5:33 Uhr startet in #Leipzig unsere #Schienenkreuzfahrt durch Südeuropa mit Ziel Nordafrika! 1. Station ist Paris, dann Barcelona → Málaga → Algeciras → Gibraltar → Tanger → Madrid → Montpellier → Paris → Leipzig. #EuropeByRail #EuropeUnited

Back from FOSDEM in Brussels, and what an adventure it was! Tried to catch a train from Brussels-Luxembourg station to Brussels-Midi, but it was running 30 minutes late. No bother—opted for a rental bike instead. One of the perks of travelling with a backpack over a wheelie bag: you can cycle your way out of trouble!

Then, my Eurostar got cancelled. They bumped me onto the next one, two hours later. The departure lounge was packed with FOSDEM folk, and the train itself felt like a moving afterparty—nerdy conversations galore!

Finally made it back to the UK: Underground to Paddington, GWR to Bristol Temple Meads, and a quick bike ride home to wrap it all up. Proper FOSDEM fringe experience, really.

North of Norrköping, with around 2 hour delay

The EN346 night train to Stockholm

Next train, to Hamburg

Starting the journey home from Brussels

The final train of the trip, to Brussels

I'm on my way to Brussels for FOSDEM at the weekend.

Last night’s hotel room in London has to be the smallest I’ve ever stayed in. That said, it wasn’t pricey, and it was conveniently close to St Pancras for catching the Eurostar to Brussels this morning.

Speaking of which, the Eurostar waiting area at St Pancras was surprisingly quiet when I arrived at 7:45.

On SJ Euronight 345 towards Hamburg on the way to Brussels and FOSDEM

All aboard for an obscure rail adventure!

Today, I’m embarking on a rather unusual train journey from Bristol to Brussels for FOSDEM 2025 (1st-2nd Feb, Brussels)—the legendary free software conference. But instead of the usual Bristol > London > Brussels route, I’m taking the scenic (and slightly eccentric) path via Cambridge and London. Why? Because trains.

Here’s the fun bit: there’s a single daily train that runs directly from Bristol Temple Meads to Cambridge, and I’ve been itching to try it for years. It's a three-car Class 170 Turbostar that departs Bristol at 06:25 and rolls into Cambridge at 11:08. No changes, no Tube dashes between London terminals—just a rare, direct cross-country route. It’s the kind of obscure rail journey that makes my inner transport geek very happy.

The catch? It’s not exactly the quickest way to Cambridge (most people would change in London), and there’s no return service. But who cares when you’re ticking off a long-awaited rail oddity? To make it even better, I snagged a bargain by splitting my ticket at Worcestershire Parkway—because why not make it a little more complicated?

After two nights in Cambridge, I’ll head to London for Geomob London on Thursday evening—always a brilliant night for geo-nerds. Then, it's onwards to Brussels on Friday, ready for FOSDEM.

Speaking of FOSDEM, I’ll be running the Geospatial devroom on Saturday morning, featuring nine talks all about maps. If you’re into geospatial tech, open source, or just love maps, come along—it's going to be a great session.

So, here's to obscure train routes, split tickets, and the joy of combining travel quirks with tech conferences.