Train travel in Europe: great adventure or too much effort?

Let’s deal with the elephant in the room first. 200 of our staff members, encompassing Explore and our sister brands, were invited to a three-day business event in the Alps. The excitement in the office was palpable when we first heard the news; the idea being to connect us after two long years of disconnect, and a return to doing what we do best – organising travel! 

After the initial buzz wore off, the conversations began about the conference’s footprint, and how we could go about minimising it. Let’s just clarify a couple of things: our sister companies are predominantly skiing brands, with chalet space going spare and charter flights available. We’ve been using a carbon consultant to measure our footprint, and identifying ways to make reductions. Where we can’t reduce, we offset.

Nonetheless, we fiercely believe that we should be advocating for people to take longer holidays, fewer flights and giving public transport options where possible. Our brand new rail tours, launched last year, start operating in May. Our sister company, Inntravel, is already an expert in offering rail connections to join their Europe trips. So, because we like to stand by our values and experience our own tours, we decided to give everyone in the company the option to return from the Alps by train. 

25% of the staff members who returned to the UK opted to cross the Alps, parcour Paris and steam into London St. Pancras in the space of approximately 12 hours. An amazing figure given that we’re predominantly based in Surrey/Hampshire, or even further afield in Yorkshire. 

And what did we learn?