Train Ride Through Mauritania

by Adrienne Wilson on

Joanne Lane is a brave woman; snapping shots of Mauritania’s Iron Ore Express as people jump off and on. Getting lost in the scramble of things she gets pushed up on the train by a husband helping his wife board and ends up sharing snacks with the lady and her child. Passengers ride for free on the Iron Ore Express, but they share limited space with iron ore. Moving at 31 mph the train gathers sand as it chugs along making way to the Sahara on the 419 mile single track railway line. She says it’s one of the longest trains in the world and I believe her – 1.5 miles long. The ride is far from luxury, considerably rough and off-the-beaten path for many a traveler. I tried putting myself in her shoes, wandering how I would do in such conditions – in the shuffle.

If Mauritania is on your radar and you don’t mind a little sand it’s worth it to look at her report featured in the latest Go World Travel. Even if the African country is far from your radar I suggest giving it a glance. Just do it and take a virtual ride, man.

Train Ride to Mexico’s Copper Canyon

by Adrienne Wilson on

Searching for a unique way to get to Mexico this summer with a few pals or significant other? Not in the adventurous kind of mood to plan the whole trip point-to-point on your own? I understand – it’s the heat. Well, here’s an idea a nice fella passed onto me just days ago knowing I’d want to hop all abroad – train travel from El Paso, TX into Mexico’s Copper Canyon. There are a number of companies that offer rail tours into the area and this is just one from Caravan Tours that seemed pretty good. Their 8 day roundtrip excursion out of El Paso takes you to a bustling border town of Juarez, to trading posts with handicrafts made by Tarahumara Indians and the town of Chihuahua for rates as low as $995. What I’ve mentioned here isn’t nearly the full scope of what’s included in a package like this one. I’m normally not the type to trhow out packaged tour ideas either, but this one happens to sound very promising. Something to consider for summer…

Whistler Mountaineer

by Erik Olsen on

Pretty cool offering for folks who love British
Columbia skiing (and what skier worth his snow does not?) A company called Rocky Mountain vacations (as in the Canadian
Rockies, one supposes) is offering two new routes for its train journeys through Western Canada.

The routes
begin later this year and will offer riders the opportunity to take a train between North Vancouver and Whistler in
British Columbia. The train, called the Whistler Mountaineer will make
three-hour, 73-mile run beginning in May. And you will be dropped off very near one of the best ski resorts in the
world: Whistler/Blackcomb. This is very cool. the drive from Vancouver up to Whistler along the Sea to Sky highway is
one of the beset drives in the world. I have made it a dozen times, and every time I marvel at the beauty of the
landscape, the open fjords the waterfalls that seem to tumble onto the road, bald eagles soaring overhead. And taking
the route by train seems to me an excellent way to go. The other route is called the Fraser Discovery Route and will
cover 642 miles (two days, with a hotel stay) between Whistler and Jasper in the province of Alberta.

The
Rocky Mountaineer’s one-way prices start at $85 per person for the Whistler Mountaineer trip. For the Fraser Discovery
Route, prices begin at $469 per person. Various packages you can also take include the new Classic Rail Circle (from
$1,499 per person, double occupancy, for six nights), incorporate both routes.