Trains tours: Next stops, Peru, India, Mid-Atlantic states, Switzerland

I got my love of travel from my dad and Aunt Jenny. They both loved to go. Dad got an all-expense-paid trip to the Philippines at the close of World War II. Aunt Jenny traveled to the UK, Alaska, and, I’m sure other places, as well. Last week, I was delighted to note that friends were in Hawaii (getting married, no less! Yay!), England, Ireland, Switzerland, Portugal, China, and a few more places if I looked close enough. That is a delight for me. I love to see my friends out there exploring this big beautiful world. Travel is a real gift – a journey of the spirit as well as the head and heart if it’s encountered as it should be with a spirit of adventure, learning, and joy. And no real vacation is complete without a train ride … or two, right?

Next week, I will get into this big time. I’ll be with Trains’ tour in conjunction with Special Interest Tours in Peru. We’ll ride the famous FCCA railroad with its many bridges, tunnels, and switchbacks as it climbs to more than 15,000 feet. We’ll ride the new Belmond Andean Explorer sleeper train. And catch a few more railroad surprises and delights along the way. I’ll be reporting here, on Trains Facebook page, and in News Wire, as appropriate. I hope you will join me. This is my first trip to South America, so I am excited, and our friends at FCCA have said they’ll be showing us parts of the railroad that are often overlooked. It should be amazing. American-built diesel locomotives will make this even more interesting.

Trains and Special Interest tours have partnered to provide several great tours in 2018. You can take in the highlights of India’s railway system in February; explore the great tourist railroads, museums, and mainline sights and sounds of Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland in June; and journey with us to one of our all-time favorite railroad destinations next September with a visit to amazing Switzerland. Other tours are in the works. Be sure to check them all out at www.specialinteresttours.com. We’d love to have you on board.

So, whether you join us on one of our tours or follow along on line or in print, as always, here at Trains, we will take you there.