Ask The Man in Seat 61 anything: Mark Smith answers your questions on holidaying by train

In recent years, the travel industry has anticipated a shift towards more environmentally conscious travel choices among holidaymakers.

However, reports from various firms indicate that consumer behaviour has yet to align with this expectation.

Despite widespread awareness of the environmental impact of air travel, factors such as the continued affordability of flights, limited annual leave for longer trips, and a preference for convenience and cost-effectiveness still dominate traveller decision-making.

However, an increasing number are actively seeking out travel options that eschew air travel altogether, favouring ground transport such as trains or buses.

For those who haven’t dipped their toe into the slow travel waters yet it can be daunting to know where to start.

This is where Mark Smith, better known as The Man in Seat 61, comes in. Mark is devoted to making train travel simple and his website, seat61.com, is a comprehensive catalogue of rail journeys across Europe and beyond.

More than that, it describes the practicalities of travel – visa information, costs, how to store your bike and where to buy tickets – alongside what you can expect to experience on the journey itself.

Mark will be on hand to answer all your slow travel questions in an ‘Ask Me Anything’ event on May 24. He will be answering live in the comments section below.

Register to submit your question in the comments box under this article. If you’re not already a member, click “sign up” in the comments section to leave your question. For a full guide on how to comment click here.

Don’t worry if you can’t see your question – they may be hidden until Mark joins the conversation to answer them.

If you have more questions you can sign up to Simon Calder’s weekly Ask Me Anything email, exclusively for Independent Premium subscribers.

All you need to do to sign up is subscribe to Independent Premium, which you can do here.

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