband caught me up at midnight one night, engrossed in the overland rail route to Ukraine. I really have got it bad.