These days, gasoline prices and airline fuel surcharges get you coming and going, so make the Man in Seat Sixty-One, www.seat61.com, your buddy if you'd prefer to ride the rails and seas.
What's hot, what's not: The Britain-based website is the work of Mark Smith, a former BritRail employee, who turned a hobby into one of the more comprehensive sites on worldwide train travel I've come across.
No surprise, then, that the site's forte is Britain and Europe and that it would be a valuable tool for planning a train trip through Britain and the Continent. But I also found tips, comments and information on routes, timetables and links to rail booking engines and websites on other continents. The Americas were thin, but that may have to do with the de-emphasis on rail travel here. Its U.S. section contained a lot of information on Amtrak but missed out on regional passenger carriers.
If you are plane-phobic, you'll find a route mapped out for you to get from London to Australia or the U.S. without having to take wing. Ship info is not as comprehensive.
-- Vani Rangachar
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vani.rangachar@latimes.com
